Rapid Lake Reserve of the Barrière Lake Algonquins, Quebec, Canada

For more than two decades the Geneseo Migrant Center (GMC) worked with a First Nations community who migrated annually to Western New York. Officially designated as the Algonquins of Barriere Lake (usually called Rapid Lake), they were employed by fur farms due to their skill with killing and skinning animals. Their arts and crafts were displayed at gallery shows through the efforts of Prof. Sue Roark-Calnek.

In subsequent years the Barriere Lake community was divided over the issue of selling timber rights to logging companies. Lena Nottaway (1913-1977) and her grandson Joseph Wawatie (1956-2016), both regular exhibitors for the GMC, found themselves in the minority land protector faction; Wawatie was arrested several times for blocking roads in peaceful resistence.

Photo by User:P199 at Wikimedia Commons

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Digital photograph