Roots of Rebellion: Anishinaabeg of Upper Canada and the Challenge of Transnationality

In 1838, two migratory paths converged in one place in Anishinaabe territory in a series of events that would have ramifications for decades afterwards.  Potawatomi of Michigan and Indiana resisting removal west by the American government traveled east to Upper Canada, joining Ojibwa and Odawa at Bkejwanong (Walpole Island).  At the same time, to quash what British-Canadian officials called The Rebellion, American and British soldiers flocked to the area to stop the activities of Patriots, loosely organized groups of men who were attempting to incite a war between the United States and Britain.  Decades later, Anishinaabeg at Bkejwanong and other neighboring Upper Canada reserves would recall the events of 1838 as they challenged the Canadian government.  In order to retain their right to annuities, they were required to prove their loyalty to the British, and to eschew or erase any connection to the United States or to American Native groups.  Such an artificial dismantling of complex multiple nationalities flew in the face of traditional Anishinaabeg identity.  Their memories of Potawatomi migration and the events of the Rebellion would come together in their narratives and become the basis for their efforts to retain their rights and lands.  This paper will consider how the Upper Canada Rebellion and the migration of the Potawatomi unfolded in 1838, and how these events were recontextualized by Anishinaabeg decades later in their efforts to maintain treaty rights.  The Upper Canada Rebellion has been virtually ignored in the annals of conventional Canadian history, but it was viewed as a significant marker in time for Anishinaabeg of Upper Canada for many years afterwards.