M'Wikwedong centre purchased by locals

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It was both one of the proudest and one of the saddest moments of Berdina Johnston's life.

Fighting back tears, the usually reticent Ojibway woman stood before a crowd of about 100 people at the dedication to the memory of her sister Rose Nadjiwon at the M'Wikwedong Native Cultural Resource Centre in Owen Sound.

The occasion was the dedication of a building on the east side of the Georgian Bay community of Owen Sound.

The community had rented it for a few years and now they own it.

"I'm so proud of my sister, she was a valiant woman who battled cancer for 12 years before she died, but she left us a legacy of our language and our culture," said Johnston on May 18, just before the ribbon was cut to mark Ojibwe ownership of the resource centre building.

Up until her death earlier this year, Nadjiwon had been a loved and respected Elder at the M'Wikwedong centre, said centre director Leanne Eamer.

Her unstinting work helped the more than 200 people who pass through the centre every week to keep their physical, spiritual and emotional lives in balance, she said.

From the centre's modest beginning three years ago when Eamer was the only paid employee, their staff has grown to seven to meet the increased demand for services.

With the help of funding from the federal and provincial governments, the Ojibwe people recently were able to purchase the $125,000 building and establish a permanent home base to serve a growing urban Aboriginal population, according to Eamer.

Flanked by two totem poles, the front door of the centre opens onto a lobby with beautiful murals depicting the clans of the area's Native people.

"It's an artistic memory of all our clans," said Eamer.

One of the murals depicts an eagle on a cliff overlooking the water.

"Last night I dreamed an eagle had crawled up my arm and sat on my shoulder,'' said Eamer.

Inside, bearskins decorate the walls of the room where Ojibwe language classes and traditional skills such as quill box making are taught.

"The centre means I can give my children and my grandchildren what I didn't have," said Eamer, who was raised off the reserve and didn't learn about her culture until she was 40 years old.

The centre, which offers services ranging from daycare for young children, to social activities for senior citizens, often has several generations of Native people from the nearby Cape Croker and Saugeen reserves working side by side.

"We often have Elders, teens, middle-aged people and young children working at a unified project," said Eamer.

The centre is not exclusively for Native people.

"We're open to whomever else wants to learn about the beauty of our culture," said Eamer.

Bernice Ellis Whitney, a Cherokee from the Montreal area who will be working at the centre as an Elder, offered an opening prayer before local officials and politicians cut the ribbon to open the place.

Noting the work of the centre helps people keep their lives in balance, Ellis Whitney prayed for peace.

"I dream of world peace and let it begin with me," she said.

Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, each guest was given a tiny red tobacco tie and was invited to offer prayers for the centre by throwing the tie on a sacred fire with the accompaniment of drummers nearby.