Dokis and Nipissing First Nations in circle for stewardship of the Lake Nipissing Beaded Map

By Kelly Anne Smith

NIPISSING FIRST NATION- Discussions are taking place on the stewardship of the 5-metre beaded map of Lake Nipissing and its watershed – the Lake Nipissing Beading Project. Both Dokis and Nipissing First Nations have lived on Lake Nipissing since time immemorial.

The Lake Nipissing Beading Project began in 2020 with the First Nations and the Geography and History departments at Nipissing University and was recently displayed at the Nipissing University Student Union Student Centre. The map also travelled to the NSCAD University in Nova Scotia, and the Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, Dokis, and Timmins museums.

Using satellite and aerial imagery, the lake and surrounding waterways were gridded and then over 450 squares were sent to and beaded by participants. The Lake Nipissing Beading Project’s main team includes lead artist and organizer Carrie Allison Payiw, Glenna Beaucage, Ysabel Castle, June Commanda, Kirsten Greer, Katie Hemsworth, Joan McLeod Shabogesic, Randy Restoule, Katrina Srigley, Suzanne Campeau Whiteduck, and Naomi Hehn.

Nipissing University Professor Dr. Katrina Srigley says extensive resources have gone into the beaded map.

“A lot of time and a lot of effort and respect,” Dr. Srigley says. “I think that a key message we want to share is respect for the water and respect for the histories of this land. We hope that this respect will help guide our actions towards the water and our relationship towards the water moving forward because we all need healthy water to live. The time that beaders took to bead these beautiful squares is a reflection of the respect for the water.”

Dr. Srigley says there are themes throughout the beaded squares in the Lake Nipissing Beading Project.

“Joan McLeod Shabogesic, who is a Nipissing First Nation councillor, historian, and retired Lands Manager beaded a number of squares. She took it upon herself to really engage the histories of Lake Nipissing in the beading she did. There are a number of squares with dodemaag which are the clan symbols of Nipissing First Nation – historic and present-day. Some of these dodemaag are found on pictographs on the land and others are in historic documents like correspondence with the Department of Indian Affairs or the Hudson’s Bay or Dokis Log Book.”

“These squares remind us that the dodemaag are still present. They’re still important. They’re still being used at Nipissing (First Nation) and thought about and reconnecting with those dodemaag is a really important process for Nipissing First Nation,” Dr. Srigley continues. “Joan also beaded one square that has Beaucage School in the location of the school to remind us of the history of that school. Education is very, very important to Nipissing First Nation. Along with the school, she included an orange shirt with the number 127, which is the number of Residential School Survivors from Nipissing First Nation.”

Lead artist Carrie Allison created orange shirt beading kits when the remains of children of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation were being found at the Kamloops Residential School right at the time of the start of the Lake Nipissing Beading Project.

“It was very important to us to honour those children and to think about those children in relationship to the histories we are also trying to honour through the beading project,” says Professor Srigley. “What the orange shirts do is honour those children and remind people who visit with that map of the context in which the map was created. It is a form of contextualization to say, ‘At this time, these are the conversations we’re having as a community, as a nation’. The orange shirts are woven through the map as a reflection of that context and the importance beaders placed on them.”

In keeping with the projects support of Indigenous sovereignty, reclamation and decolonizing practices, Srigley says the other theme in the map is the importance of rewriting stories on the land and waters that have been forgotten or silenced.

“Randy Restoule’s square reconnects part of the land that was disconnected by an Indian agent. Glenna Beaucage’s square beads wild rice into an area of Lake Nipissing where it’s been destroyed to remind us of historical ecologies of the lake and to remind us to ask why. Why are the wild rice beds gone? And what are the consequences of that for all of us?”

Professor Srigley says funding has been secured to support the creation of a nation-to-nation stewardship agreement for Dokis and Nipissing First Nations for the beaded map.

“We are hosting circles on the territory. We had our first one in February here at the Student Centre, sitting with the map. This circle brought together Elders and Knowledge Holders from Dokis and Nipissing First Nations and members of the Lake Nipissing Beading Project Collective to begin conversations about what stewardship will look like. What are the priorities of both Nations for the map? What are the next steps in the map’s journey?” explains Dr. Srigley. “We are having the next one this spring in Dokis First Nation and a subsequent one at Duchesnay in Nipissing First Nation. We hope to announce a stewardship agreement in June.”

Srigley says the funding will support the two Nations to figure out what the next steps are for the map as well as digital knowledge transfer.

“The funding will also support the sharing of skill and knowledge related to the digital side of the map so that Nation members who are interested in caring for the digital side of the map moving forward can pick up or deepen those skills for this map or to create another project entirely.”