Added Indigenous perspectives at Sault Ste. Marie Canal
Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site: a birch bark canoe on loan at the new visitor centre offers an important connection to Batchewana First Nation ancestors.
Re-examining old interpretations
Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site commemorates the canal’s economic and strategic importance as the last link in an all-Canadian navigation system stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Superior. The site also showcases the canal’s history as the world’s longest lock when it was built in 1895, and as the first lock to operate using electricity.
Working together towards a broader understanding
Beginning in 2017, Parks Canada staff brainstormed a renewed interpretation of the site.
A new exhibit now gives voice to First Nations and Métis Nation history in the region. It is the result of collaboration with Batchewana First Nation, the Métis Nation of Ontario and Parks Canada.
New exhibit panels acknowledge the Sault Ste. Marie Canal site as being on the traditional territory of Anishinabek and Métis people and highlight the long history of First Nations and Métis peoples there. The exhibit also focuses on the fact that much was taken away from First Nations and Métis peoples’ ways of life when the canal was built. One panel describes the 1850 Robinson Huron Treaty, which set aside adjacent Whitefish Island for Batchewana First Nation’s sole benefit and use, but which was ignored when the island was expropriated for railroad construction in 1905. It was not returned to Batchewana First Nation until 1992.
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