Leader with a heart of purity, Cromarty keeping busy in retirement

Wunnumin Lake Elder Chris Cromarty was born at Big Trout Lake in the spring of 1937 to Eila and Isaac Cromarty. That is where he called home until he was eight years old.
He came from a large family of 11 children and two parents. A few of his siblings died in the infant stage, unable to cope with the new diseases brought on by contact.
With the signing of the adhesion treaty in 1929, Cromarty’s father worked with the Ministry of Natural Resources, then known as Lands and Forests.
“After that treaty was signed, they surveyed and measured out trap lines or reserve boundaries,” said Cromarty.
His father would be gone for long periods of time. There was always a sense of excitement and anticipation when he came home. A bonus for the family was the leftover groceries that MNR staff would give away.
“We always looked forward to that; whenever he came home, especially the cookies.”
Eventually, the family moved to a small mining town when his father began a job at Pickelcrow Gold Mine, just north of Pickle Lake, which became his home for many years.
When he looks back on his childhood, Cromarty saw a lot of religious practices, and not a lot of Indian traditions. He remembers the freedom of being a carefree child, of being mischievous. The children would tease the goats that belonged to the church minister and the goats would chase them.
In the years 1945-1952 and 1952-56, he attended Indian residential school. For seven years, he was at Pelican Falls near Sioux Lookout. He spent another four years at Shingwauk near Sault Ste. Marie.
Cromarty shared his story about going to residential school with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The commission is gathering stories of residential school survivors from across Canada.
Cromarty eventually graduated with a high school certificate.
Once a store manager, Cromarty ended up working in the health field by coincidence. The health department was created at Wunnumin in 1987. Seven years later, Cromarty found himself as acting health director.
He eventually became the first board chair of the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre when it was amalgamated in the late 1990s.
He worked in the area of health until his retirement.
Since retirement, Cromarty and his wife have focused their energies on foster parenting. They currently have two children in their care.
Each Christmas, other foster children come home to celebrate life – a yearly event he looks forward to.
He reflects upon how young people are losing touch with the spiritual side of themselves. He notes how the church pews have become devoid of children beyond the age of nine or 10 years old.
Unlike his childhood days when Indian traditions were rarely practiced, Cromarty sees a positive change with young people returning to the ancient traditional teachings. Some young adults are encouraged to take up powwow dancing to attain spirituality.
Josias Fiddler of Sandy Lake makes frequent visits to Wunnumin to bring traditional spiritual practices.
“They started drumming and dancing and sweat lodge,” Cromarty said. “Those that are taking it up are quite pleased with it.”
His one wish is for the future generations of children to be loved and cared for.
“The most important things I would like to see happen is we should be caring for them more closely. I believe children are so precious. They have a purity of heart. They can show us how to love – they draw that out of us. We should care for our kids and not discard them.”
Cromarty keeps busy with helping his wife, caring for children and sharing history.