For Ojibway Island, two main issues emerged during this decade.
In 2020 the question was, should a main jewel of Saginaw’s central parks bear a tribute to “the first white man” to arrive at the destination 348 years ago.
In 2021, a far more contentious concern was a closure to vehicle traffic enacted after a spring opening that was marked by property damage on the part of aggressive motorists.
The first matter will be resolved through a three-year effort organized by SVSU’s Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum. Director Megan McAdow on Monday showed the City Council a 6-by-8-foot informational marker honoring “Native American land acknowledgement” prepared in cooperation with all interested parties, including the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.
Blocking cars appears to be a permanent move. Nobody objected when City Manager Tim Morales used the term “walking” to describe the former one-third mile oval drive, as part of his suggestion that smaller American Indian informational markers could be placed along the route. He had issued the vehicle ban two years ago, citing misconduct by some visitors, and the council majority agreed it was within the manager’s authority to make the decision as part of “day to day operations,” washing their own hands of setting policy
A statue saluting Fr. Henri Nouvel will remain between the Ojibway entrance and the foot of the Court Street Bridge, commemorating the Jesuit missionary priest for performing a Mass along the shore on Dec. 1, 1675, in a quest to convert the indigenous tribes to Catholicism. The location was obscure until the island was closed to vehicles and a parking area was created within several feet of the marker.
