Inaugural Chief Pinesi Day held to honour long-forgotten ‘great warrior’

One japanese Ontario First Nation is marking this Canada Day by honouring an vital however largely forgotten historic determine.

The Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation is celebrating the primary ever Chief Pinesi Day and reflecting on the lifetime of Chief Fixed Pinesi — the final grand chief of the Algonquins to stay at his historic looking grounds close to Rideau Falls. 

Pinesi performed an important function within the Conflict of 1812 in opposition to the US, serving to make sure the survival of the British colonies that might later grow to be Canada. On Friday, lots of his descendents gathered on the positioning of the grounds in Ottawa for the primary time in roughly 200 years.

“We’re reclaiming the lands, if you’ll, and the titles that Chief Pinesi held in [the] early 1800s as much as his passing in 1834,” stated Merv Sarazin, a seventh-generation descendant of Pinesi and emcee of Friday’s occasion on the New Edinburgh Fieldhouse.

Sarazin, a councillor with the First Nation west of Ottawa, stated the grand chief misplaced sons within the Conflict of 1812 and fought at vital battles within the Niagara area. With out his efforts and the struggles of different Indigenous fighters, there could also be no Canada Day to have fun at this time, he stated. 

Gravesite now a parking zone

Within the early 1800s, Pinesi led a band of about 264 households as Grand Chief of the Algonquins. His looking territory was centred on the confluence of the Rideau and Ottawa rivers, a typical journey route for paddlers heading to the St. Lawrence River and south to the Gulf of Mexico

However regardless of his vital function within the area, Pinesi has been largely forgotten by historical past, stated Wendy Jocko, chief of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation and one other of Pinesi’s descendants.

“I do not suppose many individuals know that Ottawa was his looking floor — and really, that is the place the Parliament buildings are located, on the confluence of the Rideau and the Ottawa rivers,” Jocko informed CBC Radio’s All In A Day forward of Friday’s commemoration.

Jocko described her ancestor as a “nice warrior” who usually petitioned the British Crown to return his lands. However these requests have been by no means honoured, she stated, with Pinesi left in obscurity and poverty. 

“He was principally pushed out into his territory as encroachment occurred, sadly,” she stated. “And even in demise, his grave at Oka, [near the] Lake of Two Mountains [in Quebec] … has been paved over by a parking zone.”

Together with honouring Pinesi’s legacy, Friday’s occasion was additionally meant to each acknowledge the presence and resilience of the Algonquin individuals and provide an opportunity for reconciliation with settlers.

It included drumming and singing, dancing, guided walks of the territory and different actions. It additionally coincided with the opening of Chief Pinesi Portage Path, an 8,000-year-old Indigenous pathway that weaves by means of the Rockcliffe and New Edinburgh neighbourhoods.

The roughly three-kilometre path has seven interpretive stops marking the best way. 

Sarazin stated they hope to make the gathering of Pinesi’s descendants an annual occasion, so as to correctly keep in mind the person and his function in historical past — and provides his identify the respect it is lengthy deserved. 

“We’re right here to revive it and proceed it,” he stated. “It is an ideal story.”