Caldwell First Nation is moving home after hundreds of years. Here’s what it took to reclaim their land [Video]

From Lake Erie’s northern shores in Leamington, Ont., Darlene Marshall watches the waves crash into each other. 

The water, called nibi in Anishinaabemowin, holds memories, she says. 

And for her, the water brings to mind vivid images and stories of her grandmother and father — both members of Caldwell First Nation. Not far from where she stands, is where her grandmother Gertrude Thomas was born, on what is now Point Pelee National Park. 

“[My grandmother] lived there in their village for a number of years until the [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] on horseback came, asked them to take what they could carry and they were removed, all of them, from their community and their homelands,” said 62-year-old Marshall.. 

“And my grandmother said she turned to see behind her that all that was left of their community was smoke and fire.”