Gathering in the name of community unity

Jeff Green | Jan 22, 2014

A small gathering was held on January 18 at the Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake. Elder Donna Hollywood, who has been involved in educational, cultural and political Aboriginal pursuits for decades, called people together in the name of unity.

A pipe ceremony brought the gathering into focus, and it was followed by some spirited music and dancing courtesy of a young drum made up of members of the St. Pierre family.

The gathering had a clear unity theme, and this was exemplified by the pipe ceremony, which was presided over by Martin Rennick. He made reference to the divisions that have plagued the Aboriginal community locally for many years, which have led to a small number of inter-related families affiliating themselves with three different First Nations. A further division was fomented last year when the 500 members of the Shabot Obaadjiwan were removed from the voters' list for the ratification of the Agreement in Principle for the Algonquin Land Claim.

“What I wanted to do was to cut through all those politics and bring people together to eat and dance and talk about what they have in common,” Donna Hollywood said of the event, “and I felt it was a success in those terms.”