I have been going to Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON) since before I even knew what a treaty with Indigenous People was. And when I say SON, that includes Sauble Beach.
I’ve never really been a big fan of crowded places, and beaches like Sauble are no different. Crowded with so many people you can’t breathe, scattered about with their umbrellas, their beach toys, and their garbage.
People flock to beaches to “get away” from the life they have built in the towns and cities, flooding to scenic places beautifully untouched by human hands and leaving behind their disrespect (and garbage).
I am now in my 50s, and while I still enjoy an excellent trip to the beach, I find any recent trips to Sauble, Wasaga, or Port Elgin beaches left a sour taste in my mouth and a desire to get a tetanus shot.
Garbage, cigarette butts, broken glass, and dirty diapers are just some items left behind on the beach by “visitors.” Pollution from the thousands of vehicles that roll through the town and surrounding areas, parking issues causing people to think it is OK to park on the beach, local council trying to remove the dunes because they are “in the way,” disrespecting the annual migration of the endangered piping plovers, to name a few things that are so wrong up there.
However, any visits I made to the “south side” of Sauble Beach, better known as the “native side,” showed me that land stewardship does work. Taking care of the natural beauty, keeping it clean, and being mindful of all of our relations that use the area (including birds, animals, and fish) in an unselfish and mindful way has made such a huge difference.
The recent attacks on the Original People of Turtle Island, specifically regarding the Superior Court’s decision to uphold the treaty and return the never-surrendered beach to its rightful owners, have me (and many others) shaking my head in disbelief.
What has me angry is that even in this time of supposed Truth and Reconciliation, fabricated and insincere so-called “land acknowledgements,” and proof that our land was indeed stolen from our ancestors, people still have the nerve to say that they “own the beach,” refusing to do the work behind their empty statements, continuing to belittle and berate their Indigenous neighbours and now, attempting to re-steal land that is not rightfully theirs.
The Town of South Bruce Peninsula cares about money. That is all.
Saugeen Ojibway Nation cares about the land and all their relations that live on it, including the animals, birds, and fishes.
There is a great need for all people to remember that this so-called country was built on treaties with the Original People – nation to nation treaties that are bigger than a few town councillors crying around about money.
In 1613, the first treaty was created between the Haudenosaunee and Dutch traders. It was recorded on paper by the Dutch, and the Two-Row Wampum Belt, known as Teiohate Kaswenta in the Mohawk language, by the Haudenosaunee.
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights summarized the Two-Row Wampum Treaty as follows:
“The agreement is founded upon the respectful co-existence of two different nations.
“The wampum stands for equity and respect, depicting two boats, each navigating the river of life without steering the other. Each boat contains the life, laws, and people of each culture. The agreement will last ‘as long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, as long as the rivers run downhill, and as long as the grass grows green.’
“In other words, this agreement will last as long as the people do.
“The agreement was expanded and affirmed nearly 150 years later in 1764 at the Treaty of Niagara, where more than 2,000 chiefs renewed and extended the Covenant Chain of Friendship, a multi-nation alliance between Indigenous nations and the British Crown. The proceedings included a reading of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which places a duty upon the Crown to engage in treaty-making with Indigenous peoples.
“Officials also read wampum belts, including the Two Row Wampum, to all assembled to affirm the spirit and intent of the relationship. Indigenous nations that were present believed the agreements established their powers of self-determination for as long as the people live on the land.”
“One row symbolizes the Haudenosaunee people with their laws and customs, while the other represents European laws and customs. As nations move together side-by-side on the River of Life, they are to avoid overlapping or interfering with one another.” – John Borrows, Indigenous legal scholar
All subsequent treaties were born from this original treaty.
We are all treaty people.
Your ancestors and ours made those treaties, even though future generations pretend to forget this fact, it is still a fact.
White, Black, Yellow and Red. Anybody living on Turtle Island is bound by the treaties.
Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean it isn’t so.
Truth before Reconciliation. Learn the treaties in whatever area you live in, and if you can’t find it, it probably means there isn’t one, and you are standing on unceded, stolen land.
Learn to live by the original treaty, in peace with your neighbours, paddle your own canoe, let us paddle ours. All with PEACE, FRIENDSHIP AND RESPECT.
All my relations.
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Cory Bilyea is an Indigenous journalist currently working for Midwestern Newspapers. She is a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River, better known as Onkwehonwe, the original people. Cory is a survivor of intergenerational trauma caused by residential schools. She can be reached at cbilyea@midwesternnewspapers.com.
