Monica Virtue on Researching, Mapping and Storytelling of Treaty 29

In the fifth episode of Postcards from Huron County, podcast host Mandy Sinclair chats with Monica Virtue, researcher, film-maker behind the The Ipperwash Park Film Project, and she co-curated the exhibit Gaawiin Ogiibagidenaawaasiiwaawan / They Did Not Let It Go at Museum London in 2020 and Nnigiiwemin, or We are Going Home, at the Lambton Heritage Museum in 2021. She also leads educational workshops with historian David D. Plain. 

Monica tells of discoveries made through her mapping researching including landscape changes on Treaty 29, seeing the original Treaty 29 on a research visit to Museum and Archives Canada, and the reserve lands throughout Treaty 29. 

Favourite quote of the episode: Seeing the treaty in real life was amazing, because it’s three pages long and the pages aren’t paper, they’re parchment. So that’s the skin of a sheep or a goat. So you can actually see the spine in the Huron Tract Treaty and the ribs, right in the parchment. And you can see the wax seals and the dotum markings from the chiefs, and ribbon interwoven. That’s when it became really real to me. 

Related links:

More about Monica Virtue: https://monicavirtue.com/

Nnigiiwemin / We Are Going Home exhibition: https://www.lambtonmuseums.ca/en/lambton-heritage-museum/nnigiiwemin-we-are-going-home.aspx

David D. Plain writings: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1487216.David_D_Plain 

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Thanks to our sponsor Royal Lepage Heartland Realty https://rlpheartland.ca. 

Royal LePage Heartland Realty is Huron County’s largest real estate brokerage, with agents specializing in all aspects of real estate spanning the County of Huron and beyond.

Postcards from Huron County is made possible with funding from the Huron Heritage Fund and Community Futures Huron Community Projects Initiative the support of Clint Mackie, Andrew Bouck, Nick Vinnicombe, and Mark Hussey at Faux Pop Media.

More about Mandy Sinclair: https://mandyinmorocco.com and tastinghuroncounty.ca.