The Lansdowne Letters: No Skip, No Lie!

After my father left for Nakina on March 16, 1961 

in an effort to calm down Mr. Gowan the Indian Agent 
and save his own job, a wall of silence regarding
“The Starving Indians of Lansdowne House Incident"
dropped down around me.

It was as if all the white adults in the community had agreed
to say nothing about it in my presence.  

Living in a remote northern community
as a ten-turning-eleven-year-old meant
that the world largely ceased to exist beyond the horizon.

My family had no telephone and no television.
Without an aerial, the only transistor radio reception
we had was intermittently via atmospheric skip.
The newspapers and magazines that came
in by plane were at least two weeks old.

My only contact with the Outside was by letter.
So there was little opportunity for me to find out more
about the cartons of clothing my class had gathered
for the Ojibway people in Lansdowne House.

Duncan McRae in Isolated Lansdowne House

Looking Toward the Father's Island

Northern Ontario, Canada, Winter 1961

Photograph by Donald MacBeath

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Life rolled along, and no one would ever guess what was happening
by reading Mom’s newsy letter to Nana:




On Thursday, March 23, 1961
my mother wrote to her mother-in-law, Myrtle:



My Mother, Sara (MacDonald) MacBeath
Circa 1948
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

Dear Mother:
Most of the birthdays are over now.
The children all loved the things you sent.
The blouses were lovely.
The overalls you sent for Roberta
will come in very handy.
We will save them for special occasions.

My Grandmother, Myrtle (Pratt) MacBeath
Circa 1958
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Roberta has gained a pound since we arrived.
She doesn’t want to stay in the house at all.
Every day she brings her boots and coat for me to put on her.
She roars if I won’t.

She spends the whole morning outside,
and after her nap, the rest of the day.
She has learned to walk in her boots.

Duncan Jr. came over and spent the day with us today.
Roberta and Dunc had a great time together.
However every once in a while,
Roberta would take his boots and coat to him
as if to say, “It’s time to go home now.”

Baby Dunc and Baby Bertie

Lansdowne House 1960 and Montreal 1961 

   Photo of Duncan by Donald MacBeath

Photo of Roberta by Dawn White

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

© Dawn White
All Rights Reserved

Louise had a three decker birthday cake,
two layers chocolate and one white.

Louise made a white cake for Barbara.

Of course, they both had flashy icing.

My One Birthday Photo

Mom with Me (center)

Sister Donnie (lower right)

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada 1956  

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Don and I went over to the school last night,
and Don worked on his inventories.

We went to Dunc and Maureen's for coffee.
Anne, Mike, and little Kathie were there.

When they were getting ready to go home, they put her in her tikinogin.
Kathie loves it, and no wonder.  It’s lined with fur and a flannelette blanket.
They can stand them up and rock them or lay them down like a bed.
They are much better than a baby carriage.

Ojibway Woman with Baby in Tikinogin

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada, 1960  

Photo by Donald MacBeath

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

All in all we’ve had a very peaceful week.
Donnie and Roy also enjoyed the things you sent.
The girls like their barrettes and wear them all the time.

Maureen is going to shampoo and set Louise’s hair with a Toni, I think.
Louise is spending Friday and Saturday with them.

Maureen is going to teach Louise how to sew and use a sewing machine.
They are going to make a skirt for Louise out of a pretty floral grey and blue material.
I must close for now and get at the grocery order.

I hope you and Aunt Maude are both well.  We all miss you.

With love,
Sara

P.S.  The plastic panties will certainly come in handy.  
        Thank you for your thoughtfulness.
Sara 

Roy, Donnie, and Barbie

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

My mother’s letters remind me always of the happy childhood I had,
and it’s fun to hear her anecdotes about us as children.

Fortunately for Bertie, who loved playing outdoors so much,
every Ojibway adult in the neighborhood kept a sharp eye on her.
Once Bertie learned to walk, she covered territory fast.

If she stumbled in her boots, they came running with a stick of wood,
a shovel, anything they could grab in case the Indian dogs went for her.

They made sure she didn’t wander too far from the back door.
I remember one time in the spring when she started off
on the path through the bush to school with her dolly.
An Ojibway man found her sitting in a puddle and washing her dolly
and immediately carried toddler and dolly back to Mom.

This letter vividly brings back my overnight stay at Duncan and Maureen’s home.
Maureen, even though she was married and the mother of Baby Dunc,
was only ten or eleven years older than I.
Since there were no white girls my age in the village,
she took me under her wing and spent many hours with me sewing,
baking cookies, and talking so that I wouldn’t feel lonely.

 

Maureen McRae Pulling Groceries on a Toboggan 
Father's Island, Lansdowne House, Winter 1961
McRae Home, Mainland, Lansdowne House (right)
Photos by Donald MacBeath 
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved


But the things I remember most from that weekend 
were the radio which played constantly thanks to the DOT aerial
and the astounding news report I heard.

The broadcast which came out of Winnipeg
reported that the situation among the starving Indians
in northern Ontario was so dire that
the Air Force was parachuting emergency food supplies
into the isolated communities. 

To be continued ...

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue


Bay of Fundy out of Westport, Brier Island
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Notes:  

1.  Mr. Gowan:  As the chief administrator for the Department of Indian Affairs in Nakina,

     the Indian Agent managed the lives of all First Nations people in his jurisdiction

     which included the native people in Lansdowne House.

2.  White Adults:

     As a white girl turning eleven, I had little occasion to interact with Ojibway adults other than at the weekly

     movies or if I crossed paths with them around the community. 

3.  Atmospheric Skip:

     Wikipedia:
     "In radio communication, skywave or skip refers to the propagation of radio waves reflected or refracted 
     back toward Earth from the ionosphere, an electrically charged layer of the upper atmosphere. Since it is not
     limited by the curvature of the Earth, skywave propagation can be used to communicate beyond the horizon, 
     at intercontinental distances. It is mostly used in the shortwave frequency bands.

     "As a result of skywave propagation, a signal from a distant AM broadcasting station, a shortwave station, 
     or—during sporadic E propagation conditions (principally during the summer months in both hemispheres)—
     a low frequency television station can sometimes be received as clearly as local stations.  

     Most long-distance shortwave (high frequency) radio communication—between 3 and 30 MHz—is a result 
     of skywave propagation. Since the early 1920s amateur radio operators (or "hams"), limited to lower transmitter
     power than broadcast stations, have taken advantage of skywave for long distance (or "DX") communication."

Skywave or Skip hf / Shortwave Propagation

Wikipedia

   

4.  Duncan, Maureen, and Duncan Jr. McRae:

     Duncan worked for the Department of Transport, and one of his duties was running the weather
     station in Lansdowne House.  He and his wife Maureen were good friends with my parents.
     Their infant son Duncan "Duncan" Jr. (about 11 months old) often played with my sister Bertie
     (almost 24 months old).

5.  Mike, Anne, and little Kathie:  Mike O'Flaherty was the nurse at the Nursing Station.
     Anne was his wife and Kathie their daughter (about 5 months old).

  

6.  Toni Hair Home Perm:  What every straight-haired young girl longed for.

       

   

7.  News Report:

     This was one of two media reports I heard or saw at the time.  The other was a newspaper clip I saw
     on a table at a later time at the McRae house.  The newspaper clip also reported the parachuting of supplies
     for the starving Indians into Northern Ontario.  I don't know what newspaper the clip came from.

For Map Lovers Like Me:

Route Map for Austin Airways, 1985

with Lansdowne House west of James Bay

Wikipedia

Location of Lansdowne House and Nakina

Wikimedia  edited

Lansdowne House

Sketch by M. Louise Barbour