Dbaajmoowin: Dialogue with the Elders

I have a story. It is about relationship, shared experience, the role of story, and the importance of traditional language in dialogue, Dbaajmoowin, with Native American elders. My story features the Algonquin Dome, the region of Ontario between the Ottawa River and Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, land which was occupied in pre-European contact times by Algonquian-speaking people. Just two hours drive south of the Algonquin Dome, over eight million people live in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe, a metropolitan area centered on the city of Toronto. Fully one-quarter of Canada’s total population lives in the Golden Horseshoe. This demographic has required rethinking the protection plan for significant portions of the Algonquin Dome. At the beginning of the 17th century the Great Lakes region was unknown to Euro-peans. As the century proceeded the French moved further inland, almost always with native guides. The main canoe route westward toward Lake Superior from Montreal was up the Ottawa River, through Lake Nipissing and down the river that came to be known as the French River. That section of the route forms the northern boundary of the Algonquin Dome. The dome, shaped like a huge turtle shell in the middle of central Ontario, has shor