It Happens Here: how the U.S.-Canada border disrupted existing boundaries
The Pigeon River drops 120 feet within Grand Portage State Park at high falls marking the border between the United States and Canada and laying claim to the highest waterfall partially in the state of Minnesota.
Derek Montgomery for MPR News 2019
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MPR News host Cathy Wurzer turned to WTIP producer Staci Drouillard and Native Lights Podcast host Leah Lemm for a story about the creation of the U.S.-Canada border.
Drouillard and Lemm co-host the podcast It Happens Here: The Roots of Racial Inequity on the North Shore, which is written and produced by Drouillard.
In a recent episode, they discuss how the border upended spatial relationships in Ojibwe communities.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: Now if you're just joining us, a few minutes ago we talked with WTIP News Director Joe Fredricks about the wildfire that is burning near the US-Canada border and the BWCA. We're going to turn back right now to WTIP for a story about the creation of that border. Here are co-host Staci Drouillard and Leah Lemm with a recent episode of the podcast, It Happens Here, The Roots of Racial Inequality on the North Shore.
SUBJECT: The nearest Reserve to us in Canada is a Fort William Reserve, and we have a lot of family connections.
LEAH LEMM: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Hello. I'm Leah Lemm, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe citizen and independent producer and host of the Native Lights podcast.
STACI DROUILLARD: And I'm Staci Drouillard, Grand Portage Ojibwe descendant and WTIP producer. It Happens Here explores our community history through the stories and experiences of people of color on the North Shore.
LEAH LEMM: At the start of the episode the late Norman Duchamp, who served as Grand Portage tribal chair for 27 years, hints at how social boundaries differ from physical boundaries in relation to the International border between the US and Canada.
STACI DROUILLARD: The physical border is marked by the Pigeon River, O Mee Mee Zeebing. To enter either country, cars cross over a bridge and are funneled through a customs checkpoint. David Thompson is from Lake Nipigon, about 142 miles from the Pigeon River Crossing.
DAVID THOMPSON: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
My name is David Thompson and I belong to the Eagle Golden clan and come from a place called Nipigon, which means "where the waters meet."
LEAH LEMM: As David explains, prior to the creation of a geopolitical boundary, families on both sides of the Pigeon River were all part of the same nation.
DAVID THOMPSON: When the treaties were being negotiated and signed, we didn't recognize a border. We just included everybody that was in the area that we knew as family that should be part of the treaty beneficiary. But even prior to this treaty, our people traveled all along that North Shore by border, wherever their fishing was good, the hunting was good. You know. Word would get around.
STACI DROUILLARD: The actual boundary was created through a series of treaties beginning with the Treaty of Paris, which was signed in France in 1783. North Shore author and Historian, Tim Cochrane, explains how this imaginary line came to be.
TIM COCHRANE: When there was the first treaty, Treaty of Paris, trying to figure out where the border line was between the fledgling American country and the British Canada, it was agreed that the line would go North of Isle Royale.
The question of the border in a white legal sense was not resolved into 1842, the Webster Ashburton Treaty. In the meantime, prior to that, people thought they had a pretty good idea where the border was. And lo and behold, basically, it's the border that we know today.
STACI DROUILLARD: Even though Isle Royale and the Pigeon River are vitally important places, the Grand Portage Band was not included on the Webster Ashburton Treaty Council. And even after it was signed, Ojibwe families continued business as usual.
TIM COCHRANE: Indigenous people were doing their thing, living on the land for centuries, and the border didn't exist for them. And their presence here, of course, predates the border by centuries and millennium. They might fish on one lake and wild rice on another, hunt on another, cash their food in another place.
DAVID THOMPSON: The Viking Lakes along the border on the Canadian side, before that border was there, all would come to those places and rekindle our family relationships, and our harvest of millmen throughout the different [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] Lake there. And one of the important places was that Atikameg [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH], which is Whitefish Lake.
And from the stories I grew up with, our ancestors traveled from Lake Michigan from areas around Fort William and Grant Portage. And they said there was a lot of people that didn't eat there and during rising season. And then that's where the people would get together in larger groups and have important gatherings there.
Most importantly, it was being able to do that is to have those important exchanges such as marriages with the families and the clans, and that continued for a long time. And I know I still go there every couple of years to harvest rice.
Now, it's divided into treaty zones. There's a little invisible border. And of course, you got that international border right there. Canadian side. That's the US side. So it's really kind of almost like a jurisdictional nightmare when it comes to Ojibwe harvesting rights.
STACI DROUILLARD: In September of 1850, the Anishinaabe of the upper Great Lakes signed two separate but interconnected treaties, the Robinson-Superior Treaty and the Robinson-Huron Treaty.
LEAH LEMM: These agreements provided the province of Canada access to the North shores of Lake Huron and Lake Superior for settlement and mineral extraction.
In exchange, the Indigenous people in the region retained hunting and fishing rights were paid and annuity and reservations were designated on lands ceded to the crown. According to David Thompson, when the Canadian Treaty of 1850 was signed, Grand Portage relatives on both sides of the border were granted tribal cards.
DAVID THOMPSON: When the treaty was signed on this side, all our relatives from Grand Portage in that area were included on that list.
STACI DROUILLARD: Census records from Lake Nipigon recorded a number of Ojibwe residents, including a man named Pierre Duchamp and quote, "his wife," unquote. The list of residents were listed by clan membership, which makes a very important cultural connection between the people of Lake Nipigon and the people of O Mee Mee Zeebing.
DAVID THOMPSON: We still have stories of, hey, this family is related to this clan and that clan. And it was so important because when the treaty was signed on this side, the 1850 Treaty, that was one of the most important things that was said. We want to include our relatives at Grand Portage.
LEAH LEMM: For WTIP, I'm Leah Lemm.
STACI DROUILLARD: And I'm Staci Drouillard, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] for tuning in. It Happens Here is a production of WTIP North Shore Community Radio. Support for the series comes from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
CATHY WURZER: Thank you so much to WTIP for sharing that with us. It Happens Here, The Roots of Racial Inequality on the North Shore is produced by Staci Drouillard, co-hosted by Staci and Leah Lemm.
SUBJECT: The nearest Reserve to us in Canada is a Fort William Reserve, and we have a lot of family connections.
LEAH LEMM: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Hello. I'm Leah Lemm, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe citizen and independent producer and host of the Native Lights podcast.
STACI DROUILLARD: And I'm Staci Drouillard, Grand Portage Ojibwe descendant and WTIP producer. It Happens Here explores our community history through the stories and experiences of people of color on the North Shore.
LEAH LEMM: At the start of the episode the late Norman Duchamp, who served as Grand Portage tribal chair for 27 years, hints at how social boundaries differ from physical boundaries in relation to the International border between the US and Canada.
STACI DROUILLARD: The physical border is marked by the Pigeon River, O Mee Mee Zeebing. To enter either country, cars cross over a bridge and are funneled through a customs checkpoint. David Thompson is from Lake Nipigon, about 142 miles from the Pigeon River Crossing.
DAVID THOMPSON: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
My name is David Thompson and I belong to the Eagle Golden clan and come from a place called Nipigon, which means "where the waters meet."
LEAH LEMM: As David explains, prior to the creation of a geopolitical boundary, families on both sides of the Pigeon River were all part of the same nation.
DAVID THOMPSON: When the treaties were being negotiated and signed, we didn't recognize a border. We just included everybody that was in the area that we knew as family that should be part of the treaty beneficiary. But even prior to this treaty, our people traveled all along that North Shore by border, wherever their fishing was good, the hunting was good. You know. Word would get around.
STACI DROUILLARD: The actual boundary was created through a series of treaties beginning with the Treaty of Paris, which was signed in France in 1783. North Shore author and Historian, Tim Cochrane, explains how this imaginary line came to be.
TIM COCHRANE: When there was the first treaty, Treaty of Paris, trying to figure out where the border line was between the fledgling American country and the British Canada, it was agreed that the line would go North of Isle Royale.
The question of the border in a white legal sense was not resolved into 1842, the Webster Ashburton Treaty. In the meantime, prior to that, people thought they had a pretty good idea where the border was. And lo and behold, basically, it's the border that we know today.
STACI DROUILLARD: Even though Isle Royale and the Pigeon River are vitally important places, the Grand Portage Band was not included on the Webster Ashburton Treaty Council. And even after it was signed, Ojibwe families continued business as usual.
TIM COCHRANE: Indigenous people were doing their thing, living on the land for centuries, and the border didn't exist for them. And their presence here, of course, predates the border by centuries and millennium. They might fish on one lake and wild rice on another, hunt on another, cash their food in another place.
DAVID THOMPSON: The Viking Lakes along the border on the Canadian side, before that border was there, all would come to those places and rekindle our family relationships, and our harvest of millmen throughout the different [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] Lake there. And one of the important places was that Atikameg [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH], which is Whitefish Lake.
And from the stories I grew up with, our ancestors traveled from Lake Michigan from areas around Fort William and Grant Portage. And they said there was a lot of people that didn't eat there and during rising season. And then that's where the people would get together in larger groups and have important gatherings there.
Most importantly, it was being able to do that is to have those important exchanges such as marriages with the families and the clans, and that continued for a long time. And I know I still go there every couple of years to harvest rice.
Now, it's divided into treaty zones. There's a little invisible border. And of course, you got that international border right there. Canadian side. That's the US side. So it's really kind of almost like a jurisdictional nightmare when it comes to Ojibwe harvesting rights.
STACI DROUILLARD: In September of 1850, the Anishinaabe of the upper Great Lakes signed two separate but interconnected treaties, the Robinson-Superior Treaty and the Robinson-Huron Treaty.
LEAH LEMM: These agreements provided the province of Canada access to the North shores of Lake Huron and Lake Superior for settlement and mineral extraction.
In exchange, the Indigenous people in the region retained hunting and fishing rights were paid and annuity and reservations were designated on lands ceded to the crown. According to David Thompson, when the Canadian Treaty of 1850 was signed, Grand Portage relatives on both sides of the border were granted tribal cards.
DAVID THOMPSON: When the treaty was signed on this side, all our relatives from Grand Portage in that area were included on that list.
STACI DROUILLARD: Census records from Lake Nipigon recorded a number of Ojibwe residents, including a man named Pierre Duchamp and quote, "his wife," unquote. The list of residents were listed by clan membership, which makes a very important cultural connection between the people of Lake Nipigon and the people of O Mee Mee Zeebing.
DAVID THOMPSON: We still have stories of, hey, this family is related to this clan and that clan. And it was so important because when the treaty was signed on this side, the 1850 Treaty, that was one of the most important things that was said. We want to include our relatives at Grand Portage.
LEAH LEMM: For WTIP, I'm Leah Lemm.
STACI DROUILLARD: And I'm Staci Drouillard, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] for tuning in. It Happens Here is a production of WTIP North Shore Community Radio. Support for the series comes from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
CATHY WURZER: Thank you so much to WTIP for sharing that with us. It Happens Here, The Roots of Racial Inequality on the North Shore is produced by Staci Drouillard, co-hosted by Staci and Leah Lemm.
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