People of the Watershed

People of the Watershed: Photographs by John Macfie includes more than 100 photographs taken by John Macfie (1925–2018), a settler trapline manager who worked in Northern Ontario in the 1950s and 1960s. Macfie travelled with a camera, recording life in Anishinaabe, Cree, and Oji-Cree communities during a period of intense and rapid change. The people and places of Attawapiskat, Sandy Lake, Mattagami, and other communities across the Hudson’s Bay watershed are revealed through his lens in ways that emphasize the warmth and continuity of community life. Curated by nîpisîhkopâwiyiniw (Willow Cree) curator, writer, journalist, cultural advocate, and commentator Paul Seesequasis, the exhibition centers the lives and resiliency of the Indigenous people represented, many of whom have been identified by Macfie and Seesequasis.

John Macfie (1925-2018) was an amateur photographer, local historian and writer. Originally from Dunchuch, Ontario, Macfie moved to Sioux Lookout in 1950 to become a trap management officer with the Department of Lands and Forests. He later moved to Gogoma where he worked as a fish and wildlife supervisor, before returning to Parry Sound in 1960. He later became a columnist for the Georgian Bay Beacon and the Parry Sound North Star. This is the first major exhibition of his photography. His photographic archive is part of the collection of the Archives of Ontario.