As the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is almost here, a tourism agency in northern Ontario is highlighting a series of guided walks that use education as a tool for reconciliation.
Wikwemikong Tourism, based on Manitoulin Island, offers educational experiences providing insight into some of the darkest times in Canadian history.
From the site of the Holy Cross Mission Residential School to the oldest Catholic church in northern Ontario, the tours invite attendees to learn more about the residential schools with guides sharing personal experiences with the government-sponsored system.
Through these nuanced accounts, tour participants will gain a greater understanding of pre-colonial history, multigenerational trauma and the resilience of Indigenous Peoples.
Luke Wassegijig, tourism manager for Wikwemikong Tourism, says the most popular of the guided walks offered is called the Unceded Journey.
“That tour essentially talks about our community’s journey to become one of Canada’s only officially recognized unceded territories,” Wassegijig explained. “So, it goes through a timeline of history, from pre-contact to the time of treaty in wampum and the two significant treaties that make up Manitoulin Island.”
The tour takes an in-depth look at the residential school that existed on Manitoulin Island, which was large in terms of size and population, with the student population made up of children from many of the surrounding communities. It also explores the impacts of the nearby Spanish residential school.
“It’s a really transformational tour that’s very impactful, and really for us, it’s about changing colonial narratives. Because a lot of the stories that are told, and the narrative that’s talked through these tours, are from the community. It’s stuff that you don’t hear in textbooks, stuff that’s not written typically in history books,” Wassegijig explained, adding that it is a very personal endeavour for the guides leading the walks.
“A lot of our guides share different stories of family experiences and lived experiences,” he continued. “One of the slogans of our organizations is, ‘Telling our story through our lens,’ and we do that through our Unceded Journey tour and other experiences. Everything for our community, everything for our organization is grounded in history.”
“Visitors get an opportunity to touch, feel and engage their senses in, really, in the wampums themselves and get to see that story visually,” he shared, explaining that the Unceded Journey tour teaches participants about several wampum belts.
“The really impactful part is when we get to the Holy Cross Mission in ruins, and we talk about that era of residential schools. But also the lasting intergenerational trauma that results from that,” he continued.
“We get them to the lake, and we talk about our community’s connection to water, of course, on Manitoulin Island, surrounded by Lake Huron. We talk about the significance of that lake to us.”
“Then we end the tour again, bringing them back full circle, back to our Padaqua Memorial Trail, and there are some totems that are mounted there,” he explained, adding that the tour closes with a discussion about traditional Indigenous governance and clan systems, and how that interacts with the community.
In addition to operating tours throughout the year, the agency also hosts annual events for Canada’s National Day of Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30.
“For the last five years, we have hosted an event where we are doing healing dances, and we look at honouring some of the survivors,” Wassegijig explained.
Last year, they unveiled a plaque that shares information on the significance of that particular site and the other nearby schools, both residential and day schools, that are located in the region.
On Sept. 30, the organization is hosting a Jingle Dress Healing Dance and Every Child Matters walk at the Holy Cross Mission Ruins, honouring the strength, courage, and resilience of residential school survivors and those who never returned home from that system.
Wassegijig explained that he believes education is the most important tool for reaching reconciliation, as it allows Indigenous people to reclaim their history by sharing the truth of what their communities endured.
“It tells our story through our lens. It allows us to change that colonial narrative through truth, from the community’s lens. It allows students, everyday Canadians as well as international travellers, an opportunity to learn about what First Nation history is.”
He says that Indigenous tourism is about empowering the community.
“I think we’ve seen that so much over the last few years,” Wasseigjiig explained. “It’s about empowering community, allowing our people to reclaim stories, and we allow Indigenous tourism to be that space and that vehicle to mobilize those stories and to mobilize that history.”
“That’s what we’re there to do, connect the people and the place and the stories.”
Find out more about Wikwemikong Tourism here and book a tour here.
By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.
