Fontaine’s book details stories of former Indigenous leaders

By Sam Laskaris

GARDEN RIVER FIRST NATION – Jerry Fontaine believes a look at the past will lead to a greater future.

Fontaine, the former chief who served Sagkeeng First Nation, an Ojibwe/Anishinaabe community in Manitoba, from 1987-98, has written a book, Our Hearts Are As One Fire, which is receiving its share of praise.

A ceremony and book launch was recently held virtually, which was moderated by Darrell Boissoneau, a former Chief of Garden River First Nation in northern Ontario.

Fontaine’s book stresses the need for the Anishinabeg to reconnect with non-colonized ways of thinking, social organization and decision-making in order to have a greater opportunity of achieving sovereignty.

Fontaine enlisted the help of various Elders and descendants to tell the stories of three Indigenous leaders from the 18th and 19th centuries who had fought against colonial expansion. Those leaders were Obwandiac, Tecumtha and Shingwauk.

“I was very careful to respect the memory of these three leaders,” said Fontaine, who is currently teaching Indigenous Studies at the University of Winnipeg. “Careful of sharing their story and the stories of their families. I continue to do that now and I will continue to do that in the future… The stories that are shared here are their stories. I only shared them. And I shared them respectively.”

Obwandiac, also known as Pontiac, was a leader of Indigenous nations that opposed British rule in the mid-1700s.

Tecumtha, who died in 1813, unified Anishinaabe nations against White settlement and development and against the destruction of their sovereign states in both the United States and what eventually became Canada.

Shingwauk was a chief who created the Garden River First Nation in 1850. Fontaine said he wrote the book in part to correct some misguided information in the public domain.

“The book was basically done to share our story because it’s telling our story from an Ojibwe-Anishinabe perspective,” Fontaine said. “It’s about reclaiming and reframing our history.”

Fontaine added he believes it is more appropriate for Indigenous people to be writing about their own history.

“We have talked about this for so long that others have been telling our story,” he said. “There’s been a distortion and a misrepresentation of our story. I think the time has come for us to tell our own stories. And now you’re seeing our own people take control in terms of how our stories and knowledge is shared.”

Fontaine believes his book will assist with these efforts.

“We don’t get this misrepresentation,” said Fontaine. “We don’t get this distortion. And we don’t get this appropriation of what’s being shared and what’s being told.”

Fontaine’s uncle, Phil Fontaine, who served three terms as the national chief for the Assembly of First Nations, was among those who took part in the virtual book launch.

Phil Fontaine was thrilled his nephew had his book published. UBC Press published the book.

“This has been a moment we have been waiting for for some time,” Phil Fontaine said. “And now it’s very much a part of our history and indeed part of our family. It is safe to say all our family is incredibly proud of Jerry’s outstanding achievement. It’s a moment for the ages.”