Page 31 - Moose Deer Point First Nation

A visit with elder

Acknowledging Helen St. Pierre

a Champion

by Greer Atkinson

that mothers knit tightly to keep out the cold.
The threads were knit so tight, the socks would
stand up on their own. As we climb the stairs
to Helen’s house, I wonder if the cold is just
something Helen’s sister-in-law got used to.

As we gather around Helen’s kitchen table, I
am struck by her voice. It is so soft. It’s loud
enough to hear, yet gentle at the same time. Her
softness makes me think of other Indigenous
women, speaking in English in other Anishinaabe
communities.
A birch and ash basket made by Elder Helen
Helen’s story interests me because she has been
t’s winter time, and we are calling her land-
working to revitalize the language of Moose
line telephone, asking if we can come to
Deer Point for many years. Helen explains that
her house and visit. Elder Helen St. Pierre
she taught for the Near North District School
Iis gracious and welcomes the visit, so we
Board from 1994 to 2013. She attended Lakehead
make our way to her house.
University with other First Nation teachers from
I have been visiting with Helen’s sister-in-law, central and southern Ontario, and received her
and we go out into winter rain. It is a slippery teaching credentials for teaching Ojibwe.
night here, on the edge of Georgian Bay, but
“What brought you back to Moose Deer Point to
thankfully the drive is short. On King Bay, people
teach?” I ask.
live close to one another.
Helen responds that she returned to sell baskets
When we get to Helen’s house, I notice how
and other items, but found herself called
little her sister-in-law wears on her feet. I
upon to teach. Her sister-in-law pipes up, “You
remember stories I heard in this community
should see her baskets! She would have quills
just days before. The stories were about a time
hanging out of her mouth!” Helen rises to get
before the road came into Moose Deer Point in
me a basket. Her sister-in-law is referring to
1966. Back then, kids only got two good pairs of
porcupine quills. Local Indigenous women often
footwear each year, like many kids in Canada at
held the quills in their mouths, as they worked
the time. In Moose Deer, most kids got rubber
on birch or ash baskets that they would sell
boots for winter. When I asked how the kids
for cash.
kept their feet warm, I was told about socks

Moose Deer Point First Nation 29

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