The Lansdowne Letters: Kikinoamagewinini, pintiken.

My father's lessons in the Ojibway language
started the day he arrived in Lansdowne House.

The Father's Island

Photo by D. B. MacBeath, 9-13-1960

"Here are my trunks landed by canoe on the Father's beach.

The Brother hauled them from here to my cottage for me."

© M L (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Let me make clear at this point
that I will be using my father's words
that were used in that time and place.
I am not being disrespectful,
nor am I ignorant.

I want to portray how, half a century ago, 
the white people of Northern Ontario
spoke about its indigenous people.

Today Canadian Aboriginal people consist of
the First Nation, Inuit, and Métis populations.
Canadians no longer use Indian and Eskimo.
Words such as these are considered pejorative.  

In 1960 the First Nation people were called Indians.
The Indians in Lansdowne House were Ojibwa,
although my father sometimes referred to them as Ojibawa.
They spoke the Ojibway language.

Ojibwa is derived from Outchibou,
a seventeenth century name for a group of Aboriginals
living north of Sault Ste. Marie
between Georgian Bay on Lake Huron
and eastern Lake Superior.

Georgian Bay (Blue) on Lake Huron

The Great Lakes from Upper Left:

Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario

The Canadian-American border is dot-dashed in.

Wikipedia

By 1800 four groups of Ojibwa had formed.
The Neskantaga First Nation 
(formerly Lansdowne House Indian Band)
is descended from the Northern Ojibwa 
who inhabited the boreal forest
of northern Ontario and Manitoba
and intermarried with the Swampy Cree 
who lived further north and west.

Today the Neskantaga First Nation
is categorized as Oji-Cree,
and it is considered a distinct nation
from its Ojibwa and Cree forebears.
The people refer to themselves as the Anishininiwag,
which means Original People.  
The Canadian Encyclopedia

Wikipedia

Anishininiwag or Oji-Cree Territory (Orange)

Wikipedia

Now back to my father.
He flew into Lansdowne on September 13, 1960
on a Norseman bush plane with pontoons  
and bucking a strong headwind all the way.

With help from Brother Bernier,
he transported his belongings to the two-room "cottage"
he would share with Uno Manilla.

He checked out his new school 
to discover not a stick of furniture in it.

He spent the afternoon learning to operate a canoe 
he rented from the Hudson Bay post
so he could travel back and forth
between the Father's Island and the Mainland.

He met Father Ouimet, the Oblate missionary,
with whom he shared many meals at the rectory.

Norseman

Photo by D. B. MacBeath, 9-13-1960

"Close up of the Norseman in which I flew up.

The fellow on the wing is pumping gas for the trip."

© M L (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Finally, after a long and exhausting day,

my father found himself alone in his cottage

in the early evening,
but not for long.

Dad opened the door to shake a couple of rugs.

In a few moments he was surrounded by

a crowd of Indian children all saying,

"Kikinoamagewinini, pintiken."

In my father's words:

"To be agreeable, I said, 'Yes,' 

and before I knew what was happening, 

I had the house full of Indian children.  

I didn’t know what to do with them 

or what to say to them to get them out.  

Apparently, they did know what 'yes' is in English.

"Fortunately, the Father came along 

right at the right time and got them out for me.  

Right then, I invited the Father in to tell me, 

first, what I had said yes to, 

and then, what he had said to get them out." 

So began my father's language lessons

with Father Ouimet.

"I have learned some words of the Ojibway tongue,"
my father wrote that night. 
"Not very many, but a few.  
Here they are:

         Kikinoamagewinini...................Teacher (male)

         Kikinomatewigamik..................School

         Pintiken.....................................Come in (imperative, 

                                                            and apparently, interrogative)                                                                                  

         Ni wi pin tike.............................I want to get, or come in

         Kawin........................................No

         Ein ein.......................................Yes

         Matchon....................................Get out, or leave

         Kiwen........................................Go, go home, or go back"

There was no turning back for my father.

His northern adventure had truly begun.

Symbol of the Anishinaabe Peoples 

including the Algonquin, Nipissing, Oji-Cree (Anishininiwag), Odawa and the Potawatomi. 

Wikimedia