The Intrepid OJIBWAY

The story of a man, and a community, who fostered a sense of pride and dignity for those to come

- Nat Reed

The gravel road leading into the village of Mattagami First Nation weaved through the northern Ontario bush like a garter snake. The year was 1960 and our family was on its way to our new home in Mattagami. My dad had accepted a position to teach in the community’s one-room schoolhouse—28 students from Grades 1 to 6.

If you were to visit Mattagami today, you would find a modern village in every sense of the word. The community that I remember, however, was quite different from the Mattagami of 2021. Electricity and telephones had not yet arrived, so kerosene lanterns and battery-powered radios were staples in most homes. In addition, for parts of the year, snow-covered, impassable roads isolated the community from the outside world.

As we drove through the sleepy village for the first time on that mild afternoon in September, the only ones who seemed to note our passage were a few sled dogs who rose to their feet as we drove by, and a couple of old men sitting on the front steps of their houses, who squinted curiously at our passing.

Little did I realize that behind the doors of the houses we passed that afternoon, were a number of people who would dramatically impact my life during the next four years. Still to this day, the impressions left by several of the village’s old-timers remain. Their indelible presence and fascinating stories conjured within me a past that brimmed with wonder and mystery, such as the Iroquois Wars, Wendigo, the giant snake, the shaking tent ceremony— events and larger-than-life characters that were shrouded in the mists of time.