The Dialogues: The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow by Armand Garnet Ruffo
Reviewed by Christina Barber
Home is a place that is deeply embedded into the very fabric of your being, somewhere that has a hold on you, where rocks and trees and waterways take root in your spirit and echo through your veins. You can leave your home, for a while, but when you’ve been gone too long, Home beckons to you, whispers to you, caresses you as it sends out its tendrils of memory and sensation, calling you back until the urge can no longer be ignored, until there is nothing left but to go back to where you belong.
The summers of my youth were spent on Georgian Bay, on the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabe, not too far away, as it turns out, from the Wasauksing First Nation, where Francis Pegahmagabow was born, where he would leave for the very foreign trenches of the Western Front, and where hew would one day return a decorated hero who would serve as chief of his First Nation.
Georgian Bay was formed by glacial retreat, where massive ice sheets carved out basins and dotted its water with tens of thousands of islands, the world’s largest freshwater archipelago. This is a world governed by the lichen-covered rocks of the Canadian Shield, the foundation from which westward pines, juniper and blueberry bushes eke out an existence in fragile and insubstantial topsoil set against capricious skies that alternate between psychedelic sunrises and sunsets, and violent but fleeting thunderstorms.
In those long summers, it was the solitary moments that brought me solace; winding my way along the shoreline cliffs, I nestled into their eroded nooks, feeling the constant wind on my face and the steadying warmth of the sun. I felt at home there in a way I’ve never felt anywhere else, but I learned, too, what kind of spirit it took to make that place home. When the thunderheads rolled in with wild squalls, it was not uncommon to see upturned pines, two or more meters of roots radiating out against the sky, a testament to the tenuous relationship between the rocks and those who would call them home. Francis Pegahmagabow was someone who epitomised this relationship. Though he travelled far from home to fight in the trenches of World War I, he drew on the power of his connection to the land to survive both the war and life back home on reserve, where he faced demeaning treatment meted out by the Indian Agent under the pretext of the Indian Act, which denied him the rights and access to programs for non-Indigenous veterans of the Great War. Pegahmagabow didn’t surrender under these conditions and instead worked towards greater rights and equality for his people, both on his own reserve and across Canada.
The Dialogues: The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow written by Armand Garnet Ruffo, an Anishinaabe writer and member of the Chapleau Cree First Nation with Nishnaabemwin translations by Brian D. McInnes, great-grandson of Francis Pegahmagabow and member of the Wasauksing First Nation, rises out of a collaborative performance piece Sounding Thunder, the Song of Francis Pegahmagabow, “a musical journey into the life of the renowned Ojibwe WWI sniper and decorated officer of the Canadian military…”
“The Dialogues: The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow is a fitting tribute to Pegahmagabow’s service and sacrifice.”
With composition by Tim Corlis and libretto by Armand Garnet Ruffo, this performance in three acts explores the life and accomplishments of one of Canada’s most decorated war heroes. In his book, Ruffo builds on his original libretto, adding historical information, quotes and commentary, and personal reflections and experiences that complement the original dialogues. The result is a stunning experience that creates a literary landscape through which Pegahmagabow forges his life story.
Organised in counterpoint the dialogues give voice to Pegahmagabow, while framing his experiences within Canada’s settler history and the experience of Indigenous peoples past and present. Singular in its presentation, this is a piece that plays with time throughout its four acts: Faith Act, War Act, Homefront Act, and Balancing Act.
When Pegahmagabow enlisted, his motives were questioned.
OFFICER Let me get this straight, you insist on fighting a war that’s not yours? … FRANCIS It’s my duty to serve king and country for there can be no denying the treaties my people made with Britain shall stand the test of time, now and forever, allies, nation to nation. A history that has gone unaware creates a pensive silence between the two men harkens back to distant times other wars and other enemies on native land when Indian allies swept down on rivers and changed the tide the making of borders the creation of a country.
But alongside an estimated 4,000 Indigenous soldiers who fought for Canada in WWI, they served King and country, making the same sacrifices as non-Indigenous soldiers from across Canada.
Pegahmagabow’s journey was a spiritual one, and throughout Dialogues, his connection to the Manido is felt, including during the gas attacks at Ypres, where he is called upon to ask the winds to change direction.
Without inhaling the tobacco Francis makes his offering and asks the wind guardians to overtake the gas. Spiritual order provides guidance he puts tobacco down on the earth to give prayers of humility and rebirth Just before sunrise the wind changes from east to west, and the Germans suffer just as much as the Allies do. Like the Geté nishnaabeg, the Indians of old, Francis’s offering is accepted and heard by the spirit world. Chi-Miigwech Gitchi Manido
Indigenous soldiers demonstrated bravery, courage, and a commitment to the Allied cause, earning at least 50 decorations for bravery, including Pegahmagabow, who was Canada’s most decorated Indigenous soldier. But while their services were appreciated and recognised in the field, when they came home, it was a different story.
While the Canadian government had taken steps to help non-Indigenous veterans re-establish themselves after the war through the Soldier Settlement Acts of 1917 and 1919,, providing aid like land grants and low-interest rate loans, designed to aid returning veterans in readjusting to civilian life, Indigenous People often faced discrimination from Indian Agents who acted on behalf of the Department of Indian Affairs and who held the power to decide which services an Indigenous veteran could receive or not. This was certainly the case of Francis Pegahmagabow, who asked for loans to support farming initiatives that would sustain his family and his people, but who was denied. The expropriation of Indigenous land was also the reality for many Indigenous Peoples, who also faced the indignity of seeing their land taken to supply returning veterans. And while Indigenous servicemen were granted voting rights in 1917 without fear of losing Indian Status, this right was not honoured after the war without Veterans giving up their status.
Francis Pegahmagabow persevered when he returned home, reestablishing himself with little assistance from the government. Working against the injustices he and other Indigenous veterans experienced after the war, he sought ways to empower his people by first becoming chief of the Wasauksing First Nation (1921-1925), and then a member of the League of Indians. The work of veterans like Pegahmagabow to denounce residential schools and to fight for equality for Indigenous veterans laid the foundation for later movements like the National Indian Brotherhood (present-day Assembly of First Nations).6
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Second World War and Canadians across the country are reflecting on Canada’s contributions in war time and our relationships with other countries, as well as on Canada’s roles in both conflicts and what they have meant to us as a country and how they helped shape us as a nation. As we engage in continued acts of reconciliation, may this also be a time where we continue to reflect on Canada’s relationship with Indigenous Peoples, through these conflicts and in the post-war years, the impacts of which are long-lasting. Both wars saw Canadians from all walks of life come together to work for the greater good and a common goal. During his life, Francis Pegahmagabow exemplified these qualities, not only in wartime but throughout his life. In the face of adversity, he stood by his people and did what he could to support and sustain them. The Dialogues: The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow is a fitting tribute to Pegahmagabow’s service and sacrifice.
Addendum: Congratulations to Armand Garnet Ruffo for winning the 2024 VMI Betsy Warland Between Genres Award for his book The Dialogues; The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow.
The award is given to an exceptional title of Canadian literature that celebrates the hybrid and unclassifiable through innovation in form.
About the Author
Armand Garnet Ruffo was born in Chapleau, northern Ontario, and is a band member of the Chapleau (Fox Lake) Cree First Nation. A recipient of a Honourary Life Membership Award from the League of Canadian Poets, he is recognized as a major contributor to both contemporary Indigenous literature and Indigenous literary scholarship in Canada. His publications include Norval Morrisseau: Man Changing Into Thunderbird (2014) and Treaty # (2019), both finalists for Governor General's Literary Awards. In 2020, he was awarded the Latner Writers' Trust Poetry Prize in recognition of his work. Ruffo teaches at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.
About the Reviewer
Christina Barber is a writer, dramaturge, artist, and educator based in Vancouver. Her poetry has appeared in The Whimsical Poet and contributed to the Vancouver City Poems Project.
Book Details
Publisher : Wolsak & Wynn
Publication date : May 21 2024
Language : English
Print length : 144 pages
ISBN-10 : 1989496911
ISBN-13 : 978-1989496916
References & Links
1 https://soundingthunderthesong.ca/about-us/
2 https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/14141523/1607908713791#chp7 78639
3 https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/people-and-stories/indigenous-veterans
4 https://diefenbaker.usask.ca/exhibits/online-exhibits-content/the-enfranchisement-of-aboriginal-peoples-in-canada-en.php#:~:text=First%20Nations%20people%20before%20this,250%20voluntarily%20accepted%20the%20offer.
5 Produced by Festival of the Sound, Artistic Director James Campbell as a Canada 150 project, it was first performed in 2018, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
6 Winegard, Timothy C. 1977-. 2012. For King and Kanata: Canadian Indians and the First World War. University of Manitoba Press.