Our Hearts Are as One Fire

Book excerpt: A vision shared. A manifesto. This remarkable work draws on Ojibway-, Ota’wa-, and Ishkodawatomi-Anishinabe world views, history, and lived experience to develop a wholly Ojibway-Anishinabe interpretation of the role of leadership and governance today. Arguing that Anishinabeg need to reconnect with non-colonized modes of thinking, social organization, and decision-making in order to achieve genuine sovereignty, Jerry Fontaine (makwa ogimaa) looks to historically significant models. He tells of three Ota’wa, Shawnee, and Ojibway-Anishinabe leaders who challenged aggressive colonial expansion into Manitou Aki (Creator's Land) – Obwandiac, Tecumtha, and Shingwauk. In Our Hearts Are as One Fire, Fontaine recounts their stories from an Ojibway-Anishinabe perspective using Ojibwaymowin language and knowledge woven together with conversations with elders and descendants of the three leaders. The result is a book that reframes the history of Manitou Aki and shares a vision of how Anishinabe spiritual, cultural, legal, and political principles will support the leaders of today and tomorrow.