Yearly Calendar
Since 2015, Anishinaabe Baptiste Community Organization has managed the production of a yearly calendar for “Area of Concern”. The yearly sponsors for the calendars contribute to the costs of printing and distributing the calendars.
Birch bark Canoe Build[table id=1 /]
2019 will be the fourth annual birch bark canoe build, with Master Canoe Builder, Chuck Commanda sharing his knowledge and skills with our community. The canoes are built from all-natural material, starting with birch bark, spruce roots/gum, ash wood, cedar strips. Raffle tickets are sold for the finished canoe as the prize.
The canoe builds usually take two weeks to build from beginning to end, during this time visitors and community members are invited to visit and participate. There are smudges, potluck lunches, drumming, singing and socializing that takes place, the finale is the launching of the canoe. The first two canoe builds were in the Town of Bancroft, and last year it took place in Maynooth, Hastings Highlands.
The 2019 canoe build will be at the North Hastings Heritage Museum in Bancroft. Chuck Commanda will once again be the lead for this project. Community members will also be present to assist in the build.
Algonquin Inodewiziwin:
In March of 2018, Anishinaabe Baptiste Community Organization, North Hastings Children Services, Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board, and the County of Hastings signed a collaborative initiative to successfully develop and establish an Algonquin Early On Child and Family Centre, in the Maynooth Public School. The Algonquin Inodewiziwin Centre came to be, with a logo, an Algonquin program coordinator, Early On education staff and elders that regularly attend the Center.
The collaboration between Kjicho Manito Madaouskarini Algonquin Community and North Hastings Children Services has provided culture programs and teachings at the Algonquin Inodewiziwin Early On Child and Family Centre in Maynooth. Also, the programs and teachings are offered at North Hastings Children Services Bancroft location and at local schools as outreach programs
The Algonquin Story – Eagles Nest Park:
In 2017, Eagles Nest – An Algonquin Story, a Canada 150 project funded in part by the Government of Canada. With the collaboration of Kijicho Manito Madaouskarini Algonquin Community; Algonquins of Ontario, the many community volunteers, Bancroft Field Naturalists, and donations by local businesses and financial support from the Town of Bancroft, Hastings Highlands Hilly Hundred, Freymond Lumber Ltd. and the Bancroft Lion’s Club the interpretive trails were created for the Bancroft Eagles Nest Park to highlight the early Algonquin presence in the area, as well as the geology, flora and fauna and stories of early European settlement.
Anishinaabe Baptiste Community Organization, Kijicho Manito Madauskarini Algonquin Community, the Shawshakong Ikwe Ladies Drumming and Singing Group, and the Algonquin Inodewiziwin Centre are all very proud to be part of the Eagles Nest Majestic Park carrying on the cultural traditions of the Algonquin people.