The organizing committee welcomes you to the Manitoulin Island Treaties gathering hosted by the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation and sponsored by the Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin.

In 1836, a Treaty was signed on Odawa Mnis, also known as Mnidoo Mnis, recognizing it as Nishnaabe Territory. A second Treaty followed in 1862, ceding most of Odawa/Mnidoo Mnis to settlers, leading to the small land bases forming the current Indian Act Reserve communities. Not all Nishnaabek supported the 1862 Treaty, and this tension continues today.

Except for some Nishnaabe scholars, most writing of this historical period and its contemporary impact is written by non-Indigenous scholars. This scholarship on Odawa/Mnidoo Mnis, now known as Manitoulin Island, focuses on the 1862 Treaty negotiations and portrays the Island as formerly inhabited by Nishnaabek with the new arrival of both Nishnaabek and Europeans in the 1830s. This writing ranges from presenting a European-led progressive Island development to the Nishnaabek resistance to European settlement and loss of land.

What is the Nishnaabek history of the Treaties and their impact? The Never on the Fringe Treaties Gathering, will highlight the Nishnaabek view of these Treaties and the impacts and knowledge of the Island reflected in material culture, place names, stories, spirit beings, and oral histories. This gathering features both Nishnaabe and non-Indigenous scholars. It is anticipated that the conference papers will result in a book about this history focusing on the Nishnaabe history of the Treaties and the Island.

The organizing committee is honoured to have you with us, and we look forward to an engaging conversation. Miigwetch.

Sincerely,
The Manitoulin Island Treaties Gathering Organizing Committee

Sam Manitowabi, Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin Naomi Recollet, Ojibwe Cultural Foundation
Alan Corbiere, York University
Josh Manitowabi, Brock University

Darrel Manitowabi, Northern Ontario School of Medicine University