Our First Nations Culture, Our Stories, Our People, Our Heritage

Native American Heritage Aboriginal Traditions

What was Aboriginal life like in Northern Ontario 7,000 years ago?

The Laurentian Ice Sheets were retreating, exposing large tracts of tundra plain. Herds of large game, primarily Caribou and Moose arrived, grazing on vast plains of shrubs and winter vegetation found north of Lake Superior. Hunters followed. Our Cree and Ojibway ancestors were skilled and highly nomadic hunters, eventually settling along the banks of rivers and lakes in the James Bay Frontier area.

We were a people with the intuitive cunning to live in harmony with the land. To use everything within our natural surroundings. To withstand the harshest of conditions.

Ancient Aboriginal Traditions

Our Stories Can Now Be Told

We marvel at the genius of our ancestors, individuals who fashioned plants into nest, created clothing from hides, preserved fish and game, harvested nature's bounty, constructed shelters, and developed a community dynamic, a way of like that lasted for thousands of years.

Tragically, the one thing that our elders could not foresee was the coming of the Europeans. Four centuries ago, the incursion of these newcomers was to wreak disastrous results upon our continuity of existence - an existence older than recorded history itself. Our stories, our values, our culture were almost obliterated. Entire Cree and Ojibway generations grew up forbidden to learn and live our Aboriginal heritage and traditions.

A new flame has been lit in the history of our people. Our stories can now be told.

Cree and Ojibway Legends : Mother Earth : The Drum : Moon Time
Four Directions and Four Seasons : Birch Bark Canoe : Incenses and Smudging
Sweatlodge Ceremony : Pipe Ceremony : Sacred Tobacco