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Celebrating Indigenous History Month: Asking the right questions
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CONNOR LUCZKA
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter crluczka@midwesternnewspapers.com
TREATY 45 ½ – June is National Indigenous History Month, a time of reflection and learning, but the local history concerning Indigenous People surrounding Listowel is not well documented or well known. The reason for that gap is complicated and multi-faceted, but it can be found and understood. Before the arrival of Europeans, the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON) occupied two million acres from what is now the town of Arthur to Lake Huron and north to Georgian Bay. The land spread across the region and surrounded the Maitland River and what would become the town of Listowel. In 1836, The Saugeen Treaty no. 45 ½ opened 1.5 million acres (everything below the peninsula from Southampton to Owen Sound) “in exchange for economic assistance and protection from settler encroachment ‘…upon which proper houses shall be built for you, and proper assistance given to enable you to become civilized and to cultivate land, which you Great Father engages for ever to protect for you from the encroachments of the whites,’” according to the Saugeen Ojibway Nation Environment Office. Listowel would later incorporate 39 years later in 1875. The history of the region is complex and starts not here in Treaty 45 ½ but in Niagara, according to Randall Kahgee. Kahgee is a lawyer at Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP. He is also a former chief of Saugeen First Nation. Continued on page 6
Dan McNee Photo
TRACTOR TANDEM – Keira and Colton Bijman of Listowel enjoy a ride atop a vintage John Deere tractor during Premier Equipment Ltd.’s open house on June 10. It’s estimated that over 1,000 people attended the event over the course of the afternoon and evening last Friday. See more photos on page 10.
Mayor expresses interest in innovation committee Local community leaders attend June 8 luncheon CONNOR LUCZKA
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter crluczka@midwesternnewspapers.com
LISTOWEL – Innovation was the key subject of North Perth Mayor Todd Kasenberg’s luncheon on June 8, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. After speaking on the good, the bad, and the hopeful, Kasenberg turned his attention to the opportunities the COVID-19 pandemic may present to the community and the need for innovation. “Here’s the bomb I’m going to drop today,” he ended his speech. “It’s not the municipality’s role to solve the innovation problem in our commu-
nity, but what if we created an innovation lab or an innovation program amongst our businesses and organizations in our community, to sort of help the process along? “Could we find a way to nucleate an innovation solution in our community?” The luncheon was the first in a few years, and in that time, there have been a lot of developments to the municipality. “We’ve seen some new services and facilities in our community, our tax base has increased,” Kasenberg explained. “And this can lead in theory to further changes and improvements, services, an introduction of new services
and facilities. We’re certainly becoming a more diverse community and there’s a richness that comes from that and there’s work to do. We have renewed long-term care home funding. That was a big challenge that not only myself, but my predecessor was working towards. “Now we have a provincial government commitment to renew our long-term care homes in Listowel.” Aside from those changes, affordable housing, the problems arising from a lack of housing in the municipality, and youth leaving the area have also become worse. Continued on page 2
What’s Inside Relay For Life................page 3 Opinion.....................pages 4-5 Indigenous History.......page 6 Seniors Month......pages 14-16 Sports...................pages 17-19 Classifieds............pages 22-23
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