Part of that process involved taking control of their own lives and well
being. And part of that self-empowerment, in turn, was the assumption of control
of Native education by Native peoples. The land on which the reunion was taking
place, he reminded his audience, was Indian land: not government or church
property, but Ojibwa land. And he promised that on this
land there would arise an Indian post-secondary institution that would reflect
Aboriginal values and be controlled by Indians. Such a university would be,
he said, ‘the true realization of Chief Shingwauk’s vision of a teaching wigwam.‘
In 1981 and 1991, former students had come to Algoma College as guests. At
the next reunion in 2001 Chief Boissoneau declared, they would come to their
own institution - to Shingwauk University.
The True Realization
of
Chief Shingwauk's Vision
Page 6 of 6