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Living History 63 from overseas should not be imported and imposed on the ‘redskins’, particularly not on the people of Walpole Island. He further pointed out the diversity created by the Great Spirit, a diversity evident everywhere in the natural world. People were as different as the leaves on the trees. Indian people had observed the different ways that birds fly in the air, and the different ways that fish swim in the water, and understood that there were different ways to reach the Great Spirit.The ‘redskins’had their way, for they inherited the blessings and wisdom of their elders. They had no reason to adopt the way of ‘The Prayer’ advocated by the Black Robes. Oshawano’s speeches indicated the Ojibwas’ view of Christianity. They found common ground with the Jesuits in their belief in a Great Spirit who had created everything in the sky and on the Earth.The Ojibwas observed that the Black Robes had pictures and small statues in heir dwelling,and recognized that these images helped them to contact the Great Spirit. Oshawano pointed out that the Ojibwas as well had their images and sacred objects to help them contact the Great Spirit. He acknowledged that the Indians did not have paper and ink, but they made their drawings on birch bark. Clearly,these Ojibwa elders had thought over the differences and similarities between their own beliefs and those of the Jesuits. They were well acquainted with the different forms of exposition and persuasion by the Jesuit order to gain Indian converts. They were not at all swayed by Father Chazelle’s sincere declaration that the Great Spirit had sent his Son to earth with a message to save all people, including those on Walpole Island. Oshawano explained to the “man with a hat”that the people on the other side of the great sea had obviously been bad people so that the Great Spirit felt obliged to send his Son with a message. But the Great Spirit did not need to send his Son to the ‘redskins’. Furthermore, those people on the other side of the great sea had killed the Son sent to them by the Great Spirit,and Ojibwas would not follow the way of ‘The Prayer’ associated with such a wicked deed. Reiterating his sincere faith in his own religion, Father Chazelle made an emotional plea, declaring that he would be overjoyed to die for his belief. The assembled Ojibwa elders reacted with shocked silence.They understood facing inevitable death with bravery, but to joyously seek destruction was irrational Personal Reactions of Indigenous People 64 and utterly foolhardy behaviour. Ojibwas had no particular respect for people who stood firmly against all opposition; rather they admired the talent for flexibility, adjustment and compromise. They saw nothing praiseworthy in martyrdom. The lengthy exchange that took place on July 1, 1844, ended with the admonition from Oshawano to the “man with a hat” advising him to stop building the chapel and go someplace else.8 Despite this warning, the two Jesuits felt bound by their vows to continue their difficult missionary efforts on Walpole Island. A few Indians did eventually come and camp near their crude chapel. A report in 1846 indicates that after more than two years of intense missionary work there were sixty Roman Catholics at Walpole Island. Protestant religions also came to the island, the greatest success going to those whose ministers could preach in Ojibwa. In 1858, the religious affiliation of the band was reported as follows: Church of England, 20; Methodists,5; Roman Catholics,19; and 522 ‘Pagans’who were still practising their centuries-old religion. Late on the night of March 22, when both the Jesuits were off the island, their chapel inexplicably burned to the ground.9 Turning to another concept, let us consider the matter of time, very different in the minds of Europeans and the Native people of North America. For North American Indians, and indeed for indigenous people all over the world, time is part of the natural order of life. Indian time is environmental time, based on close observation of the sun, moon, stars and the changing seasons. Indians took note, when weather permitted, of the occurrence of the winter and summer solstice and the vernal and autumnal equinox. Years were counted as a certain number of ‘winters’; divisions of the year followed the lunar cycle; and days were actually ‘sleeps...

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