Anishinabek Police report, “Sometime between 8:00 am on Saturday, May 3rd and 10:00 pm on Sunday, May 4th 2014 an unknown suspect(s) removed the birch bark from the Mount Mckay wigwam and set fire to it a short distance away. The suspect(s) gained access to Mount Mckay by cutting the lock on the gate house at the bottom of the mountain. This is the second wigwam to be destroyed in the past three years and the culprits have to be brought to justice.
The latest wigwam was constructed by hand from a team of builders that was started in the spring of 2012 and took until the fall of that same year to be completed. You cannot put a value on a wigwam that was built with so much time and effort but you can image the importance when you take into account the man hours and time and effort it takes to build.
The structure is made of Birch Bark and Black Spruce Poles that is sewn together with Black Spruce roots. All of the materials were collected by hand in the Robinson Superior Treaty area.
The purpose of the wigwam is a ceremonial place that is of huge significance to the aboriginal people of the Fort William First Nations Territory and is a historical part of their culture.
Anyone with information about who may be responsible for this terrible crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or submit a web tip at www.tipsubmit.com.
