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Circle of All Nations

The Town of Perth will host the "Circle of All Nations" on October 4,5,6,7 - 2007.

Please note the change of venue of events to the Perth Fair Grounds - click on link below for latest information.

Read the latest news item from the Perth Courier

Read event details from Merriwolf Productions.

"When you put your knowledge in a circle, it's not yours anymore, it's shared by everyone."- Douglas Cardinal, architect (Regina Leader Post, November 28, 1995)

The Talking Circle

In a Talking Circle, each participant is equal and each one belongs. Participants in a Talking Circle learn to listen and respect the views of others. A stick, stone or feather (something that symbolizes connectedness to the land) can be used to facilitate the circle. Whoever is holding the object has the right to speak and the others have the responsibility to listen. Those who are hesitant to speak may eventually speak because of the safety of the Talking Circle. The object "absorbs" the words said in the Circle. This emphasizes that what is shared in the Circle is not to be spread around outside the Circle. Many Talking Circles begin with words which foster the readiness of the Circle. The intention is to open hearts to understand and connect with each other.

William Commanda

Grandfather William Commanda, a 92 year old elder of the Algonquin Nation of Turtle Island, is known for his pioneering ideas on the Circle of All Nations. Expanding on this tradition of 'talking circles', he had a vision where all races could solve their problems by face-to-face communication in a talking circle. He has used these techniques successfully in real world situations and has expanded his ideas to many cultures and races.

William Commanda's connection to the Perth area is through his ancestors. He is the great, great grandson of Pakinawatik, the hereditary Anicinabe chief who led his people to settle in their traditional hunting and trapping grounds in the Ottawa River area in the mid eighteen hundreds

A motivation for the Circle of All Nations, is the Seven Fire Prophecies. Legend has it that seven prophets came to the Anishinabe These prophets left the people with seven predictions of what the future would bring. Each of the prophecies was called a fire and each fire referred to a particular era of time that would come in the future. Thus, the teachings of the seven prophets are now called the "Seven Fires".

Grandfather William Commanda, is the holder of the Seven Fire Prophecy Wampum belt. Part of the seventh fire says:

"It is this time that the light skinned race will be given a choice between two roads. If they choose the right road, then the Seventh Fire will light the Eighth and final Fire, an eternal fire of peace, love brotherhood and sisterhood. If the light skinned race makes the wrong choice of the roads, then the destruction which they brought with them in coming to this country will come back at them and cause much suffering and death to all the Earth's people."

The Wampum belts hold prophesies of two roads to follow: A black road and a Great Road -- one road is that of technology and blind materialism and the other of spirituality and that there are prophecies of these struggles between peoples, but they also prophesize that we can always get off the black road and get on to the Great Road.

A key objective for the "Circle of All Nations" is to help humanity choose the Great Road.

The Perth Connection

Ten thousand years ago, following closely on the heels of the retreating glaciers, a strange looking animal, one that walked on two legs, appeared. Humans had arrived in the Rideau region. Archaeological records indicated that humans inhabited the area near present day Perth, on the shores of the ancient Champlain Sea (see Geology) as far back as 8,000 B.C. [from "Human History of the Rideau" - Ken Watson]

Long before and while the Rideau Canal was built, members of the Algonquin Nation came up the Tay, canoeing their way from Ottawa to the Great Lakes and vice versa. The place, where the Tay meets the Rideau and where now the settlement of Perth is located, was known and recognized amongst First Nation members because their canoes needed to pass by and would possibly meet a lot of other travellers. People knew and recognized the location as a meeting place. Thus, the term "center of activity" refers to their life style and conditions at that time.

Traditional Wigwam - click for more information

Although it is known, that the Algonquin modified the original gatherer/hunter life style to living most of the year in settled villages with birch bark houses we can not refer to any fortifications when calling this area a "capital". For the same reason, reserves were not built along those waters (did you know that Ontario means "Beautiful Water"? derived from an Iroquois dialect), but established further up north.

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