Speech made by Shawn Spencer, Assistant Park Superintendent, Killarney & French River Provincial Park Cluster, Ontario Parks
September 2023
“Seventeen years ago, Chuck Miller, who was the Superintendent for French River Provincial Park at that time, understood that Ontario Parks needed to develop relationships with the Indigenous communities that have lived along and traveled the French River since time immemorial, to learn from them to better preserve the land.
We are charged to protect and to take the first steps down the long and hard path of reconciliation. So, when it was decided that a visitor centre would be built here on the French River, Chuck Miller knew that he needed to hear the voices of the Elders and educators of these communities to ensure that the construction of the visitor centre, development of its museum, and its ongoing operation could move forward in a good way.
Now, today (September 9, 2023), this is the 16th pow wow being held at the French River Visitor Centre, and I am glad to continue to walk the path that Chuck Miller began for Ontario Parks in his work with the committee.
The work that these Elders, educators, volunteers, and committee members began all those years ago laid the foundation for new Indigenous advisory committees and cultural events at Killbear, Rondeau, MacGregor Point, and many other provincial parks across the province.
Now, back to where we are today (September 9, 2023), what the committee helped to create, and what it means to Ontario Parks. Inside the visitor center there is a museum that the committee helped to design. The exhibit in this museum is called, “The Voices of the River.” It tells the history of this place, the history of French River as we know it, to the best of our ability to tell this history.
There are recordings that can be played. Many are dramatizations of the words of long-dead historical figures, but some more recent displays have recordings of the actual voices of those who are still within living memory.
They tell their stories in their own words and in their own voice. They tell of how their history shaped the river, and how they were in turn shaped by the river.
For Ontario Parks, the Elders, educators, and volunteers that comprise the committee and make this pow wow possible are the Voices of the River and I would like to thank them all again for the guidance that they offer Ontario Parks as we continue to walk the path towards reconciliation.
Thank you all.”
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