Historic wampum belt ceremony signifies bond between Sault, Garden River
By: James Hopkin
‘Today was the first step in the journey’: Gift exchange between City of Sault Ste. Marie and Garden River highlights ongoing relationship building between two neighbours.
Garden River First Nation and the City of Sault Ste. Marie are forging ahead with a relationship based on mutual respect and cooperation — and now, that relationship has been solidified and formally acknowledged in the form of a wampum belt.
A ceremony was held inside of a teaching lodge in the First Nation Monday as part of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day set aside to honour survivors of the residential school system, those who never made it home, as well as their families and communities.
Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker was presented with a two-row wampum belt during the ceremony, which was attended by staff and council members from each of the neighbouring communities, in addition to a number of survivors who attended Shingwauk and Spanish residential schools.
“There was an invisible line between Garden River and Sault Ste. Marie for so long — hundreds of years — and this day, today, has caused that invisible line to be broken down, and to have a feeling of wellness,” Garden River First Nation Chief Karen Bell told SooToday following the ceremony.
Shoemaker called Monday’s ceremony a “critical building block” in the relationship between the City of Sault Ste. Marie and Garden River First Nation, which was initially fostered by former mayor Christian Provenzano and former chief Andy Rickard during their time serving as leaders of their respective communities.
Earlier this year, city council voted to move ahead with an economic collaboration with Garden River as part of the First Nation – Municipal Community Economic Development Initiative (CEDI), a partnership between the two communities from November 2022 until January 2025.
In September, the First Nation announced that it completed its Cultural Competency Project in order to strengthen collaborative efforts and understanding with local partners in Sault Ste. Marie through set of cultural workshops that were delivered for both Garden River First Nation and Sault Ste. Marie staff and leadership. The project was made possible through a Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiative funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage.
“We have to mutually prosper if we’re going to walk down this path of reconciliation together, if we’re going to walk down the path of prosperity together — and today was the first step in the journey,” Shoemaker said.
Although the overall tone of Monday’s ceremony was celebratory, it also provided a platform for residential school survivors like Indigenous role model and advocate Barbara Nolan to share their own deeply personal stories about the residential school system in the spirit of truth and reconciliation. Nolan told attendees that she was just five years old when she and her seven-year-old sister first entered residential school in Spanish, Ont. as children that didn’t know a single word of English at the time.
“I remember walking in there — but then we turned, and our parents were gone. And we started to cry,” said an emotional Nolan. “We were crying, and right away those two nuns that had greeted us there grabbed us — not just took us gently, but grabbed us — and they started strapping us with a big, long strap on our tiny little hands.”
A gift exchange between the City of Sault Ste. Marie and Garden River First Nation and a feast held inside the Garden River Community Centre capped off the ceremony.
“We built relationships with this city that never would have taken place if we did not have this — two sets of staff making that effort known and moving this along,” said Bell. “I’m so grateful for this day, and how fitting for it to be on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.”
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