Robinson Huron Waawiidamaagewin gathering full of teachings, activities – Anishinabek News
September 5, 2023
GARDEN RIVER — A Treaty Renewal Ceremony is being held on Sept. 9 at the GFL Memorial Gardens in Sault Ste. Marie as part of the Robinson Huron Treaty 1850 Gathering. Held by the Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin and the Robinson Huron Treaty Litigation Fund, the Sept. 7-9 gathering begins with two days of teachings, presentations, workshops and activities at the Garden River Community Centre and a Main Stage, Teaching Lodge and Nogdawindamin Cultural Corner set up on the centre’s grounds.
“It’s Treaty Day — on Sept. 9, that’s when the treaty was signed in 1850 — that date is very significant to the people on the north shore of Lake Huron and Lake Superior, so on that day we are commemorating and acknowledging the settlement agreement that was negotiated on the past compensation for the (annuity) claim,” says Mike Restoule, chair of the Robinson Huron Treaty Litigation Fund. “This is half of the claim towards the court, because the claim was for losses for the past and on a go-forward basis how the treaty annuity will be acknowledged and augmented from time to time.”
Restoule says federal and provincial ministers, Gary Anandasangaree, minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, and Greg Rickford, minister of Indigenous Affairs, will be attending the gathering along with other dignitaries.
“When the Crown gets together with the representatives of the First Nation, it is considered a treaty renewal,” Restoule says. “In this case, all three parties, Ontario, Canada and the First Nations, acknowledge the treaty and they renew their intentions in the treaty.”
