William Commanda, Ojigkwanong, Anishinàbe, 1913-
He is an Algonquin elder and spiritual leader, born in
Kitigàn-zìbì, (Garden River/Rivière
Désert) in the Gatineau River valley near Maniwaki, Quebec.
Commanda is the great-grandson of Chief Pakinawatik, who led his
people from the Lake of Two Mountains near Montreal to the Kitigàn-zìbì
Reserve in 1854. Commanda worked as a guide, trapper and woodsman,
a birch bark canoe maker and craftsman. Commanda was Keeper of
several Algonquin Wampum Shell Belts which held records of prophecies,
history, treaties and agreements. The three Wampum Belts under
his care are: the Seven Fires Prophecy Belt, the Jay Treaty Border
Crossing Belt, and the Three Figure Welcoming/Agreement Wampum
Belt. Commanda served as Band Chief of the Kitigàn-zìbì
Anishinàbeg First Nation from 1951 to 1970. In 1987 at
the fourth First Ministers Conference on inherent rights and self-government
for Aboriginal people, Commanda began teaching about the messages
of the wampum belts. In 1990 he was invited to give a traditional
blessing at the Canadian Human Rights Monument in Ottawa with
the Dalai Lama. In 1998 Commanda presented Nelson Mandela with
an eagle feather on behalf of the First Nations of Canada. That
same year Commanda organized Elders Without Borders, a gathering
of Aboriginal Elders and spiritual leaders from both North and
South America. He is the spiritual and hereditary chief of the
Algonquin nation, a role he has played for many years and that
has been recognized through numerous awards including the Key
to the Capital City (2006), an Honourary Doctorate from the University
of Ottawa (2005), and the Bill Mason Conservation Award (2004).
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