Shirley Horn, Sault Metis Council win Lieutenant Governor awards

Sault Ste. Marie was well-represented at Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell’s Ontario Heritage Awards ceremonies in Toronto on Thursday.

Shirley Horn - a survivor of the Shingwauk Residential School, a founder of the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association and the first Chancellor of Algoma University - won the Thomas Symons Award for Commitment to Conservation.

That award goes to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to natural or cultural conservation in their professional careers.

Horn was also Chief of Missanabie Cree First Nation and served as a member of the Missanabie Cree Elders Council.

The Historic Sault Ste. Marie Métis Council received a Community Leadership award for its work in creating the Sault Ste. Marie Métis Cultural Centre.

“I’m very pleased, absolutely, and I’m accepting the award on behalf of the Children of Shingwauk,” Horn said, speaking to SooToday.

“We’ve been working for many years to bring awareness of the residential schools to our area and the world at large. We have a lot of international students at Algoma University and we’re partners with Algoma University in this quest. Every time we get acknowledged in different ways, in awards, that makes everything worthwhile for us because it spreads the awareness, which is our main goal.”

“That was our purpose in going step by step, year after year, to broaden the scope of our influence in terms of bringing that awareness to the people of this country and the world in regard to residential schools.”

“I still do what I can in any capacity,” Horn said.

“These are unpaid positions with the Children of Shingwauk but it’s been my life's work since 1981 when it started. As long as I’m here and able to partake in the spreading of that awareness I’ll do so and that’s more or less the motto of all of us as members because we’re getting up there in age and one of our goals is to bring future generations into the fold, to carry on this work.”

“It’s a pretty exciting day for us,” said Mitch Case, Region 4 Councillor on the Council of the Metis Nation of Ontario.

Case accepted the Community Leadership award on behalf of The Historic Sault Ste. Marie Métis Council.  

“It’s been a long process for the Sault Metis Council in the work of revitalizing the former St. John’s Church into the Cultural Centre. It’s been a lot of work, a lot of fundraising, a lot of trying to find the resources to make it happen. Everyone’s feeling very validated that five years of really long, hard work has paid off and is being recognized.”

The Historic Sault Ste. Marie Métis Council, representing more than 3,000 local Metis, has repurposed the former Church of St. John the Evangelist, its church hall and rectory on John Street.

The Anglican St. John the Evangelist church was built on top of an historical Métis cemetery in 1901 and in 2017 the land and buildings were returned to the Métis community by the Anglican Church.

The rectory has been converted into a social program and service hub, the hall has been upgraded to serve as a community gathering place and the chapel has been converted into a Métis cultural centre that will include a museum and archive space. 

The project saved heritage buildings from demolition.

“We’re very excited about where things are at and this recognition today is another reminder that we’re on the right track,” Case said.

“There’s a little bit of renovation happening right now that should be wrapping up in the next month or so. There have been some delays due to COVID and things like that but we were able to secure some funding through the Metis Nation of Ontario Infrastructure Fund. The church building itself built in 1901 had no insulation in it whatsoever so we’ve done a huge energy efficient upgrade, improving the heating system in the hall but in the next few months that’ll be wrapping up and then the building will be fully open again.”

“The rectory is open, the programs and services hub is open, and in September it will be the 20th anniversary of the Powley decision, the Supreme Court’s recognition of Metis rights and it was this community that fought for that and we‘ve received a grant from Heritage Canada to develop a permanent exhibit in the Cultural Centre to coincide with the anniversary in September.”       

The Cultural Centre component of the site is the first Métis cultural centre in Ontario.

“As the regional councillor and the elected representative for this region I am so incredibly proud of this community and the work that they’re doing with often limited funds. They’re all volunteers but they show up and they do their work because it matters to them. Their history, culture, world view, all of those things matter to this community,” Case said.

“They saw an opportunity. They knew that opportunity was going to take a ton of work and it wasn’t going to be easy waiting to hear about grants and hoping renovation costs didn’t go too high.”

“I’m personally very, very proud of the Sault Ste. Marie Métis Council and all the work that they've done to make this happen,” Case said.