This week marks the anniversary of Treaty 93 in which the Chippewas of Nawash were compelled to cede 6,000 acres of land in the lands of Saugeen Ojibway Nation. This land had been designated as the Colpoy's Bay Reserve.

We, the Oxenden Indigenous Art Project Planning Group, believe that readers of the Owen Sound Hub will be interested in a summary of the treaties concerning these lands as we work to build right relations with the Chippewas of Nawash and the Chippewas of Saugeen First Nation.

We are honoured to include a logo designed by and presented to us from the Chippewas of Nawash Council to recognize the partnership that is being developed between our two communities.

August 16, 2023, marks 162 years since the Saugeen Ojibway Nation was compelled to cede the lands known to settlers as Colpoy’s Bay Reserve.

As current residents of these lands who recognize our role as treaty people, we are grateful for the millennia that the traditional keepers of this land, the Chippewas of Saugeen, and the Chippewas of Nawash, known collectively as the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON) have lived sustainably on this land.

We recognize the knowledge held in their culture, language, and practices that reflect and embody how to live in right relations with the land and each other, from which we humbly have so much to learn.

We acknowledge the generations of atrocities brought to this land and to its original people by colonizers and settlers, many of whom were direct ancestors of some of us that have the privilege of living here today.

We know how much harm has been done and we commit to the deep work of repairing these relations.

We recognize that the land where we reside was promised to the Saugeen Ojibway Nation in 1836 as part of Saugeen Treaty No. 45 ½ where SON negotiated with the Crown to give up 1.5 million acres of land south of Owen Sound for settlement in exchange “for a commitment to forever protect you from the encroachments of the whites.”

Only 18 years later SON was pressured into signing the 1854 Saugeen Peninsula Treaty No. 72.

Interpreted by settler governments as the surrender of the Saugeen Peninsula in exchange for reserves – certain tracts of land set aside – and proceeds from the sale of the land.

… and it was agreed that it will be highly desirable for us to make a full and complete surrender unto the Crown of that Peninsula known as the Saugeen and Owen Sound Indian Reserve, subject to certain restrictions and reservations to be hereinafter set forth.

One of these reserves was the Colpoy’s Bay reserve including 6,000 acres around what we currently know as Oxenden.

Only seven years after that, in 1861, SON was further pressured into signing the Colpoy’s Bay Reserve Treaty 93.

The Colpoy’s Bay Reserve (6,000 acres) was surrendered. Some residents moved to Neyaashiinigmiing and Saugeen, but the majority moved to Christian Island.

If you think of these dates as ancient history, it is easy to forget that these treaties were promised agreements with the government of the time that got broken again and again in short order.

You can only imagine the mayhem that would follow if the government decided that you could no longer live where you live and demanded you to relocate hundreds of kilometres from your home.

In 2022, aware that we could not undo what has been done, but could work together to restore and repair relationships and to build together a future that honoured the millenia of living in sustainable relationship to these lands, a group of Oxenden residents and friends came together to commission Anishnabek artist Charmaine Jenner to reproduce her stunning image of Ajiijak (the Crane) as a large scale mural on Grey Road 1.

This small effort toward reconciliation sparked beautiful friendships, and a hope that every time someone walks, hikes, bikes, or drives through Oxenden that they will be heartened by and inspired to engage in their own path toward reconciliation.

– from the Oxenden Indigenous Art Project Planning Group

This article is adapted from the land acknowledgement shared by Kelsey Carriere at the 2022 unveiling of Ajiijak. For more information, check out Polly Keeshig-Tobias’ book, “Illustrated History of the Chippewas of Nawash” or explore the SON Environment Office website.