Annual General Meeting

Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Cost: Free

Celebrate the achievements of 2016 and take a look ahead at the exciting work happening in 2017. 

We will announce the recipients of the Phyllis Cohen Volunteer Award, Museum London Volunteer of the Year Award, and the Museum London Emerging Volunteer Award. Refreshments will be served.

Special Guest Speaker: Professor Michelle Hamilton

Hear professor Michelle Hamilton speak about her recent book on the extraordinary life of Dr. Oronhyatekha.

Ms. Hamilton is a Public Historian whose research focuses on historical and contemporary issues surrounding museums and heritage, social memory and commemoration, the history of anthropology, cultural identity and issues of representation and repatriation, usually in regards to First Nations peoples in Canada.

Dr. Oronhyatekha (“Burning Sky”), born in the Mohawk nation on the Six Nations of the Grand River territory in 1841, led an extraordinary life, rising to prominence in medicine, sports, politics, fraternalism, and business. He was one of the first Indigenous physicians in Canada, the first to attend Oxford University, a Grand River representative to the Prince of Wales during the 1860 royal tour, a Wimbledon rifle champion, the chairman of the Grand General Indian Council of Ontario, and Grand Templar of the International Order of Good Templars. He counted among his friends some of the most powerful people of the day, including John A. Macdonald and Theodore Roosevelt. He successfully challenged the racial criteria of the Independent Order of Foresters to become its first non-white member and ultimately its supreme chief ranger.

At a time when First Nations peoples struggled under assimilative government policy and society’s racial assumptions, his achievements were remarkable. Oronhyatekha was raised among a people who espoused security, justice, and equality as their creed. He was also raised in a Victorian society guided by God, honour, and duty. He successfully interwove these messages throughout his life, and lived as a man of significant accomplishments in both worlds.