Widjikiene means
The faint aroma of sweetgrass lingered from the ceremonial smudging ritual which opened a special Sunday afternoon meeting in the basement of the Knight of Columbus Hall in Embrun.
Dozens of people, young and old, from across the four counties of Glengarry, Prescott, Russell and Carleton, gathered to share in a significant event. They were witness to Guillaume Carle (seen at right in photo), national Grand Chief of the Confederation of Aboriginal People of Canada, bestowing official recognition of the Community of Widjikiene as the newest member of the confederation.
The word “widjikiene” means “home” in Algonquin, and for many of those gathered on Sunday morning, the word for home meant so much more now than just the places and houses where they lived.
“We will be officially a community now,” said Chief Rachel Papineau. “For me and everybody, this means to be really recognized as part of the nation. I am so proud to be a Native.”
The Confederation represents and lobbies on behalf of both on-reserve and off-reserve First Nations people. At the moment, there are about 50,000 off-reserve First Nation folk living across the four counties.
“The wealth of Canada,” said Grand Chief Carle during a later speech, “is the Aboriginal people of Canada.”