The Legacy of Shingwaukonse: A Century of Native Leadership

J.R. Miller is a professor of history at the University of Saskatchewan,
the author of Skyscrapers Hide in the Heavens: A History of Indian-White
Relations in Canada, and co-editor of the Canadian Historical Review.

The rediscovery of Native history by anthropologists and historians
during the past two decades has produced rich insights into the story of
relations between Natives and newcomers in Canada. Among other things,
such scholarly investigations have restored First Nations leaders to
their rightful place in Canada’s story after too long a period of
neglect. As such leaders go, none are more deserving of being better
known than Shingwaukonse (Little Pine) and his sons, who provided “a
century of Native leadership” to their Ojibwa community at Garden
River, near Sault Ste Marie.

Janet Chute, an anthropologist at Dalhousie University, tells how
Shingwaukonse and his family provided skilful leadership during a
critical period of transition for the Ojibwa. They, like all First
Nations in the eastern half of the country, were unsettled by the
passing of their military role with the conclusion of the War of 1812,
and their control of their lands was threatened by the advancing mining
and settlement frontier from the 1840s onward. The Legacy of
Shingwaukonse provides a persuasive explanation of the way in which the
Garden River leaders, pursuing a clear strategy to secure recognition of
their control of their lands and resources, attempted to guide their
community through the threatening transition. Although these leaders did
not succeed in persuading government administrators to grant them
control of their lands, resources, and lives, their collective story is
as inspiring as it is ultimately dispiriting. It is no overstatement to
say that a large proportion of the social and economic problems that
many First Nations face today originate in that refusal to allow them
control of their own affairs.

Dr. Chute has combed through many archives and published works, both
primary and secondary, to assemble the elements of her analysis. She
weaves an impressively large body of evidence together, organizing it
around a theoretical debate in anthropology about the nature of
leadership. Although The Legacy of Shingwaukonse usefully revises the
literature on this anthropological debate, its greater contribution is
enriching an important chapter in Canadian history. While the work is
decidedly academic in tone and character, The Legacy of Singwaukonse is
a volume that anyone seriously interested in Native affairs should read
and ponder.