CPTNET
CAPE CROKER, ONTARIO - Place of Healing, Place of Hope
by Doug Pritchard
Mar. 1, 1998

The oral history of the Chippewas of Nawash records that the waters
around their territory at Cape Croker were a healing and a burial
site for Ojibwa from all over the north and west Great Lakes
region. A 10-acre site just north of the Nawash First Nation has
artifacts proving that aboriginal people have used this land for
over 2,000 years. Burial sites and human remains have also been
found. Cape Croker is located near Georgian Bay 150 miles (190km)
northwest of Toronto.

Now this site is slated for cottage development by the current
owner. But the Chippewas believe this is a sacred burial site and
should be protected in perpetuity.

Darlene Johnston, Land Rights Researcher for the Chippewas,
explained their dilemma for a group of CPT Reserve Corps applicants
visiting Cape Croker in late February. "The Ontario Registrar of
Cemeteries is willing to consider our case, but he wants to know
the exact extent of the burial ground, and wants the graves opened
to verify whose bones they are. That would mean desecrating the
site in order to protect it."

Limited archaeological work will be done again this spring under
the direction of Chippewa elders. This is a classic conflict
between development and tradition. But the property owner has been
patient, and the Chippewas have been patient. This site has always
been a powerful place of healing, a place of hope.