By Rajitha Sivakumaran
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F
irstTel Communications Corporation occupies a special niche in
the telecommunication industry — it is wholly owned by the Wik-
wemikong Unceded Indian Reserve of Manitoulin Island, the world’s
largest freshwater island located in Northern Ontario. The history of the
area echoes other stories of aboriginal-colonialist interactions, but the
present-day outcome is far from the dilapidation and cultural ruin that
was once predicted.
In 1836, the Bond HeadTreaty was invoked to encourage the First Nations
people of Upper Canada to migrate to Manitoulin Island. Here was an op-
portunity to return to a more traditional lifestyle, undisturbed by colonial
settlements. A large-scale migration did not come to pass, but there were
communities already present on the island, such as the Odawa. As time
passed, the Odawa, amalgamating with the Ojibway and Pottawatomi
nations, gave rise to the Three Fires Confederacy (Wikwemikong band).
A few years ago marked the 150th anniversary of the McDougall Treaty,
JUNE 2016
H
business elite canada 17
