Hudson Bay Watershed: A Photographic Memoir of the Ojibway, Cree, and Oji-Cree

by John Macfie, Basil Johnston

At the midpoint of the twentieth century, the First Nations people of Ontario's underdeveloped hinterland lived primarily from the land. They congregated in summer in defined communities but in early autumn dispersed to winter camps to hunt, fish, and trap. Increasingly, however, they found they had to adapt to a different way of life, one closer to the Canadian mainstream. While lifestyles and expectations were clearly changing, the native people's desire to maintain their rich and distinctive cultural traditions remained strong.

John Macfie, then an employee with the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests, captured in photographs this turning-point in the lives of the Ojibway, Cre, and Oji-Cree, when their traditional culture still flourished but change was fast approaching.

Genres: Indigenous

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Chinchilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more or less a coffee-table style book, a cute little photographic memoir that captures glimpses of the everyday life of the Algonquians around the Hudson Bay region. It does not discuss their lifestyle or believes in depth. Readers can only rely on photographs to put together an imagination of what their traditional way of life might be like.

This would make a good children's book, an introduction to lives of the natives in the northern country. A 2.5-star book for me.