Envisaging the prospect of something better, the first “Muskoka Area Indigenous Leadership Table” convened in June at Moose Deer Point First Nation. The hosting band was joined by leaders of Wahta Mohawks First Nation, Moon River Métis Council, Wasauksing First Nation, Chippewas of Rama First Nation, District of Muskoka, Township of Muskoka Lakes, and Township of Georgian Bay. Also connected to Muskoka’s territory, though unable to attend June’s inaugural assembly, are Beausoleil First Nation, Huron-Wendat First Nation, and Georgina Island First Nation. Major possibilities are stirring. The Indigenous Leadership Table can enable leaders and council members to discuss shared interests, illuminate concerns, and over time develop valued relationships built on trust.
In tandem, Muskoka Chairman John Klink reports how specific measures are already reconfiguring district policies and practices, initially relating to land, education, and Indigenous awareness training for district government staff. Most relevant in terms of placing Muskoka in fuller perspective will be, at the Leadership Table, “to identify joint community initiatives that raise public awareness of Indigenous history and culture within Muskoka.”
Meanwhile, at Muskoka Discovery Centre in Gravenhurst, plans arising from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s “call to action” for museums and cultural centres are especially exciting. A new facility will soon house heritage steamship Wanda III. But more than a million dollar boathouse, it will also accommodate a compelling new attraction on how the Age of Steam transformed life in Muskoka from 1830 to 1930.
The steam era’s revolution changed just about everything, including the lives of Indigenous peoples. From Muskoka Discovery Centre’s prior collaborations with the Chippewas of Rama, it was known that this story, to engage and correctly educate visitors, had to include the Indigenous dimension and could only be told by people who understood it, the Chippewas themselves. It was soon clear that more than the single-century Steam Era’s timeframe was needed, so the concept seems to be blossoming into a full-fledged portrayal of Indigenous Muskoka.
On July 11 Chippewas of Rama Chief Rodney Noganosh and his full band council met with the Centre’s Chairman Gary Getson and its Advisory Council to explore potential for creating a unique Indigenous Pavilion able to draw visitors from across the continent to Muskoka’s “case study” story. Anyone who’s thrilled to the high-calibre interactive experience with the Centre’s “Muskoka Watershed” pavilion, already a major attraction, or who appreciates the high calibre design and operation these same Chippewa leaders created with Casino Rama, has a foretaste of the high standard intended for portraying the real story of Muskoka’s Indigenous peoples.
