A trap line manager's journeys in Northern Ontario 70 years ago are giving people a glimpse of Indigenous history in full colour. The photos of John Mcfie, who worked across Northern Ontario in the 1950s and 1960s, are being displayed at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg. Curator and author Paul Seesequasis hopes the show will give people a glimpse into the life and culture in Northern Ontario more than seven decades ago.
“It’s pre-snowmobile, the fur trade is still alive, it’s still a sustainable occupation, families are still — particularly the further north you go — living in relationship to the land,” said Seesequasis. “And John Mcfie was along for this whole ride in the area.” Seesequasis, a nîpisîhkopâwiyiniw (Willow Cree) writer, journalist, and advocate, curates the Indigenous Archive Photo project online.
While writing the book Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun , he was struck by Mcfie’s work. The Indigenous Archive Photo project collects images of Indigenous life from the 1930s to the 1970s and names the faces in many of those photographs. “It’s the stories that emerged from those photographs,” he said.
“While I was doing this, I came across some photos from Northern Ontario that really captivated me by a photographer named John Mcfie.” He reached out to Mcfie about his photographs. “As I looked deeper, I found out John Mcfie was still alive.
He was in his 90s, and he was actually on Facebook, so I sent a message,�.