Photo: © Roger Lamothe
Moose Factory & Moosonee
“To honour our parents … the plans that they made to commemorate 300th … we planned More than 350th.”
—Bernice Kapashesit, More than 350 Co-Chair
Loud applause subsides to quiet anticipation as the four musicians re-enter the stage for an encore to their Transatlantic Concert. It is summer 2023 and Moose Cree First Nation (MCFN) is hosting its annual Gathering of Our People, the regional Mushkegowuk Creefest, and the Nipin (summer) Celebration of the More than 350 Commemorative Year—the largest of eight events organized by the Moose River Heritage and Hospitality Association (MRHHA) to mark Moose Factory’s “More than 350 years in the Making: from Time Immemorial to 1673 to 2023.”
Kris Drever, award-winning Scottish-Orcadian folk musician, introduces their last song: a local take on an old Scottish farewell tune, renamed “Farewell to Moose Factory.” “That’s just for him,” quips John Cheechoo, a son of an accomplished Cree fiddler, one of several who have toured Orkney and Scotland. John is joined by another local Cree musician, Stan Louttit, who also has Orkney ancestry. The fourth musician is the renowned Métis fiddler Alicia Blore. Greg Spence, the seasoned CreeFest organizer—who has been leading it for two decades—comments quietly that this is one of the best performances he has ever seen. Anywhere.
Honouring a Long History
Earlier that day, a plaque had been unveiled to commemorate a history that long predates the 1673 establishment of Moose Factory as the oldest “overseas” trans-Atlantic trading hub of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). This National Historic Site is also Ontario’s oldest English-speaking permanent settlement and subarctic North America’s oldest continuous site of Indigenous-European exchange and intermarriage. Together with its younger, end-of-the-rail neighbour, Moosonee, Moose Factory is a majority-Cree version of multicultural Canada.
Since the last ice age ended, the Môsonîwililiwak—people of the Moose River—have been interacting and intermarrying with people from around James Bay and beyond. These relationships have been governed—accepted, rejected, measured, or corrected—based on values like Šawelihcikewin (the More than 350 motto), which translates as “reciprocity,” “hospitality,” “receiving with gratitude and a desire to give back.” No exception was made for relationships with transatlantic newcomers. It was this Cree ethic, reinforced by Frederick Mark’s adopted Christianity and two centuries of exchange and intermarriage—including in his own family—that informed his signature of Treaty Nine in 1905 as Moose Cree’s first elected chief.
Music and culture have always been part of this exchange, resulting in one of the country’s highest per capita populations of recording and award-winning musicians. J’shtug! Ever good those Crees!
In 1988, Canada’s “First Lady of Guitar” and five-time Juno winner arrived by canoe to play a concert for a packed audience in Moose Factory’s iconic old St. Thomas Anglican Church. Welcomed by the local choir with Cree hymns, Liona Boyd was introduced in Cree by Arnold Cheechoo, the late brother of national award-winning musician Vern Cheechoo. This family name is also associated with hockey, thanks to Jonathan Cheechoo—the NHL’s top scorer in 2005-06.
“When we arrived in Moose Factory,” reflects Liona, “I met William [Louttit], a young Cree musician … As I sat on his doorstep and we played music … [it] seemed the perfect way to bring our two cultures together. … Perhaps nowhere else in the village was the fusion of the two cultures more obvious than at the church, my concert’s venue. Here, the symbols were undeniably Christian, but their execution was just as undeniably Cree. I realized that my journey had not only opened my eyes but made my focus clearer. We set out in the footsteps of ghosts, but what we found were very real people.”
We Are the Ililiwak
We are these very real Ililiwak. The Moose Cree dictionary gives three meanings for this term, all of which apply here: human beings, Cree people specifically, and Indigenous people. Like the river we call home, we are shaped by many sources and currents. Some of us were born here to ancestors who have called this land home since time beyond memory; others were borne here—over ancient waterways or the Polar Bear Express. For much more than 350 years, these currents have mixed and intermingled. This rich history is the focus of a new film that the MRHHA is producing, directed by Tracie Louttit, called Ililiwi Pimâtisîwin: Cree Life. You can watch a 10-minute teaser for the film here.
Restoring Old St. Thomas
Former Moose Cree Chief Norm Wesley, one of the choir members who sang at Liona’s 1988 concert, has joined her and ten others as ambassadors for the Šawelihcikewin Campaign. They are raising funds, through charity partner Relèven, to restore and reopen their former concert venue, Old St. Thomas. The goal is for it to serve the community in new ways, with programming focused on strengthening families, language, arts, and culture. They will be hosting an online silent auction of regional art and crafts in November as part of these fundraising efforts. (Sign up for our MRHHA newsletter to get updates on this and more.)
“In a time when we are tearing down statues and monuments,” says Norm, “this community has chosen to uphold this building, this historic church, because of what it stands for. It’s in remembrance of our heritage, our past, the good things and the bad things, and things that we say we will never, ever forget.”
“In the near future,” states current MCFN Chief Peter Wesley, Old St. Thomas “… will once again play an important role in our lives as residents of Moose Factory Island, as a multi-use community centre … [and] a way for … visitors to learn about Moose Cree First Nation and Moose Factory as a whole.”
The MRHHA is a joint creation of MCFN, MoCreebec Eeyoud Council, and the Town of Moosonee, as well as grassroots community members and friends from near and far. Our mission is to build a future with our shared past, with a focus on the Moose Cree homeland and the people who call it home or are welcomed here in the ancient spirit of hospitality.
Our More than 350 Initiative was created with two main goals: to foster a 360º holistic vision of our past, present, and future, and to promote holistic community and economic development founded on Cree principles such as Šawelihcikewin. Our effort to restore Old St. Thomas is one part of this initiative for which we have received a National Trust for Canada award recognizing “exemplary cross-cultural cooperation in conservation and reconciliation.” More than restoring a building, this is about restoring the best of the relationships it represents as a way of healing the more challenging aspects of that same history.
Sign up for our newsletter at mrhha.ca to find out more about our 360º vision. There is a place for you in it!
The MRHHA is a Community Partnership led by Moose Cree First Nation, MoCreebec Eeyoud Council and the Town of Moosonee.
We are grateful for the support of our co-founding members —MCFN, MoCreebec and Moosonee; major funders—Canada, Ontario, Wakenagun Community Futures; and many others—listed on our website.
The MRHHA website is being updated with more complete information for visitors, in the meantime, visitors are encouraged to contact us at visit@mrhha.ca so we can help make your visit an enjoyable one!
Here are some additional images of the landscape you will find if you visit. If you like these photos by Roger Lamothe, local Cree artist and photographer, you can order prints from him directly through his Facebook Page.
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