Six eagles

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Six eagles were among the dignitaries attending yesterday's historic repatriation of the remains of six Batchewana First Nation ancestors.

Chief Dean Sayers blew smoke from his sacred pipe through holes at the end of each of the six cedar-plank boxes containing the remains, finally returned by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. after more than a century and a half of wanderings.

As the big drum echoed the heartbeat of the earth, the six eagles circled in from the east.

They swooped toward the south several times, close and low around the traditional burial ground at Goulais Bay on Lake Superior.

The scent of burning sage and tobacco lay heavy around the grounds.

More than 150 onlookers lifted their eyes to the sunlit sky to watch as the eagles arrived.

Their wings almost seemed to beat the air in time with the heavy beat of the big drum.

Then, with a flick of their wings, three of the sacred birds banked off and soared skyward.

First one.

Then two more flew close and banked off.

Then the other three eagles circled slowly skyward after them.

Two stayed circling slow and high above as the boxes were lowered into the ground, beginning with the long-deceased chief, followed by the two other men and finally the three women.

Batchewana citizens and their guests then filed past all six graves, sprinkling a pinch of tobacco and a small handful of earth on each of the cedar boxes.

As men began to cover the boxes with earth, the people walked back down the hill, for a feast in the community centre in the Goulais Bay Reserve 15A of Batchewana First Nation of Ojibways.

Chief Sayers said the event was probably one of the most significant in the band's history.

Five of the six individuals returned to Batchewana were collected by U.S. Army Assistant Surgeon Dr. Joseph H. King during May, June and August of 1875, said Dr. Eric Hollinger, an archaeologist with the Smithsonians's repatriation office.

The remains were collected, along with associated artifacts, from unknown cemetary sites at and near the Ontario Sault, then transferred to the American Army Medical Museum, Hollinger said.

From there, they were removed to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in 1898.

In documenting that transfer, Dr. King identified the remains as Chippewas who had been buried between 50 and 100 years before he collected their remains.

The sixth individual was reported by King to have been a Chippewa man killed in a fit of jealous rage some 10 years before his remains were collected in 1875.

Identifying the remains as coming from the Batchewana First Nation of Ojibways was actually not very difficult, said Hollinger.

Getting them home, however, was much more complicated.

"The United States does not recognize tribes in Canada, only those in the United States. So we could not deal directly with the Batchewana First Nation," he said.

The Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa Indians and the Bay Mills Indian Community came forward to act as liaisons when Batchewana indicated it was ready to receive the remains of its ancestors.

The Smithsonian Institution then transferred them to the Sault Tribe and Bay Mills.

As far as the Smithsonian was officially concerned, the repatriation was complete.

It was up to the people of Bay Mills and the Michigan Soo to turn them over to Chief Sayers and his contingent of paddlers, to ferry them across the St. Marys River yesterday morning.

They travelled in a traditional birch bark canoe built by hand by the people of Batchewana First Nation of Ojibways.

The people of Bay Mills taught them how to make it, but Batchewana citizens built it for this very significant occasion, said Chief Sayers.

The canoe landed at Bellevue Park shortly after 11 a.m.

When it did, Chief Sayers said he was nearly overcome by pride and happiness that there were so many waiting on shore and that they were finally bringing home their ancestors.

"It helps us to heal," he said. "It is returning another missing piece of who we are and helping to complete us."

There were more than 200 people on shore waiting to greet the ancestors as they began the final leg of their long journey back home.

Dr. Hollinger was among them.

He travelled with the remains all the way to Goulais Bay to see them safely home.