Wikwemikong ratifies constitution
By Faye Sabourin
WIKWEMIKONG – Citizens of the largest Anishinabek Nation member community have ratified their constitution, the first step towards the development of their own law-making authority.
“This is a historic time in our community, where we’re embarking on a journey to set our ways on the land we call our own,” said Ogimaa Duke Peltier, after learning that Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve members had voted 73 per cent in favour of their own Gchi Naaknigewin. “It is time to put this document to the test and enact it into supreme law and begin our own lawmaking procedures that will benefit our community.”
Results released after polls closed for in-person voting on June 14 showed a 483-173 result in favour of ratification, a process that began in 2006 when the Manitoulin Island First Nation joined the Constitution Development Project coordinated by the Restoration of Jurisdiction (ROJ) Unit of the Union of Ontario Indians.
Ogimaa Peltier said the imposition of the Indian Act in 1876 “has detrimental impacts on every facet of our community. As a result, it uses legislation to develop laws which have the sole intent to assimilate our people into mainstream society and it is for that very reason that our people have come to council over the years and urged council to begin taking the steps to take back control of our jurisdiction and authorities to determine what is best for our peoples.”
Lynda Trudeau, Wikwemikong Governance Coordinator, said she was very excited during the counting of the ballots, but had a good feeling. She noted that her First Nation can now exercise their own right for self-governance and self-determination, and that the Gchi Naaknigewin is a living document that can be reviewed and evolve as the community evolves.
“It is a way to protect ourselves and our future to ensure we maintain being Anishnaabe.”
ROJ legal and technical staff assisted the Governance Committee in staging five consultation sessions for community members on-reserve, and seven off-reserve in various locations on Manitoulin Island and in urban centres including Sudbury, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, Toronto, and as far away as Mount Pleasant, Michigan.
The Governance Committee’s communication strategy included advertisements, mail-outs, webinars, focus groups, one-on-one home visits, and a video, poster and essay contest for school-aged children to learn about the Gchi Naaknigewin and lastly, the use of social media. The committee created a Governance Unit Facebook and Twitter Page, various YouTube videos, and arranged for media interviews with CBC radio and the Manitoulin Expositor.
Wikwemikong is now the second Anishinabek First Nation to ratify a Gchi Naaknigewin, following Nipissing First Nation in January 2014.
Other communities are continuing the drafting process and some are scheduling ratification dates for later this year. For more information on the constitution development process contact your First Nation band office or Faye Sabourin at 1-877-702-5200 Ext. 2316 or faye.sabourin@anishinabek.ca.