A Return Visit to Stoney Point

Last Monday, October 20, 2008, I had a chance to visit Aazhoodena - Aazhoodenaang Enjibaajig - "The People Who Live Over There". My cousin by marriage, Carrie, who lives in Grand Bend, kindly offered to drive me.





It had been five years since I had last been able to visit with Carolyn "Cully" George Bressette, and her brother, Pierre George, so I didn't know what sort of reception I would receive. So many memories came flooding back as we approached the gate. The man on duty said Cully was still living in her house, so he let us in, and there we were - at her door. She invited us in, and I was delighted to be able to have a visit with Cully and her daughter and eight-month old grandson who were visiting also.



Cully showed us all her quilts, and crafts, which were lovely. Carrie got a dreamcatcher for her daughter, Bianca, to take with her to Denmark when she leaves in the new year to study at the University of Copenhagen. I know the Danish folk will be very much interested in Anishnabek crafts. The western European nations have support groups who follow the Anishnabek struggle for justice here in the "new world".





Cully talked about how she would like to have a small store where she could sell her crafts, and I think that would make a lot of sense, but the conditions under which the Stoney Pointers live in their homeland are still, in some ways, quite primitive.





When I first visited Marcia George Simon and her mother, Melva George, (about 15 years ago now), Marcie asked me to try to do something about getting phones hooked up. She was concerned not only about her own mother but also Clifford George and other Elders who were living there. How do you get emergency help for the elderly if there is no phone service?





I talked to the local phone service provider (at that time there was no Bell service) but he said nothing could be done because the Department of Defence (DND) would not release information about where the phone lines were buried on the camp property, so they wouldn't try to lay lines and risk damaging the DND lines. That is why, when Dudley was shot that fateful night, Marcie and her Mom drove to the closest public telephone booth at Northville to try to phone. When she tried to tell the OPP that her people were being shot at, she was told, "contact the OPP" and Marcie replied: "They are the ones doing the shooting." All this while not knowing if her two sons had been shot, and facing the indignity of both her and her mother, afflicted with arthritis, being told to raise their arms and being frisked by the OPP who caught up with them at the phone booth. All of which has been well-documented at the Ipperwash Inquiry, and can be found in the Report released May 31, 2007. http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/inquiries/ipperwash/index.html



So, to this day, more than 12 years later, there are no landline phones available at Aashoodena, except one in the guard house - or cellphones, which are expensive to maintain on a limited income.

To return to our visit, Cully's home is comfortable but it needs repairs which are not available under the current situation. One family at Aazhoodena has the ear of the Kettle & Stoney Point First Nation administration which, under INAC legislation, is responsible for caring for the residents there, so folk like Cully are at the mercy of that family's decisions. If they don't like you, you get no help at all.

There is a new chief in the Kettle & Stony Point Band Office. It is hoped that Chief Liz Cloud may bring a different leadership style to her role.

Meanwhile, Cully enjoys her work, and her children and grandchildren are close enough to visit which always brings joy. The people and organizations who supported the Aazhoodenaang Enjibaajig at the time of Dudley's death seem to have disappeared since the Ipperwash Inquiry Report was released last year. That Report was a tremendous help in pointing out the need for new working relationships with police and other public service organizations, but it seems not much has been done to re-establish justice in effective stewardship of the Aazhoodena homeland.

That was the struggle which engaged Pierre George, Dudley's brother who, with Cully, drove the dying man to the Strathroy hospital, only to be seized by the OPP and jailed until the next day,when they learned that their efforts were in vain, and Dudley had died as the result of an OPP sniper's bullets.

Pierre wasn't home, so I will look forward to visiting with him nex time I can travel to Aazhoodena.

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