During a fish fry last week, Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre received a massive gift from a local donor, an original Treaty Three signing medal.
Originally, treaty medals were part of Canada’s and First Nations Treaty negotiations, and it would signify Canada’s commitment to the promises made to the First Nation’s people of Treaty Three.
Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre archivist Jessie Richard said the center will display the medal at their 150-year treaty exhibit.
Richard said the medal had been on loan at the Fort Frances Museum and Cultural Centre.
Richard said the medal came from Ted Lloyd, whose grandfather Bruce Lloyd owned Lloyd's Tourist Emporium in Fort Frances.
“The Lloyd's Tourist Emporium was really interested in collecting artifacts and collecting curiosities, so Bruce was a coin collector and he somehow came upon this Treaty coin. When he died in the late 30s, he passed it on to his son,” said Richard.
"There is a lot of mystery around this. There is nothing on the medal to know which chief would have received this, but we are very excited to be having it handed over during the ceremony with Chief Marcel Medicine present.”
The importance of receiving artifacts as culturally significant as the Treaty Three signing medal is that Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre is a museum that is specifically for the reclamation of Indigenous history.
“We can cease the artifacts and cease the regalia and all of the cultural items in a way that other museums may not have that opportunity. So, when we are able to bring artifacts back home here, we are also able to have community members come out and look at them and examine them and be a part of that learning process,” Richard said.
To celebrate the 150th year of Treaty Three in October, Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre have the signing medal on display for all to see.
