23 captures

07 Apr 2003 - 24 Dec 2006

Dec	FEB	Apr
	25
2003	2005	2006

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About this capture

COLLECTED BY

Organization: Alexa Crawls

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Collection: Alexa Crawl EB

Crawl EB from Alexa Internet. This data is currently not publicly accessible.

TIMESTAMPS

NORTHERN ONTARIO

CANADA

INTRO

Nonak (Northern Ontario Native Arts and Krafts) is the name of the business but where is Northern Ontario you might ask?

 Northern Ontario, naturally, is in the northwestern most region of the central Canadian province of Ontario. It is bordered to the south by the Great Lakes, to the north by the Hudson and James Bays and to the west and east by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Quebec respectively.

Possibly, the least dense in population in all of the Canadian regions excepting the Territories and Labrador, Northern Ontario is well known for it’s wealth of natural resources, waterways and wildlife. There is Lake Superior which is the deepest freshwater lake in the world, Manitoulin Island which is the biggest inland island in the world and the majestic Cambrian Shield mountains of the Laurentian Plateau that lead to Hudson Bay to the north.

Nonak is located in the district of Algoma, which is a southwestern area of Northern Ontario. At the hub of Algoma and Great Lakes is the city of Sault Ste Marie. This is the city of my residence.

  HISTORY of SAULT STE MARIE

Sault Ste Marie originally functioned as a transport junction, resource, ceremonial and migrationary fishing center for the original peoples of the area.

            The First Nations peoples associated with the Sault Ste Marie and Algoma district were the Ojibwe, the Odawa (Ottawa) and the Potawatomi. They are all part of the Algonquin linguistic family and call themselves Anishnaabe meaning “original men”.

Historically, the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi, who together form the Confederation of Three Fires, began as a people living beside the Atlantic Ocean or “Great Salt Sea”. Acting on instructions from a vision, the people moved inland to the Great Lakes whereas they split up geographically: the Potawatomi went to Lake Michigan, the Ojibwe to Bawating and the Odawa settled at Michlimackinac and Manitoulin Island.

Folklore tells us that “The Great Spirit created a bird and sent him to earth to live. The bird had a clear and far reaching cry which was heard by the Ojibwe. When the bird sighted Lake Superior, it let out its echoing cry. Circling, looking for a resting place, it lit on a hill overlooking Bawating. Pleased with the numerous whitefish which swam in the sparking foam of the rapids, the bird let out another load cry and the Ojibwe people gathered at its call”.

            Bawating (Algonquin for “rapids”) refers to the St Mary’s rapids that flow from Lake Superior into the North Channel to Georgian Bay and Lake Huron.  

These rapids yielded a seasonal concentration of population because of the natural resources available for fishing and hunting. While the village of Bawating numbered 150-200 inhabitants, during the spring and autumn when the whitefish (attikamak or caribou of the water) migrated to the rapids, the village grew to 2000.

Fishing in the rapids took considerable skill. While one man steered the canoe around the rocks in the rapids, the other fished standing up at the bow with a large dip net that could catch up to several fish each scoop. A skilled fisherman could easily capture 500 fish in a couple of hours.

natives fishing with dip nets at the St Mary's rapids

            The fur trader in his search for beaver pelts and the missionary in his quest for souls to convert both shared a common goal. That goal was to contact native peoples to trade with and to preach to. To obtain this objective, they pushed farther and farther inland into the North American interior and, thus, to the Sault Ste Marie area via the natural waterways from the St Lawrence river.

In 1610, the first Governor of New France, Samuel Champlain, sent young boys such as Etienne Brule and Jean Nicolet to be fostered by the native peoples in order to learn their customs and language. These boys became known as “voyageurs” or “Coureurs Des Bois” (runners of the woods) and have a unique place in the history of Canada. A Voyageur could paddle 18 hours a day and carry a 400 pound pack of furs on his pack across the many portages. The Jesuits also lived among the native tribes.

As the fur trade increased, Sault Ste Marie (French for St Mary’s rapids) became an important center for trade. It is in this spirit of trade that Nonak was created.

Nonak is a free platform for native and non native peoples to sell their crafts to the world exactly in the fashion as the original peoples of the area.

DISTANCES TO THE SAULT

SAULT STE MARIE & NORTHERN ONTARIO BUSINESS & INTEREST LINKS

  "At the present time the best rainbow trout fishing in the world is the Rapids at the Canadian Soo."

Ernest Hemingway August 28, 1920 Toronto Star Weekly