> Looking at an ad regarding a powwow that occurs in Topeka,
> KS at Lake Shawnee on Sept 1-3,1995, I noticed that the head
> dancers are Citizen Potawatomi and Kickapoo.
>
> As usual, I get curious how the Potawatomi and Kickapoo
> were relocated in Kansas.
> According to a book I own (The Encyclopedia of North American
> Indian Tribes) the Potawatomi and Kickapoo originally lived
> near the Great Lakes and of course with changes of time, they
> moved westward.
A couple of years ago, I attended a gathering of Potawatomi along the eastern
shore of Lake Huron in Ontario at the Kettle and Stoney Points First Nations
territories. The organizers of the event had researched their story.
Apparently, the Potawatomi fled across the Detroit River, escaping into
Canada, rather than be "deported" along the Trail of Death to the western
territories. Once in Canada, they sought and received sanctuary from the
Ojibway in their territories in southern Ontario.
However, fearing Canadian authorities would arrest them and hand them over to
the Americans, they tried to blend into the surroundings, suppressing their
own language, customs and identity. Few spoke of their origins to their
children or their children's children. So successfully did they hide their
true identity and adopt "protective colouring" that many Potawatomi in these
communities deny that side of their heritage. Others are now trying to trace
families with the original group and their ties to other Potawatomi in the
U.S. and have suceeded to a large extent.
As an additional note, the Kettle and Stoney Points territories are currently
in the middle of a confrontation with Ontario police over their reclamation
of a provincial park. The land was taken over by the Canadian military
during the Second World War. It promised to return the land after the war
was over. The government never did. Activists from the Stoney reseve took
over the military base about two months ago. They moved into the provincial
park about a week and half ago. One person was shot and killed a couple of
days ago when the provincial police moved in dressed in riot gear and armed
with automatic weapons. There are differing accounts about whether the
activists were armed or not, who shot first, whether there was provocation
and from which side and who in the government ordered the police to move in.
Sorry, I know this is off-topic. But I thought the background might interest
some people.
Dan David
shmohawk@tvo.org
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Comments from NativeNet listowner, Gary Trujillo (gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us):
There was a moving account of one of the side-effects of the confrontation
mentioned by Dan in this article on Friday evening's "The World at Six"
radio news broadcast from CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). They
interviewed a Native girl whose school bus passes the site where the RCMP
has set up their base of operations near the park. This girl talked about
the uneasy feeling she had when seeing the Mounties standing around, knowing
that one of them might end up being responsible for shooting someone inside
the camp - possibly someone she knows. They also interviewed the school's
principal, who talked about the tension within the school itself, and how
Native and non-Native students are drawn into a kind of confrontation based
largely on the kinds of things they hear at home and in the news. (The
report was done by the CBC's Kurt Petrovich from 100 Mile House, Ontario.)
As has been reported on this list, the RCMP has brought in armoured personnel
carriers, on loan from the Canadian military. There was a report of a police
helicopter being fired on from the camp a couple of days ago. From present
indications, a violent confrontation in the days ahead seems quite possible.