Wampum Belt Ceremony held between Garden River First Nation and Sault Ste. Marie – Anishinabek News

November 7, 2024

GARDEN RIVER FIRST NATION — Garden River First Nation recently hosted a Wampum Belt Ceremony featuring an exchange of a wampum belt and gifts between Garden River Chief Karen Bell and Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker on Sept. 30. The ceremony was held at the Garden River First Nation Community Centre after the successful conclusion of Garden River’s Cultural Competency project, funded through the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiative, which has fostered deeper relationships and enhanced understanding between Garden River First Nation and Sault Ste. Marie.

“The idea of the wampum belt was to bind the two communities with respect to finding this path of prosperity and friendship,” says Darrell Boissoneau, cultural services manager at Garden River First Nation, noting that the idea was developed by Garden River First Nations’s previous chief and council and Sault Ste. Marie’s previous mayor and council. “There were a number of features to the ceremony, that occurred a couple of weeks back, and it’s presenting our world view. Wampum belts give the story and records our history of certain significant events that have happened with us, so whether it was a time of war or a time of peace, these wampum belts were sent out to unite the people. So the Wampum Belt ceremony … was done to create this framework of diplomacy between Garden River and the City of Sault Ste. Marie.”

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