"Powwow Attracts Thousands"

NEW CREDIT - Visitors from as far away as Italy and England attended the Three Fires Homecoming and Pow Wow at the Mississaugas of the New Credit Reserve on the weekend.

More than 10,000 people over two days watched the pageantry of the 10th annual pow wow which celebrates the culture and heritage of the Ojibway people.

"It's a chance for our people to get together and it's also aimed at visitors," explained Julie Bomberry. "The pow wow informs the public about the aboriginal people."

While the visitors enjoyed the unique sights and sounds, the Mississaugas also held special ceremonies of their own.

"It's religious in a sense of the word," Bomberry said.

The spectacle featured 150 dancers in native costume, along with nine drums.

Next year will be even bigger as 1997 marks the 150th anniversary of the Mississaugas arriving at the New Credit Reserve.

Carolyn King said the Ojibway settled the whole of southern Ontario after pushing out the Iroquois in the early 1600s.

"We settled mostly in the Toronto area around the Credit River," she said.

But as white settlers got a foothold and began to develop the land, the Mississaugas moved on.

"It was mostly by choice," King said.

In 1847, they were granted the present 2,400 hectares adjacent to Six Nations Reserve and the tract became known as the 'New' Credit Reserve.

King said many of their people were early converts to Christianity as one of their tribe, Peter Jones, was an ordained Methodist minister. The Mississaugas also chose to be governed by an elected band council in the 1920s.

However their adoption of western ways worked against their own culture, King said. Traditional ceremonies, like the pow wow, were not held. Even worse, their language was lost.

But today, the pow wows have been resurrected and the Ojibway language is taught at Parkview Public School in Caledonia.