Performance and memory: 1832-1932 Anglican centenary celebrations at Garden River
By Karl Hele
During the first week of September 1932, Garden River First Nation undertook a celebration of the 100-year anniversary of William McMurray’s arrival. The performance took place on September 5, at the Anglican Church grounds on Point Charles, the supposed site where McMurray first stepped ashore to be greeted by Shingwaukonce and other Anishinaabeg.
“The church grounds will simulate an Indian village … the pageant will represent the arrival of the missionary and will be followed by Indian ceremonies, and a pow-wow.”
The script was prepared by Reverend Cannon F. W. Colloton, Mrs. Johnston, and unnamed members of the Garden River congregation. It drew spectators from both the reserve and city of Sault Ste. Marie.
The play took place over three scenes in the morning. The first, described as ‘picturesque’ in the Sault Star, saw the “band of Indian braves assembled in a circle in front of the chief’s teepee, each one dressed in deer skins, gorgeously decorated with bead designs and their headgear of eagle feathers,” addressed by Shingwaukonse before departing for York to speak to the “Great White Chief.” The second scene consisted of the Chief and his two companions returning and speaking about the discussions in York. The final scene, begins with runners announcing the approach of a “strange canoe”. Once the canoe lands and its passenger alights, Shingwaukonce welcomes the missionary and verifies his credentials. The entire group of performers then walked to St. John’s Anglican Church where they sung “A Charge to Keep I Have”, recited “Our Father, Who Art in Heaven”, and listened to the closing prayers offered by the Diocese’s Bishop. After lunch, the assembled crowd listened to the Technical School Band, speeches by the Bishop, Rev. Colloton, and “several Indian of Garden River” who spoke in Anishinaabemowin. Booths were also stationed around the church grounds where “dainty refreshments” and knickknacks could be found.
According to the Sault Star, the performance undertook to “honour the memory of the ‘blackcoat’” and remind the Indians, as well as the spectators, of the “blessing brought to them by the Church a century ago which are theirs today.” Additionally, the Star’s reporter argued that the entire experience was “picturesque”, and demonstrated that “the effect of missionary service is seen in their improved living conditions, their industry, and their worth as dependable citizens.” Finally, the reporter congratulated the “Rev. Canon and Mrs. Johnston … on the success which attended their efforts and the Indians gave to the white friends, in wonderful acting, a story of which they can be justly proud, a story full of patience, courage and fortitude, and worthy of the best traditions of the race of which they belong.”
The participants in the performance were named as well as their roles in the performance. Henry Shingwauk, the great grandson of Shingwaukonce, played the Chief. Rev. Colloton undertook the role of William McMurrary. Thomas Thibault interpreted the play and speeches to and from Anishinaabemowin. The other performers, according to the Sault Star, included “William Shingwauk, Charles Shingwauk, Paul Mizigan, Mrs. John Lewis [granddaughter of Shingwaukonse], Mrs. Charles Shingwauk, Samuel Wahbunosa, Albert Wahbunosa, John Shingwauk, Alex Day, Mrs. Alex Day, Mrs. J. Driver, Albert Buhkwujjenene, [while the] Indian children were [the two] little daughters of William Pine and little George Shingwauk.” Dan Williams and Russell Prideaux acted as the canoe men who brought McMurray to Garden River.
While the narrative presented in the Sault Star boisterously supported the Anglican efforts and apparent progress in civilization of the Anishinaabeg, it missed other narratives. The picturesque costumes and teepee referred to in the article were the same as used in the regular performances of the Hiawatha Pageant from the early 1900s to 1968. These costumes while retaining elements drawn from the community were created to show the “Indian” of popular imagination – the Plains Indians. Henry Shingwauk carried community items in the performance such as a medal presented to Shingwaukonse, his headdress, and pipe. Together, Henry Shingwauk/Shingwaukonse and Rev. Colloton/William McMurray participated in a pipe ceremony that further symbolized and renewed the alliance and promises made in 1832. Such promises included the Anglican Church physically, politically, and spiritually aiding the community while the Anishinaabeg merely agreed to welcome and listen to the missionary. Henry Shingwauk/Shingwaukonse’s reviewing of Colloton/McMurray’s documents was a direct representation of the initial 1832 encounter between the historic figures. It demonstrated the sovereignty of the community in its demands that McMurray’s appointment came from the Lt. Governor. Without proper documents, it is questionable whether Shingwaukonse would have welcomed McMurray in 1832 in the same manner. Additionally, Anishinaabeg elements included drumming and Anishinaabemowin being spoken throughout the performance. The primary usage of our language informed the spectators that the space was Anishinaabeg where the settlers were the guests. It also allowed the community to retain control of the message and exert our own understandings of the event and its meanings. Based on interviews, the speeches by community members also reminded those present of the promises made by the Church in 1832. Some speeches also contested the assimilation narrative, frustration over current relations, and the importance of the Anishinaabeg in the region. The speeches placed the Anishinaabeg front and centre in the historical narrative, not as props for Christianity’s ‘success.’ Also proudly displayed during the event was a 13-string wampum, its meaning left undescribed by the reporter, and a Union Jack that had been presented to Shingwaukonce by the Lieutenant Governor in 1832.
The play on the surface presents the Settler recording of the McMurray’s welcoming as recorded in the Annual Report of the Society for Converting and Civilizing the Indians. In drawing from the written records, the Settler playwrights, possibly unwittingly, included Anishinaabeg assertions of sovereignty and understandings of the encounter. With the direct descendants of the Anishinaabeg present in 1832, re-enacting the encounter presented a lived essence of history. Thus, the community understood the play as more than a simple rehashing of the past as a glorification Anglicanism.
The centenary performance is a reflection of the Settlers preference of making up history. While Shingwaukonse’s travel to York to request a teacher and subsequent encounter with McMurray are more or less accurate, the play has several glosses. First, Shingwaukonse set off to speak with the Lt. Governor in York during the winter on snowshoes. A minor quibble since the play took place on a single morning in September. Second, McMurray by all accounts, landed first in Sault Ste. Marie, most likely on the U.S. side before crossing over to the docks in front of the Ermatinger House. It is at the Ermatinger House and the top of Pim Street Hill in Sault Ste. Marie where the mission to Bawating Anishinaabeg took place. The placement of the landing at the foot of St. John’s Church and implication that the mission was located at the same spot at Garden River was likely undertaken to highlight the Settler romance with ‘civilizing’ the Indians. For the community, it brought people down and allowed for a celebration of the past in a safe space with an immediate connection to the present. Additionally, with Shingwaukonse buried on the Church grounds, his spiritual presence was also tied to the celebration and renewal of the relationship. Finally, the entire idea of the first Anglican missionary being McMurray is a myth. The Anglican Church and the Lt. Governor had previously sent James Cameron to Bawating. Cameron’s conversion to the Baptist faith by 1832 prompted the Anglican Church to write him out of its history. Thus, the 1832-1932 Centenary play is about constructing a mutually acceptable narrative of the past for both Settler society and the Anishinaabeg as well as representing the past’s meanings for the present.