Flag raising marks new unity (5 photos)

History was made and celebrated with the official flag raising of the Serpent River First Nation (SRFN) flag at its permanent location at Elliot Lake’s Miners’ Memorial at noon on Thursday.

The ceremony, attended by SRFN Chief Elaine Johnston and members of her council and Elliot Lake Mayor Dan Marchisella and members of his council, signals a new working relationship between the neighboring municipalities and a move to reconcile past differences.

The event was also held to recognize traditional SRFN territory signed as part of the Robinson-Huron Treaty in 1850 and honour National Indigenous Peoples Day. Elliot Lake is located within SRFN territory.

The day also marked the first day of summer and dignitaries and a large group of residents from both municipalities watched the flag raised under sunny skies.

Drummer Bud Jacobs started the celebration with a drum song and was introduced by Chief Johnston who said, “it’s just to get us started in a good way because the drum gives us a positive vibration for our event today.”

SRFN elder Emma Meawasige gave a prayer of thanks at the ceremony

Mayor Dan Marchisella acknowledged the two events celebrated on June 21 but pointed out “this flag is not going up just for a day.”

The mayor also pointed to the recent tentative agreement by both councils to create a formal working arrangement between the two communities to work on land use, including waterfront development, and economic issues jointly.

“Yes, we want to be friends,” the mayor said of the flag raising and agreement for a joint and equal working arrangement agreed to by both councils. “Everyone’s hearts, spirits and minds were definitely in the right place.”

“Long before Highway 108 existed, long before the town of Elliot Lake was even dreamed of, before logging into the north and long before Europeans ventured to this new land, there was people here, people with traditions, people with values, people with strong relations to the land, these were the Anishinaabe people, people I have grown to respect,” the mayor said.

Mayor Marchisella said growing up in Elliot Lake and going to school with students from the SRFN community and as an adult he came to realize the differences in living in the two municipalities.

“I never knew there was a different standard for quality of life just a few kilometers down the highway,” he said. “Some of what I have learned as an adult and the last few years is quite embarrassing and just plain wrong. We know the struggle our neighbors have endured.”

He said with the federal government acknowledgement of the wrongs the First Nation’s people endured, it was time for positive steps at the local level for reconciliation.

“We must show our respect for their contributions and recognize the role of treaty. Recognizing the Huron treaty of 1850…we are all treaty people, we are all equal.”

He said the flag raising is a “new chapter in our history.”

“This is a great day,” Chief Johnston said in her address at the ceremony, thanking her council for its input in the reconciliation process.

“Our people come from this territory. When the (1850 Robinson-Huron) treaty was agreed upon…our elders came up here to Elliot Lake, the place we came for ceremonies. What was told to me is that our ancestors came here before they agreed to the treaty to talk to our community members and our leaders to say what are we going to do? So, they came here and had this discussion and had ceremony here in Elliot Lake before they…. agreed to the treaty.” Chief Johnston said.

The ceremonial ground is where the current hospital is, she added.

“Elliot Lake has traditional significance for us.”

“We are all treaty people and we need to move together and work together…to benefit for both our communities.”

Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP Carol Hughes also acknowledged the significance of the ceremony.

“We as a country are going in the right direction,” she said, of the federal government’s acknowledgement for wrong-doings experienced by First Nation people.

“To have this flag here really locks in, hand in hand, the work that has been done over the years and that will continue to be done,” the MP said. “The respect that the First Nations have been asking for. decades, centuries, it’s time to right the wrongs and this is one of those reconciliation pieces that start to fit into the puzzle.”

“You are witnessing a part of history,” she said.

“We’re all treaty people. We’re all part of one earth, the water, the land that is here and every one of us counts on each other to make sure we can wake up with our families tomorrow, smile and enjoy. All of it is tied together,” Algoma Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha.

He urged people to take the time to learn about native ways and traditions.

“We have to learn what their contributions were and what their struggles were… so we can all share what we have here,” he added. “This is a beautiful site. I don’t think there’s a more perfect place for this flag. “I thank the creator for bringing us together and we’re all amongst friends here.”

The chief and mayor officially raised the flag.