This petition copy was given to the Nipigon Historical
Museum Archives January 26, 1974, by Mr. Willy John, Nipigon, Ontario
Fort William, Ontario
March 10, 1917
A PETITION
TO THE KINGS’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY
May it please Your Majesty, we, the Indians of the Ojibwa
Tribe, inhabiting the northern shore of Lake Superior in the Province of
Ontario in the Dominion of Canada, claim that we have a just grievance against
the Government of the said Province of Ontario, and not being able to obtain
redress through our Department of Indian Affairs at Ottawa, are placing our
case before Your Most Gracious Majesty, feeling that we will received justice
through you, and though we very much regret to make any appeal to you while
your energies are so taxed by the present Great War, we feel that as our
younger men have and are enlisting freely, that the older people of our Tribe
should not be unfairly dealt with and deprived of their only means of
livelihood, and that such is the case is evidenced by the fact that a number of
our Tribe have been heavily fined for acts guaranteed us by Treaty.
In one case, an Indian who was imprisoned at Port Arthur,
after serving a term in goal, had to make a journey of 200 miles to reach his
home. Being without food or money to
purchase some, he died on the way and now a wife and family are without anyone
to support them. One aged Indian named
Marten was imprisoned and fined heavily for having moose meat to feed the
family of girls while his two adult sons were fighting with your army in
France. One boy was killed and the other
wounded. Two of our Indian boys have
been awarded medals for bravery in action on the battlefields in France.
We attach a copy of the Robinson-Superior Treaty, made in
the year 1850, and would call the attention of Your Most Gracious Majesty to
that portion of the said Treaty underlined with red ink, wherein we are allowed
to hunt and fish in the territory ceded, excepting such portions as are sold or
leased and occupied. This clause of our
agreement was recognized from the date of the Treaty until the new Ontario Game
and Fisheries Law of 1915 became operative, but now we are placed nearly in the
same position as white men, and are told that the Honourable William Benjamin
Robinson should not have agreed to the hunting and fishing clause, and again that
under the British North America Act the Province of Ontario have full right to
administer in everything in the Province, thus cancelling without our consent
the most vital portion of our Treaty, and now while our young men are away at
war, their parents and dependents who are old and cannot go far to hunt are in
great distress and want and often
prosecuted and fined and would have to go to prison only for good-natured
white people, who seeing the injustice,
sometimes pay the poor Indian’s fine.
We therefore pray that
Your Most Gracious Majesty will intercede with the Government of the Province
of Ontario and have our hunting and fishing privileges restored to us, as we
will ever pray…
FORT WILLIAM BAND
Paul Bouchie
Peter Bannan
Francis Williams
A Bannon
Peter Loouis
Michael Boucher
Frank LaRose
Samuel Collin
John White
Luke Boucher
Joe Charlie
Henry Scott
Joe Thomas Penassie
Xavier Burbag
Joe O’Connor
Paul Laguard
X. McLaren
NIPIGON BAND GULL BAY DIVISION
Wigwass, chief
Ambrose Bouchard
Paul Shoneyaus
Marten Wawie
Kego Wigwass
Wabik Mamagwades
Julian Micklesen
Frank Pelletier
Alex McCoy
PIC RIVER BAND
Louis Michana, chief
John Desmoulin
Louis Borron
Philip Twance
George Michano
Patrick Sbourin
John Starr
Peter Kwisia
Moses Fisher
Dan Goodchild
Michael Wissian
Jerome Onajbigan
And many others
PAYS PLAT BAND
Michael Friday, chief
James Shoes
Emile Fisher
Councillor Paul Auger
Peter Negowigisic
2nd chief Louie Musquash
RED ROCK BAND
Andrew Lixie, chief
Robert Hardy, counselor
Moise Wawiie
Nicholas Bouchard, counselor
Michel Ogimabineus
Xavier Misak
Joe Hardy
Sam Bouchard
Antwen Bouchard
Charlie Ninjwiwi
John Morriseau
Raphel Pottan
Michael Dabba
And many others
( I am spelling from the list as presented)
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