June 6:  A time to reflect on the Anishinaabe Chi-Naaknigewin and Ngo Dwe Waangizid Anishinaabe

June 6, 2020

By Mary Laronde

Summertime. Traditionally, summer was the time for gathering the Anishinaabe Clans. Large councils were held at Bawaating to make important political decisions for the well-being of the Anishinabek, the Nation. It was also a time to celebrate, sing, dance, arrange marriages, and visit our relatives.

All was done according to protocols, rules, order, ceremonies. In the Anishinaabe worldview, Spirit is always recognized. Every day at sunrise, we are instructed to say miigwetch for all the gifts provided by the Spirit, Creator, and the Earth, Mother.

Today, we see how the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has brought great upheaval to the entire world.  Did we not know that this time would come? Anishinaabe prophecy teaches that we would come to a fork on the path where we would be standing and we would have to teach our fellow human beings to live in peace and harmony with our Earth Mother and with one another or a great cleansing, a great destruction, would come to restore balance on Earth. Scientists have said that this current plague is a result of the natural balance of the Earth being desecrated and living in the wrong relation to Mother Earth.

Anishinabek have been given the gifts to follow the path that leads to the restoration of peace and harmony, Mino-Bimaadiziwin.

As we shelter in our homeland territories, many are putting down tobacco, relying on one another, and giving thanks to our lands and the waters that sustain us.

Our Elders instruct Anishinabek to always remember who we are and to conduct our lives according to the Laws the Creator has given us. These instructions are laid out in Ngo Dwe Waangizid Anishinaabe, One Anishinaabe Family.

Ngo Dwe Waangizid Anishinaabe is the Preamble to the Anishinabek Nation Constitution, the Anishinaabe Chi-Naaknigewin. Implementing the Anishinaabe Chi-Naaknigewin is the return to Anishinaabe Traditional Governance that depends on ceremony. And ceremony depends on Anishinaabemowin. Implementing the Anishinaabe Chi-Naaknigewin is decolonization and healing.

Here are the key and practical effects of implementing our Anishinaabe Chi-Naaknigewin:

  1. A return to Anishinaabe identity and worldview – Mino-Bimaadiziwin: Creator placed Anishinaabe on the earth along with the gift of spirituality.
  2. The meeting of our sacred responsibility to exercise inherent jurisdiction over our Traditional Territories: Here on Mother Earth, there were gifts given to the Anishinaabe to look after; fire, water, earth and wind.
  3. The restoration of Anishinaabe Traditional Government: The Creator also gave the Anishinaabe seven sacred gifts to guide them. They are Love, Truth, Respect, Wisdom, Humility, Honesty and Bravery.
  4. Self-determination and self-government: Creator gave us sovereignty to govern ourselves.
  5. Living by our teachings, using all our gifts and laws, and exercising sovereignty to look after our babies: We respect and honour the past, present and future.

The Anishinaabe Chi-Naaknigewin was ratified by the Anishinabek Nation Chiefs-in-Assembly in Sheguiandah First Nation on June 6, 2012. It was confirmed by a Pipe Ceremony. It is a sacred commitment by Anishinabek to the Creator to live by Ngo Dwe Waangizid Anishinaabe and implement our traditional governance.

We have our Anishinabek Nation Eagle Staff, our Sacred Bundle, and our Sacred Gifts, our Ceremonies (culture), and our Language, which we have been told many, many times, is at once the key and the foundation for Anishinabek. Our Elders have instructed us.