Kiinawin Kawindomowin Story Nations is a multimedia expression of our collective effort to restory colonial documents and missionary history about Manidoo Ziibi (Rainy River) and the wider Treaty 3 Ojibwe Territory in Northwestern Ontario.

Our research begins with a written story — the diary of an Anglican missionary, Frederick Du Vernet, who visited the Ojibwe people of Manidoo Ziibi in 1898. As scholars, we retell and contextualize Du Vernet’s narrative with the methodologies of religious studies, Indigenous studies, and digital humanities. We have supplemented the historical record with research essays and audio-visual media, such as photographs and digital stories, that document our recent visits to Manidoo Ziibi.

Stored for decades in the Toronto archives of the Anglican Church of Canada, the missionary’s diary found its way back Manidoo Ziibi when we visited the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre in 2012. Over many visits since then, we have forged a relationship between the University of Toronto and the Rainy River First Nations that is central to the stories we continue to share.

Our ongoing work as the Story Nations Collective is done in collaboration with various people of the Rainy River First Nations. Their stories, their art, and their language offer sources of education, creativity, and critique. As such, this digital storytelling site is a contemporary counternarrative to the missionary’s historical document and a platform that allows the diary to be made more accessible and available to the public in a digital format.

We invite you to learn more about the project, read the diary, explore maps of the area, and hear stories from the people of Manidoo Ziibi by choosing from the options below or the menu bar above.

Thank you. Miigwech.

Kiinawin Kawindomowin Story Nations is a multimedia expression of our collective effort to restory colonial documents and missionary history about Manidoo Ziibi (Rainy River) and the wider Treaty 3 Ojibwe Territory in Northwestern Ontario.

We invite you to explore the site to learn more about the project.

Thank you. Miigwech.