antaya native community

ANTAYA NATIVE NATION
4910, 1ère Ave Sartigan, Saint-Georges de Beauce, Qc G5Y 5B8
Phone : 418-228-9688 Fax : 418-226-0288
[email protected] ● http://www.nation-antaya.qc.ca
ANTAYA
(THE ONE WHO MARRIED A SAVAGE WOMAN)
The name ANTAYA has been chosen in part to make a veiled reference to history. It was in
fact the way we were calling those who were marrying an Amerindian woman like Nicolas
Pelletier Antaya. At the time, during the 1750’s, however it was in a pejorative way. This
time, we wanted to give it a brand-new meaning, the one of pride.
Is ANTAYA a community or a Nation? It is part of both concepts and that in an integral way.
We find Abenaki, Algonquin, Malecite, Nipissing and Mi’kmac descendants.
NATION :
Group of natives of common descent who are socially, culturally, politically and linguistically
united;
ALGONQUIN:
The Algonquins are forming a great linguistic family. There are the Mi’kmac, the Malecites
and the Abenakis. This group was eating mainly game, fish and produces from gathering like
maple syrup. They were also tobacco consumers and were using it for purification or to
smoke it.
ANTAYA NATIVE NATION:
Abenaki, Algonquin Metis nation, living on the territory of Beauce and made of two clans, the
clan of Fox (Alnombak community) and the clan of the white she-wolf (Antaya community)
and the clan of Blue River from Pohenegamook.
COMMUNITY:
Social group whose members are living together or are sharing common characteristics,
interests.
THE ABENAKIS:
1
Upon the arrival of Europeans, the Abenakis were occupying a vast territory extending from
New England up to the Maritime provinces. Around 1676, they were regrouped in the Sillery
mission, close to the City of Quebec, to then go on the banks of the Chaudière river and
finally settle in Odanak (Pierreville) and Wolinak (Bécancourt).
In the Spring, the Abenakis were farming maple tap and were fishing; in the Summer they
were growing tobacco, vegetables like potatoes, beans, corn, squashes and the were
gathering blueberries and various berries. At the end of the season, they were amassing
medicinal plants, nuts and chestnuts. In the Autumn, they were beginning to hunt the water
birds, the moose and the deer.
The men were wearing a hat and a belt made of tanned skin and they were providing
themselves with small bags of amulets drawn from kindly spirited animals. In the Winter,
their moose skin moccasins were lined with hares skin and slipped on in leather boots that
were reaching the knee. The women and the men were then wearing fur hats and wrapping
themselves in moose skin.
They were very interested in myths concerning the creation of the world and other legendary
beliefs. The shamans were experts in the art of healing and choosing the right hunting
grounds. The Abenakis were gathering during wedding or funeral ceremonies, for example,
and they were then performing dances still alive in their tribe: the Knife, Pipe and Eagle
dances.
Taken from Jean-Claude Dupont’ s book « Légendes Amérindiennes »
(Amerindian Legends)
2
INTRODUCTION
Antaya members are gathering on the territory for more than 30 years. However, at the time
it was in a hidden way, because of the shame that surrounded our origins. So we are living
our nativeness among us, sharing the ceremonies, attending the activities of other nations.
Some members were previously members of the Native Alliance.
The purpose of the allegiance to certain representative groups was to recover our identity
and documents proving our origins.
In 2005, at the age of 40, Mrs Côté chooses to come back to her roots, that is Beauce, in
order to trace back her native origins and she first got involved with the Alnombak
Community. Having University training, she noticed gaps and she applied then to the task of
structuring and harmonization in order to meet the criteria required by the Law.
In 2008, Alnombak has file with the department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, an
acknowledgement request as historic Community.
Therefore, Antaya is community and a Nation. On the one hand it is a community since it is
self-sufficient, independent, gathering on a same territory the persons having a connection
with it.
On the other hand, it is also a nation because it is the fruit of an association between two
communities that is Alnombak and Antaya. A good number of the members being an integral
part of the community were previously members of the Native Alliance before the scission.
They then flirted with other native groups to finally choose to act alone and in a self-sufficient
way.
Beauce or the Chaudière Valley has the particularity of being an Abenaki territory. According
to history, the Abenakis have never parted anything and have always reminded Carlton his
promise made by the ROYAL PROCLAMATION that according to them (us) was assuring
Indian tribes the free ownership of the territory. But well before 1763, we have the Marquis de
la Jonquière who by an edict date August 30th 1750, was forbidding the French to hunt “ in the
rivers of the St-François mission and in those that are close to it and that make a one an only
ground in the depth of the lands up to 12 leagues. Those said rivers and the said lands being
reserved for the Abenakis of St-François “.1 In 1701, the Abenakis were complaining about
the trespassing on their land, and it is only 66 years later, that is May 8 1767, that the Council
of State was ordering to settle the situation.
Effectively, Mr Joseph Crevier wanted to enter into possession of the land parted by his
grandfather. He made a request to captain Daniel Clauss, superintendent of the Indians in
Montreal.2 In order to settle the dispute, the authorities have sent him a missionary in the
1
2
Ordonnance APC, C267, 101 et Charlant P 135
Claude in Carleton, 9 janvier 1768, APC Claus, Paper, 1 : 115-116 and Charland, P 136-137
3
reserve in order to silence the remarks to the effect that the reserve had no missionary and
would probably have no more and therefore, the land thus abandoned, was giving him
(Mr Crevier) the right to claim it.
In a different connection, we know that the Abenakis are identified, and that as soon as 1789,
as the Metis Abenakis. They are described as such by George Simpson, governor of the
Nordic section of the Hudson’s Bay Company.3
We know that the Abenakis had taken hostages Samuel Gill with Rosalie James, children of
New England, and that they had been adopted by this nation. Besides, later, these two
children got married. This Gill is the same one from whom today’s Gill from Odanak descend.
ROOTS OF THE ANTAYA COMMUNITY OR THE MEMBERS
We all heard that our grandmothers or our great grand mothers were Indian. I would curious
to know, if here were asking the readers, if several among you could tell us the same thing. It
is normal, since in Beauce we estimate that close to 80 % of people are mixed. But are you
Metis for all that? The answer is no. One must live as Metis and belong to a community as
well as identify oneself as Metis. At the time, the natives were travelling from Maine to
Quebec on the Chaudière River. Several authorities have already established this fact
among others Honorius Pronovost just to quote an example. I am the granddaughter of
Lucien Duval and Antoinette Mathieu; my family is originating from the very beginning from
St-Victor and St-Jean de la Lande. Antoinette Mathieu is the granddaughter of Georges
Mathieu and Geneviève Roy. There things are getting more and more complicated.
Effectively, when we look for the parents of Geneviève Roy, we find nothing, no parents.
Why, because she was Abenaki and that she changed name to take a French one? Thus
removing all trace. I find her at my birth under the signature of Jenofle. That is all the
information that I have on her. But it is from her that the passing on of the Amerindian
customs reached me.
One must remember that at the time and even now, it was not a good thing in the eyes of the
population to be native. Therefore we were removing all trace.
My name, Pedianskge or Pedenskwe (it is written several ways) comes to me from my
ancestor Marie Mathilde Pedianskge, who was Abenaki and the 2 nd wife of the Baron de StCastin, that is to say Jean Vincent de St-Castin. The Baron’s first wife was Mathilde
Mataconando. In fact, they were sisters. They were also the daughters of the chief
Madokawando of the Abenaki Nation. The Baron de St-Castin was a French officer and
became chief of the Abenakis. He was born in St-Castin, province of Béarn in 1652 and died
in Pau in 1707. He had been adopted by the Penobscot tribe where he will go into the fur
trade. One must know that the Abenakis are part of the great Algonquin family.
Of their union (the Baron de St-Castin and Mathilde Pedianskge) we find Anastasie who
married in 1707 in Port-Royal, Alexandre Le Borne de Belle-Isle; Anselme who had wed
Charlotte d’Amour. Of the second marriage we find Thèrèse married to Philippe Mius, Ursule
married to Louis d’Amour and Joseph married to Catherine Sauvage. When we look at their
3
OBOMSAWIN p 61
4
lineage, we find in Beauce the names of Robichaud, Bélisle, Duval and Laflamme known as
Kemner
When we trace the lineages of Beauce, we find, of course, the Jacques or the Pierre Jacques
as they were called at first. Besides, Madeleine Ferron talks about it in her book Les
Beaucerons ces insoumis (The Beaucerons those unsubdued). But it is very difficult to trace
their lineages. We link the native lineage to Augustin Jacques, the son of Pierre Pierre
Jacques. Besides, we have a document from the department of Indian Affairs that mentions
it. But the proof does not stop there. It is a file that remains to be searched since there is a
Pierre Jacques who came from France. He will be the object of an analysis in our other work.
Just think to the Giroux, Lessard, Vachon known as Pomerleau, all are mixed through their
ancestor Martin Provost who married Marie Sylvestre Manitabeouich a Huron Algonquin.
Martin Prévost was born in Montreuil-sous-Bois. He was working for the Compagnie des
Cent-Associés. As for Marie, she was educated by Marie de l’Incarnation and Mme de la
Peltrie. They got married in Notre-Dame de Québec and their descendant was heading for
Beauport, Château-Richer and then in Beauce. Besides, his grandson Guillaume Provost,
worked as a militia officer, captain of Ste-Marie under the command of Gabriel Elzéar
Taschereau, Lord of Sainte-Marie and great road surveyor of the district of Quebec.
The father of Guillaume Provost was Jean-Baptiste Provost married twice: a first time to
Marie-Anne Giroux in 1683 and a second time to Geneviève Sédilot. We also find Thérèse
Prévost who married Michel Giroux. They had 12 children. All the families, Lessard, Giroux,
Vachon, Pomerleau are their descendants. Now, this Anne Giroux was in turn the daughter
of Toussaint Giroux and Marie Godard. Marie Godard is, according to the registers, of
unknown origins. Father Jean-Paul Létourneau identifies her in his work Histoire des peuples
amérindiens (History of the Amerindian peoples) as Algonquin. And I agree with him.
Effectively, when we look at all the certificates of marriage of the children of the latter, we
realize that it is written that they got married IN FRONT THE CHURCH and not in the church.
Now, at the time, mixed marriages, that is to say between a white man and a native woman,
were celebrated this way. Besides, Father Moreau has indeed confirmed this fact.
One of the very well known person Mr Édouard Lacroix had, according to the work entitled
Édouard Lacroix, pionnier de l’entrepreneuriat beauceron (Édouard Lacroix, pioneer of the
Beauceron entrepreneurship), as right-hand man a Metis by the name of Groleau. It is very
difficult for us to trace the origins of the latter.
Madeleine Ferron mentions that the wife of François Cliche, that is Angélique Groleau, is a
Metis. But where does her Metis origin come from? We can make the connection with the
ancestor Joseph Groleau married to Geneviève Pierre Jacques, still there no definite proof.
But when we carefully read the certificate of marriage of Jean Baptiste Groleau and Marie
Mathieu we can read that the parents of Marie Mathieu are Jean Mathieu married to Trinité
Manibihosh contrary to the registers that show us Jean Baptiste Mathieu married to Marie
Hébert. However I could not yet, to this day, find this Trinité or her birth, we must therefore
continue the research in this file to complete it.
On December 5th 1767, a letter from the parish priest of Beauce announces the arrival of
more than 80 Indian families coming from Acadia. Among those, we find the lineages of the
Landry, Doucet, and Lejeune. As for the Thibodeaux, Bélisle or Leborgne, there is in Beauce
5
2 lineages, one that comes to us from France and another that dates back to the Baron de StCastin who married the daughter Abenaki Amerindian chief. Jean Vincent indeed was
married in 1688 with Mathilde Mataconando and as second wife Marie Pedianskge.
We also find in Beauce several Roy, the latter are very often the produce of the lineage of
Jean Roy known as Mazeret who married, around 1684, Marie Aubois from the Mi’Kmac
nation. Jeanne May Mahay or Mahis was the wife of Julien Hautbois. From their union we
find in Beauce the names of Roy, Morin, and Hébert. These one come from Acadia, most
specifically from Cap de Sable.
Acadia has brought us several lineages of Metis. Those Metis have passed in transit through
Maine; some have stopped at Sartigan, others in St-Joseph, Ste-Marie and finally Quebec
City. Besides, the Landry are part of those one and are the descendants of Jean-Claude
Landry Mi’kmac and Marie Salé. Among their descendants, we find the Thibodeau, Dugas,
Robichaud, Dupuis, Therriault, and Brisson
Finally, we have the Dussceault Du Sceau, Duscault who are of Nipissing descent through
Jean Nicolet, Sieur de Belleborne married to a Nipissing Indian woman.
As you can see, numerous families in Beauce are of Metis origin. But we go back to the 10 th
or 11th generation. It is unfortunate. Nowadays, it is very difficult for us to trace the
Amerindian origin of the 4th or 5th generation since they are all dead. Around 1800-1850,
virtually all the Amerindian of Beauce have disappeared. Yet in the registers we find
numerous baptisms. What we need to know is, that at the time, the authorities were noting,
for example, Marie, savage, baptized this day of… This Marie, it may be your grandmother or
your great grand mother, but her identity will remain forever lost.
The Metis, commonly called coureurs de bois, seem to have originated in 1653. At least it is
the impression that the work Relation des Jésuites4(Relations of the Jesuits) gives. We are
told of the coureurs de bois gone at the Autumn of 1653 looking for furs, as being a mass
departure of the YOUTH. Effectively, up to this day, they did not have to go gather their fur. 5
As you can see upon reading these facts, the Metis have always been part of Beauce, but
are, like Richard Desjardins says it so well, an invisible and not very well known people.
Today, the confirmation of the Amerindian presence on the territory of Beauce is no longer to
be made. It is a fact of public and historic knowledge. Indeed, numerous works have
broached the question. Just think of Father Honorius Provost, Father Demers, Father
Maurault or even the authors Robert Cliche and Madeleine Ferron, all have broached the
same question. It is however difficult to find archives on the subject other than those already
discovered and we believe that that is due to the fire of 1759 that devastated the Abenaki
village of the Saint-François River, since all the registers of this mission have been burned.
Throughout history, it has been shown that the Abenakis (who are the descendants of the
Canibas tribe), that in fact comes from the name “KANIBESINNOAKS “6 among others, were
4
5
6
Relation des Jésuites de9 Relation of the Jesuits) 1652-1653, RJ, 40 :214.
Likewise
MAURAULT, J.A, Histoire des Abénaquis (History of the Abenakis), 1866, primé par La gazette de Sorel, PVI
6
crossing or travelling from Maine to Beauce. The latter were travelling along the Appalachian
river up to the Kennebec. Although some authors claim that these Amerindians were only
passing through on the territory of Beauce, for hunting and fishing, we will demonstrate to you
that it is not the case and that on the contrary, the latter were living on the territory of Beauce.
The Antaya community members as well as their ancestors are living on the territory of
Beauce since the beginning of colonization, and well before, as for the natives are concerned.
However, the Antaya community has settled as a non-profit organization in 2007 in order to
go from the oral tradition to the written. True committed community, we have structured our
way of working as well as the services that we give our members. A Metis Citizenship Code
has been signed and approved in a members’ assembly, thus showing the existing
democracy within our community. Supported by several and acknowledged as native
community, we did the peace walk in collaboration with the city of Saint-Georges de Beauce.
Living as a true community, we have started a newspaper made by our members in order to
pass on the information to everybody.
7
ANTAYA’S VIEW
Today’s native world is huge and very complicated. Some of the First Nations no longer
practice the old traditions by choice and it is correct this way. Some Western Metis groups no
longer practice the old traditions by choice and it is correct this way. Other nations choose,
for their part, to carry them on and teach them, and it is also correct this way; Antaya is one of
them by choice.
Here is how we view things:
To acknowledge a chief, one must be a chief. But we have to ask ourselves the meaning, the
value and the beliefs that we give to this word. So, for me, a chief is the person who leads or
the person who runs. The one who runs a school is a chief, he/she leads the school. There
is also the chief of the government, that is to say the Prime Minister; the religious chief, the
Pope; the church chief, the priest.
As many definitions as there are perceptions and beliefs.
So, here is my definition of a chief. A chief is first a humble person who can accept his/her
faux pas, his/her mistakes, analyze them, understand them and grasp the lesson of life. For
me a chief is someone who can gather around a same table, all the persons who could have
an impact on the issue of the future decisions to be taken without regard to their different
beliefs, since in the end, it is only one difference.
Morally speaking, a chief is the one who knows him/herself and recognizes him/herself for
who he/she is. It is someone who comes to terms with oneself. Consequently, a chief is
necessarily someone of peace and who is looking for peace and harmony, he/she is looking
for the plenitude between two worlds, that is the world of his/her own beliefs and the one of
the beliefs of others.
Why do we say that the maternal bond is the strongest? Because the mother passes down
100% of the genes to her child. The genes do not consist of DNA, blood and the body only;
they also consist of the spirit and the heart. There is what the maternal lineage passes down.
In one of my lineages, my great-grand-mother Jenoffle is registered under the name of
Geneviève Roy, European. False name, false identity, false life. The descendants have
learned to hide this native identity, because shameful, or yet because they have been victims
of racism, exclusion and rejection. All we heard through the walls were the whispers evoking
customs, traditions, and bits of happiness.
This shame was carried on in the descendant. Once at the generation of my mother, the
native identity virtually no longer existed and was forbidden because shameful.
I am the 5th generation and I have inherited the native gene both by my spirit, my heart and
my soul and I need to take back my truth about who I am and thus free not only the spirit of
my ancestors, men and women, but also of all those who are in the same situation.
8
I have been child apart from others because I have inherited this spirit and this world that
surrounds me and that have formed my childhood and my adolescence. Today, not only am I
assuming and we all assume our difference but we are also showing it. It is no better than
yours, it is no worse, it is different and it is ours. That you find our beliefs outdated should
therefore not prevent us to talk to one another, to understand one another and to exchange.
We wish to exchange, to share in a friendly, collaboration, peace and harmony spirit.
Quite obviously, the methods used up to this day do not work and they have only caused war,
quarrels.
Some among us have forgot who they are and where they come from. Some have been
forced to deny their own blood and roots. But what is important is that today we accept our
differences and who we are each and everyone of us. The respect of others will always have
its place. It is not outdated or old-fashioned, it is the balance between two persons, two
peoples, two nations, two friends.
Sometimes our belief depends on our ignorance and if this ignorance was brought to our
knowledge, this would change our belief or our perception according to this new knowledge.
It is the right to be. There is a huge difference between doing something for oneself and not
against someone.
Today’s Metis is still a coureur de bois, but in the figurative sense. That is that it is still
someone who yells his/her identity, who is excluded. He/she is a white man/woman with
Amerindian beliefs, traditions, identity and belonging. The Metis is the withdrawn child, alone,
who grows up in a reserved way. It is the child who isolates him/herself in the nature when
nothing goes. It also is the child who rejoices in nature, who goes get his/her energy close to
an oak tree or a cedar tree. He/she also likes life on this planet, the water, the forests, the
sky, the animals. It is the child who grows up asking him/herself a lot of questions and who
asks a lot, not only to learn but also by insecurity. He/she feels that he/she is different from
what he/she is being told but he/she is looking for who he/she is. In adulthood, he/she
becomes a different being from the others but he/she has learned each lesson that life taught
him/her to come to hold a certain wisdom because impregnated up to his/her cells, with the
native knowledge. It is the one who understands the wording of life and who shares it, he/she
shares the essence of life.
You know that our different convictions have no importance since they allow us to exchange
and thus evolve one another. For these reasons, Antaya does not want to take away
anything to anyone.
You know, everyone on our side we hear a lot of things, we wish to obtain the possibility to
build a bridge between the two worlds in order to be able to truly know each other.
We sincerely believe that it is tomorrow’s hope. A tomorrow not filled with fear, with struggles,
with resentment, with disputes, with open wars and violent deaths but with peace, with joy
and with love. Because at the end all of that is only a conflictual crisis between ideologies,
beliefs. If we accept our different beliefs, we are restoring peace.
We believe that neither race, nor sex, neither the nationality, nor the religious denomination,
neither the sexual orientation, nor any other aspect of the individuality of a person should
9
prevent the latter to fully take part in hi/her identity, as long as this choice does not infringe
the rights or the safety of others.
Our path is not the best nor the worst, it is only one among others. We are living in a complex
time and we are facing challenges that command quite a lot of approaches. I have my ideas
and my opponent have his/hers. My opponent is not an enemy. He/she is not a bad person,
he/she simply has ideas that are different from mine. Over and done with the defamation and
the intent proceedings, the slanders and the depreciation.
Justice is a system by which society makes sure that the sequence of events is “fair”.
According to the dictionary, it is the impartial adjustment of the conflictual demands, it is
therefore an adaptability so that it works, because at the end there is only what is working
what is not working.
ANTAYA STRUCTURE
The Abenakis are, according to the description made by Jean Louis R. Obomsawin in his
document “Regard sur l’histoire des Abénaquis”7(Look on the history of the Abenakis), usually
glum, quiet, thinking a lot, never talking about some subject or other without having ponder
over it for a long time….they are charitable and beneficent. These are important values that
we find within the Antaya members.
This same author tells us that each tribe had two great chiefs; the one of war and the one who
sees to the right order in the tribe. He adds further that although the chiefs enjoy a position of
influence on the rest of the members, they were not allowed to command them because each
of the members is a FREE AND INDEPENDENT being.8
Antaya has no war chief because evolution is an integral part of its development. But it has a
chief who sees to the good running of the Community and a spiritual chief, that is to say Mr.
Jean Pierre Nadeau, who is also chief of Alnombak.
The Abenakis also have a great council who represents the board of directors and the elder,
and a collective board that is all the members of Antaya
The Antaya board (great council) sees to the advancement of Antaya and to its social
involvement as well as to its good visibility and to obtain its acknowledgement as native
community.
As for the collective council, it decides on the missions to pursue, on the mandate of the
elected members.
7
OBOMSAWIN, Jean Louis R. Regard sur l’histoire des abénaquis, (Look on the history of the Abenakis) Odanak, Printemps
1995, Vol 1, note 1, p. 8
8
OBOMSAWIN, likewise, p. 12
10
The Abenakis, always according to Mr Obomsawin, were gathering and celebrating and
dancing when it was about important things.9 Antaya practices the same tradition still today.
A fête is organized for each solstice, as well as for the native national day, June 21, or even
upon the arrival of a newborn in the community.
ANTAYA TOTEM ANIMALS
Mr Obomsawin adds that each tribe had its coat of arms that consisted in the figure of an
animal or a bird or a fish.10
The exactitudes and the similarities with Antaya confirm to us the Abenaki origin of our
existence. Antaya is represented by the tree of peace made of a she-wolf in its torso since it
is from the clan of the white she-wolf. There is an eagle at the top of the tree, representing
the future view, 4 horses representing the spirit of the 4 directions and the face of an old
Indian representing wisdom.
MORES AND CUSTOMS
THE PEACE PIPE
Among Abenakis, the peace pipe is of great importance, accompanied with true respect…. 11
The same in Antaya, the spiritual ceremonies are accompanied by the peace pipe and the
women play drum wearing a dress. Effectively, the dress symbolizes mother earth who
brings and gives life.
THE TALKING STICK
During conventional and exchange meetings, a talking stick is being used so that we all
respect the one who ask for the right to speak; the others respectfully listening. The
traditional stick is a tree branch that we tied up with leather and to which we added feathers
and animal claws.
THE SACRED HERBS
Taken from the book: La roue de médecine, des indiens d'Amérique, (The medecine wheel of
the American Indians), Editions Québécor, by Daniel Lamarre.
We use sacred herb to purify oneself and to give offerings. We use sage, Indian grass,
cedar, and tobacco as incense or even, in the case of tobacco for example, simply to create
smoke. We can also drop these herbs in the rivers or on the ground for an offering to the
Creator and to the nature or even when we must cut down a tree or kill an animal.
9
OBOMSAWIN, likewise p. 13
10
OBOMSAWIN, likewise p. 13
11
OBOMSAWIN, likewise p. 17
11
TOBACCO: is frequently used as an offering to protect the health of the peoples, to assure
their safety in storms, to ask for the help of the Great Spirit or to express ones gratefulness for
the favours obtained. We can also offer tobacco to the spirit of an animal that we just killed or
a tree that we just cut down. We drop a bit of tobacco on the ground before doing a prayer of
gratitude.
SAGE: has a very strong cleansing action. It is used in all Indian traditions.
GLYCERIA: invites the positive forces of the Universe. Its use is widely spread among the
First Nations.
INDIAN GRASS: often called (Mother Earth hairs) attracts the energies favourable to
harmony.
CEDAR: is an excellent cleanser that predisposes to prayer, calm and serenity. It attracts the
favourable energies.
JUNIPER: is especially used to purify the place where we sleep and to remember the dreams.
THE SACRED FIRE
During each event, a sacred fire is lightened and kept by our keeper of the sacred fire. The
same during important decision, this fire will be and will remain lighten during 7 days and 7
nights.
BEAR FAT
Just like the Abenaki were using the bear fat… “ all his life, the Abenaki generously uses bear
fat.12 The members of Antaya make and use bear fat; while our ancestors were using it to
protect their skin from the cold and to give them a nice colour, we use it for the making of
country soap.
Just as for the Abenaki the bear is very important in the mores of Antaya, 13 it represents the
strength, the wisdom and the calm.
In each Antaya family there are elders, grandparents, women who knew a great number of
herbs and their medicinal uses. We also have the sweat lodges and the drum ceremonies.
We have a healing circle that joins others for the different requests or activities like the
Algonquin reserve of Maniwaki or even the Abenakis living outside the reserves, on private
places.
The majority of Antaya members today are still practicing deer hunting, moose hunting as well
as fishing.
12
13
Obomsawin, p 31
OBOMSAWIN, p 34
12
ECONOMY AND ACTIVITY SECTORS OF ANTAYA
The main economic sectors of activity are the production of maple syrup as well as wood.
Father Honorius Provost relates that the Abenakis were living on agriculture, on hunting and
fishing, on the cultivation of corn and that they were tapping maple trees.14
We also have the author Pehr Kalm, a European naturalist who mentions in 1749: “we say in
Canada, that the savages are the great masters in the matter, that is concerning maple syrup
and sugar maple”.15
DEPARTMENT OF THE SHARING OF SOLUTIONS
This department will offer solutions on what is working and what in not working. Any problem
had been lived somewhere and a solution has been found; we only need to share it. This
process shortens by 10 the learning curve that will bring a better life for all.
DEPARTMENT OF SHARING AND COOPERATION
Antaya proposes sharing and cooperation between its members. We all have objects that are
used only 5% of the time and are therefore unused 95% of the time. We believe that we must
consider everyone like we would want them to consider us by providing them what we would
want to be provided with. The goal is to come to provide everyone access to the same things
and their use, what will have an environmental impact. To do so, we take up the idea of
ecolonomy of Dennis Weaver, founder of the “Institute of ecolonomics”. We want to institute
again the moral awareness in the enterprises and businesses.
So we are inviting all of those who have goods who would want to share them to mention
them on the bulletin board present here.
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Provost, Honorieux, La Vallée de la Chaudière (The Chaudière Valley), p. 22
e
e
Voyage of Pehr Kalm in Canada in 1749, (Folio 641) page 130, 5 and 6 line
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PATRON SAINT OF ANTAYA: SAINT PHILOMENA
Saint Philomena is a young Indian canonized by the Catholic Church. We can see her on this
picture holding two arrows in her hands as well as a feather of an eagle.
Her sarcophagus was discovered May 24th 1802. It was opened the next morning, that is to
say May 25th. Her sarcophagus was bearing the inscriptions of martyr and we could read
MAY THE PEACE BE WITH YOU, PHILOMENA. For 1500 years, her sarcophagus was
resting in the catacombs of Sainte-Priscille. Starting with its discovery, we began to count
several miracles, uncommon in the history of the Church.
Closer to us, we find her in the church of Ste-Philomène de Fortierville, located at 210, rue
Principale, Fortierville. This church also has relics. We also find her at: www.philomena.it.
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ANTAYA’S SUPPORTS
The Anatya nation is well involved in its environment. It is in the first place supported by the
City of Saint-Georges as well as the federal elected member Mr Maxime Bernier and the
provincial elected member for ADQ at the time Mr Claude Morin, whose letters are
reproduced below.
The chief of Antaya, Mrs Dominique Côté, had been invited by her Excellency the Governor
General, Mrs Michael Jean, in the context of the native women day, May 8 2008 at the Native
Toronto Centre.
The municipality of St-Robert de Bellarmin has supported the Alnombak community regarding
the documentation center. Just like during the Powwow organized in 2008, the municipality of
St-Robert de Bellarmin has put at our disposal the O.T.J. so that we could hold the weekend
activities. For this occasion a breakfast was served by the members, a traditional supper with
meat of game was also served.
The parish of St-Gédéon has invited us to take part in their St-Jean celebrations as native
community, just as the City of St-Georges during the peace walk where we were opening the
torchlight procession.
Schools are asking us more and more to organize activities for the children in order to make
us known and to share our culture.
The City of St-Georges has also invited us to take part in the Nations day in order to
represent the natives of Beauce and to share our culture.
Just like, in the context of the culture week in St-Georges, we are invited to give conferences
on miscegenation in Beauce.
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Photo during the conference of the 2008 culture week.
Photo with the Governor General Michael Jean
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ST-CASTIN ARCHIVES CENTER
Although it is still under construction, we already have numerous books consisting of
genealogies, digitized cards, edicts and decrees. We also have an entire series in genealogy
representing the different municipalities.
The goal is to keep and gather in a one an only place the documentation that tends to
disappear.
This centre is located on the 4th floor of the municipal library in St-Georges in the offices of the
Société historique Sartigan (historic society).
COUNCIL FOR PROTECTION OF RIGHTS
Antaya has presented a request in acknowledgement of the ancestral rights for its members,
we are very active and we want that our native identity be given back to us. We are claiming
hunting and fishing rights, we are claiming that the production of maple syrup is a native
ancestral right and consequently we are claiming the right to autonomy in this sector.
We are also claiming our registration at the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs
Canada in order to be a representative organism.
We also have a team of historic research who compels itself to finding information both
genealogical and historical or treaties on the natives of Beauce and the concerned territory.
GENEALOGICAL COUNCIL
In this sector, we are archiving all the data found. And we constantly make researches in
order to find and identify natives who have changed name. We are also making sure that the
family trees are made so as to give them a legal value. The proofs with signatures are
therefore mandatory since they are the legal proof in the eyes of the law on proof.
SPIRITUALITY COUNCIL
This council includes the elder of the Nation, the keeper of the sacred fire and Mr Jean Pierre
Nadeau who acts as spiritual teacher. He leads the different ceremonies to which Antaya
takes part.
The popular songs within Antaya are above all Abenaki songs accompanied by the drum.
There is a song for each theme, like the water purification, the appeal to the ancestors of the
7 generations who preceded us, the appeal to wisdom, etc. We have included these songs in
the appendix.
FINANCIAL COUNCIL
The mandate of this council is the achievement and the setting up of different fund raising
activities that will allow Antaya to pay for the functioning costs of the community as well the
cost of the setting up of the different activities.
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Photo with William Commanda, Algonquin peace pipe bearer
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