April 2009

To commemorate the Centennial there is obviously a lot of planning that has to be done in order for the preperations to be completed in time for the summer of 2010. After a meeting between the Chief and Council on April 6, 2009, it has been decided that Pardamus Anishnabe and Alan Rae would oversee the Centennial project. Office space was provided for the two staff personnel to use and Bell Canada also provided two phone lines for their use.

The two phone numbers provided:
807-774-1910 -- Year Treaty was signed
807-774-2010 -- Year of Centennial Commemoration

The two staff personnel also met with the Council members to discuss certain aspects of the projects such as the budget and the roles and responsibility assignments.  They also met with other specialized members such as a Culture Coordinator, Special Events Coordinator, Welfare Administrator, and Economic Development personnel for further discussion on the project.

Before all this was to begin the two project personnel met with four elders from the community. The purpose of this meeting was to get their blessing for the project to begin. This is common practice before any major events or changes within the community as we wish to preserve our traditional practices and customs, so their blessing is required to show respect to our ways.

Archival documents of the original Treaty #5 for the Sandy Lake/Deer Lake band were retrieved from the Chief and Council's storagee building. A digital copy of the Treaty can be viewed below.