 as we continue on our program. Our keynote speaker today, who I am very very pleased to introduce, is Elaine Fleming. Elaine is the chair of the Arts and Humanities Department at Leech Lake Tribal College and Elaine led our committee through the research effort in working toward finding all the verifiable sightable truths that we could find with the help at times of her students as a history professor at Leech Lake Tribal College and making sure that we only told the truth, that we did not repeat things that we did not know were true, but we wanted to get as much of the full story of the man as possible and Chimagwetch to Elaine for leading that effort in the in the procurement of the history. I'm just really so very full of joy. This path that we walk has been really difficult and I'm just so glad to be a part of this group of people and to be here with you all today. You know there's a story, one of our stories, and they say that in beginning all there was was this rattling song, and you know these stories that we tell they have no beginning or end, that always start somewhere in the middle. And this one, this one, my wife was Kathy Hedberg, she was married to Gabby, and she told me that this rabble, this one that rattles, that it rattles away the bad feelings, the fears, the anger, and it helps us to be well. And that's what this is about, to tell the truth of our history is about wellness, about being well. So I had a dream this morning, just like Martin Luther King. I jumped us at that graveyard down there, that great big graveyard, where Shen Oshkong is supposed to be buried. And I finally found him. I really cannot tell you how important this is to me, and to our people to share and to know our history. I cannot tell you how important that is. Shen Oshkong, he was, we think he was born about 1834, we don't know, 1834. And we know he died in 1904. And I can't tell you, I cannot begin to tell you all the things that happened to the Ojibwe people in those 70 years of his life. It's unimaginable what happened to our people. And yeah, here we are today. Here we are today. We're nation building. And we're creating these relationships and walking this good path. He was born in the removal era. And the first treaty that when he was about three years old, it was 1837. And it was the first huge land session treaty that the Ojibwe were involved in. And in this treaty, we were promised that if we obeyed the laws and behave ourselves in a good way with the settlers that we would be able to hunt fish and gather and live on our seeded land. And that's what he was about. He was about following the laws. He was about good relationships with our with the settlers. And so he in 1847 there was another treaty. And with this treaty, we the the pillager band of Ojibwe, we gave up nearly a million acres of land for peace. We gave up this land to establish a reservation in central Minnesota. And we had had years and years of warfare and violence with our brothers and sisters of one of the Sioux people. But we wanted peace. We were people of peace. And we gave up that land for no money. For no money. In the Winnebago, the whole chunk in the Menominee decided not to live on that million acres of land. They went back to Wisconsin. And that promise was in kept. The state, the government opened up the land in Solemn. And we were never compensated for that land. And we didn't forget that because we were always told to talk about our treaties. We were always told to talk about our history and to share that with our children. And so in in 1850, when Shane Aushkahn was about 14 years old, and it was part of that removal era. When he was 14 years old, the Alexander Ramsey, he decided he wanted to move the Ojibwe people out of Michigan and out of Wisconsin. And he wanted to move them into the Minnesota territory. He wanted to establish the annuity point, the annuity station in Minnesota so that all those annuity monies would come here. And so 5,000 Ojibwe people met in October 20, October 25, 1850, they gathered in Sandy Lake in what's Minnesota right now. It was October 25. It's cold here in Minnesota. And they and they came here for their annuities. When these 5,000 Ojibwe got here for their annuities, the annuities weren't there. During the time that they were there, they were given moldy food. And we lost 150 of those Ojibwe people there. The annuities didn't come there until December 3. And at that time, they gave us three days of rations. And no money. And that that was that we would stay in Minnesota. And then our land would open up in Michigan and minis in Wisconsin. But you know, it was December 3. And our people, many of our people went home. They went home. They walked back to Michigan and to Wisconsin. And 250 of them died walking back to Michigan and Wisconsin. Out of the 5,000 that came to Sandy Lake, 1500 of them were from northern Minnesota. That's where Shayna Oshkone was from. And we don't know how many of them died. But we do know we know some of the stories. And one of the stories is this. There was a family in December who walked home to Leach Lake. There was a father, there was a mother and her brother, their 10 year old son, their two year old daughter, halfway home. That's 110 miles to walk from Sandy Lake in December with your family to Leach Lake. Halfway home, the brother died and they had to take care of him. Three days away from Leach Lake, the children got sick. Over a day out, the son, the 10 year old son died. And the father carried his son on his back. And then a day out, the two year old daughter died. And the mother carried her daughter on her back home to Leach Lake. The Ojibwe people came to know Sandy Lake as a place where we buried our people. And these are the kinds of stories that Shayna Oshkone knew. These are the kinds of experiences that our people knew. That was the Sandy Lake tragedy. In the 1870s, they completed the dams. They completed the dam on Leach Lake and they completed the dam on Winneville Gauchich and Pochegama. They never asked the Ojibwe people how that would affect us. Well, you see Shayna Oshkone, he lived over here. He lived on the lake, right? That's where our people live. And we ate the wild rice, we ate the fish with the cranberries from the bogs. We were people of the water. Our reservation is 50% water. And so they built these dams and they flooded our land. Our villages were on these lakes. And when they flooded the land, they flooded our villages, they flooded our graveyards, they flooded our rice beds, our cranberry bogs, our graveyards. And they didn't ask us how it would affect us. But it benefited other peoples. He didn't forget that. Those are the stories we're told to pass down when we talk about history, about these treaties, about the dams. And then the next, there's so much, there's so many things that happened to us. But another area that we covered was the 18, the assimilation era. In the, the assimilation era, they're going to deal with this Indian problem. But the United States can deal with the Indian problem. They're going to take care of us. So in 1871, they decided to send us to the boarding schools. They Christianize us. They decide to these reservations weren't working. So they give us allotments 40 acres of shiverbush, 40 acres of farmland. Reservation is 40% is 50% water and great white pine forests. And that's what they give to, they give to us. And then they opened all the rest of the land up to sell. And so we were, we were, we lost land and resources. We just became impoverished, dependent on annuities. And we just had such great troubles that our people had to carry, just like carrying those children on their, on the backs, carrying them home to Leech Lake. So in 1887, they had the Allotment Act, the Dos Allotment Act. That's when they allot you your 40 acres of land, right? Sugarbush land, your 40 acres of farming land. And then in 1889, they have the Nelson Act. That's going to enable the 1887 Allotment Act. Two years later, they come, they send a three man commission up to Leech Lake, the first place they're going to meet with us on Leech Lake. And when they got to Leech Lake, this three man commission, we gave them an ultimatum. We said, look here, this is our land. Until you settle these past matters, we are not going to sell one more foot of land. We are going to cut our own trees, and we're going to support ourselves economically. We are not going to move to wider. And we are not going to talk about the Nelson Act, or the Dos Act, until these back matters are settled. Durging man from Lake Winter negotiations, that reservation, he told the three man commission, he said, we've hired an attorney, and we're paying him $5,000 out of our fund. If he writes these matters, we're going to pay him our money, $5,000 out of our fund to take care of these matters. He headed that commission, rice. He told the Ojibwe people at Leech Lake, Kona, the Pillager Band. And he told them, he said, you don't own one foot of land. You're not going to cut down one tree. You're not going to use any money out of your own fund to pay an attorney. If you're going to hire an attorney, you get, you find out you have that money someplace else. He said, if you hire an attorney, we're not going to listen to him. And if you're not going to talk about this Nelson Act, you're not going to talk about this Dawes Act, then we're just going to go and you all can't stay poor. The people of Leech Lake touched that pen. Oh, and by the way, they passed out like 500 copies of the Allotment Act and copies of the Dawes, the Allotment Act in the Nelson Act so that we could read them when we couldn't read English. But that was just unfair. They were being just and fair. All these things led up to the 1898 Battle of Sugar Point. All these injustices led up to that. And because we never gave up, we stood up, we and we never gave up. And we won that last war. And Shane Aushka and he came and he warned the citizens here in May-Midji-Kaman of what was happening and to be safe because he was a good man. But in 1898 they brought the railroad to town here and they did a survey and that survey showed that that survey line passed right through his house. And so that was his house. He had been living there for years. He had welcomed the settlers here. And he wanted that house. He wanted his land. And so he he was willing to give up his tribal affiliation so that he could have that land. He was he asked to have it as an Allotment Land. But they didn't let him have that land. And he was moved. He was given Allotment Land up on Big Rice Lake, which is probably about 27 miles north east of where his house was over this way. And that's where he was sent. He was 70 years old. And he was sent to live on his Allotment Land. And he got pneumonia. He died. They had a big ceremony for him and here, him here in May-Midji-Kaman. And all the children in the schools came and they say that they buried him over here in this graveyard. But we really don't know where he's buried because he was buried in this traditional way and they don't allow people like that non-christians into that graveyard. So we're not sure exactly where he's buried at. That's why I dreamt about him this morning. But here he is today. He was a good man. And he wanted peace. And he followed all the rules. And now we honor him today, the one who rattles. Look what he's doing for us today. And it's because of the Ojibwe people too and our friends who tell the truth about history. Because we can heal through history about the truth. That's the way things are supposed to be. So I'm just really truly grateful because when this whole project started, I would talk to this whole grandpa. I put my tobacco out and I'd talk to him. And I'd ask him to teach me. And so I'm grateful to be a part of this group. I'm grateful for what he's done for us. For this one who rattles. And for this good path that we're on. This path of healing. Stay. It's such a pleasure for me to be able to introduce to you our artist Gareth Curtis. Gareth has traveled here for the last 17 hours. And we had the most incredible installation that a lot of people were able to view. Gareth comes to us from Olympia, Washington. And his career as a bronze artist and a master sculptor and master foundry man is a career that spans over 30 years. And Gareth has completed many, many, larger than life size bronze sculptures around the country. Some of his commissions have been for the National Guards at Washington, Oregon, Virginia, West Virginia. He has had commissions from Anheuser-Busch and Weierhauser Corporation. What struck us as a committee was when Gareth came to Bemidji to interview with our committee for this commission. He brought with him a three-foot-high replica maquette of what he intended to do for us along with a full size. He brought tears fully members of Shane Owish-Kung on our committee because of how beautiful this sculpture of the man we want to honor was. And we knew immediately that Gareth was who was going to be and his demeanor, just the person for us. So please, I don't think you can hear me anymore. Come on up, Gareth. Let's see what I can do. Thank you for this project. It was a great honor to be in here. I love creating artworks, but this project has been special to my heart more so than most of my work. And I'll always treasure this job. Thank you. When you give someone a blanket they have to do a dance but we're not at the call right now. So you got up easy. You saw Leroy Staples Bear Banks from Leech Lake. He's here to represent the Chairwoman, Kerry Jones. And he also carries his grandfather Leroy Staples name. I know his grandparents are Leroy. I didn't know how to speak. I was just coming up here to eat some walleye so I wasn't prepared to say a few words. But it's a proud day for the Leech Lake Nation to be here to share some of us here with the city of Omidji. Showing up here I wasn't expecting something such in a big size. And I come here and it's a proud date. I say me glitch to the committee who was dedicated in putting this together. I say me glitch to all the three nations here for being here and sharing this day. On behalf of Leech Lake I'm going to be quick because I know everybody's getting cold. They're getting hungry here but it's a proud day here and thanks for coming to Omidji to share this day and share these truths with you guys. Me glitch. I'd like to introduce Charles Doulson from Red Lake representing the Chair at Red Lake. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Charles Doulson. I'm the Executive Administrator of the Red Lake Band. Chairman Seeky couldn't be with us today. He had other commitments so he sends his regards and it's raining out so I'm going to forego actually what I was going to say. But what I wanted to say is that wherever you wind up on the socio-economic scale it often has to do with the pigmentation in your skin and by what name you call the Great Spirit. And the only way those people on the lower end of the scale are ever going to rise up is if they share each other's history and work together. So that's what this is when you look at all of these things all the way around all of this is Ojibwe history and and non-native history as well and the only way we're ever going to work together and rise up is by understanding this and this is the perfect start. Rita Albright, the Mayor of Omidji. So much to the committee here. I want to also recognize my City Council. A few of the members are here in the area. I've seen a council member Olson and Meal House and I'm not sure if others are here if you are. Wave your hand and I'll say hi. And also some county commissioners are here. I see Jovenius here and also Richard Anderson and others maybe here too but I haven't seen you. I want to just say that everybody's been thinking and talking about the past and Elaine thank you so much for your for your comments. I'd like to just say let's look to the future because what I see with this beautiful statue thank you Gareth for that. Children playing on this statue. People reading these plaques. Folks just learning about what what happened here in the past and we don't want to forget the past but let's look to the future and all the great things that are going to come from this and and the only the last thing I would have to say at the council table there's a lot of opportunity to get things wrong but now in the name now and again we do get things right and this is one time I think we've got something right. Thank you. Very much introduced Donnie Hedberg. Been with our committee from the beginning. A great great grandson of Sheena Wishkeng. Donnie come on up please and Donnie's because we have the Texas family contingent here with us. Miigwech. My name is Donnie Hedberg, great great grandson of Sheena Wishkeng and I'm really happy and honored here today because of the statue of my grandfather and my long-lost relatives from Texas. I would like to ask Virginia's family to come forward so they can so people can see great grandfather's relatives from Texas. I want to say Miigwech. Miigwech is a wonderful job he did on a statue. The committee it was really an awesome committee to work with. We were all on the same page we we all shared our ideas and we all come up with some really good ideas. Just ask it some of my family members to come forward. If my whole family comes up here we probably won't have enough room. But I was kind of upset when I first got a phone call this morning that the statue would not be here in time. So I sat down and sadly asked my family well do you think I should take grandpa's place and get under the veil. They all looked at each other confusingly and said I don't think so. But the statue made it here and really really grateful for that. I want to thank each and every one of you that are able to be here today. We're going to we're going to feast together and that's what my grandfather was all about. He had people come together and they all feasted together. He talked to kids the native kids as well as the white kids. He gave them a lot of good teachings and he gave them boat rides and just told them stories and just give them some good teachings and I'm really grateful for that. And one of the one of the main things that that that I see and hope that's going to happen here in Bomichi is the relations. That we all come together because of Shinawish Guang because of what he stood for. That we all come together and help each other out give each other a hand no matter who we are where we come from. And I was taught that there is only one God one money do. We all we just felt we pray to him in different ways in our own way and and we got to respect each other's religion. That's what I was taught. I'd like to I'd like to introduce my I'm going to call her my grandmother Virginia from Texas. First time I met her and this is her family. First met her when I first got here. Boy did my heart it did a flip flop and just like you know just like it was when I was raised out at the mission I I like to share a story when I was raised by my grandparents Charlie and Sarah Hedford that that when I was raised in a little cabin by them there that was the most safe and secure feeling I've ever had in the world because you know I I remember playing on a bed grandpa and grandma playing in cards in a kitchen drinking tea and it was winter time and and you could hear the snow and the wind blowing against the plastic act we had over the windows and I was full because we had a big supper and the old barrel stove was going and it was so cozy in there I was jumping on a bed and the kerosene lamps were glowing and and I go back to that time once in a while when I when I feel bad I go back to that time because that at that time that time is what gave me that real safe secure feeling and that's really awesome so I went ahead and bought me some kerosene lamps and once in a while I'll light them and sit there and go back to that time but that was a time when life was simple when you know all all we did was work and and just watch out for one another but we had we had a lot of support for each other and we were always there for each other and that's the way that it should be now we should all watch out for one another no matter who we are where we come from and I I pray that we that we will all come together maybe next year and also do the same thing to have a feast and and share our stories about our grandfather and and other people that that knew knew the history of my grandfather so with that I'm going to say meegwitch um I asked the grandfathers to watch over each and every one of you your families while you are here over your homes that you have a safe trip home and and meegwitch for being here let's all get together and watch out for one another support each other and everything that we want to do meegwitch we have Larry do the do the prayer for the food oh meegwitch okay it's um we can go ahead and eat now the elders could um be seated at the tables over there and we'll have people serve you but otherwise um thank you again for all coming and this is beginning of a new day and hail to the peacemakers