Chief Shingwauk’s dream was the vision of the ‘teaching’ wigwam. In 1832 Augustine Shingwauk accompanied his father, Shingwaukonce (Little Pine), and several other leaders of the Garden River Ojibwa by canoe to York (Toronto) to see the king’s representative.

 

Their purpose was to consult with Lieutenant Governor Colborne concerning ‘what we should do about religion.’

 

 

They were troubled and confused by the contradictory messages and suggestions to which they had already been exposed. ‘We had been visited by several different Black-coats, and their teaching seemed to be different one from another. The French Black-coat wanted us to follow his religion; and there was another blackcoat who took the people [,] dipped them right into the water, and he wanted us all to join him. We did not know what to do.’

      As a result of that pilgrimage, Colborne arranged to have the Church of England in 1832 dispatch a young missionary, who ministered to the Ojibwa and married into their nation. The close link between the Ojibwa of Garden River and the Anglican Church had been established.