Mille Lacs Museum & Trading Post screening

Thank you to Travis Zimmerman for inviting me to the screening at the Mille Lacs Museum and Trading Post in Onamia, MN on May 28th. The screening was well received! The screening is a part of Mille Lacs Indian Market Days films played all day.

One of the scenes in the film was filmed within a few blocks of the Trading Post & Museum as Winona’s boyfriend/life partner lives in Garrison which is just north of Onamia on the land where Don gathers maple syrup. When I filmed the scene it was a warm winter day with hardly any snow and Winona, Don and Honor the Earth employee Michelle McQuaid brought their five gallon buckets to gather the sap from the trees. Nice to be there in the summer time!

Winona and Don both live in the area of the 1855 Treaty. In the film Winona introduces her friend Don Wedll, explaining that he is someone who knows all about the treaties. The pipelines cut across treaty territory in a land traditionally used by indigenous people to hunt, fish and gather. Don is the one in the film who explains the basic about treaties, what they are and why they are still important in these modern times. His background as the head of the Mille Lacs Department of Natural Resources is just one of the titles he has had in the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Reservation.