Alanis Obomsawin
Alanis Obomsawin, born on August 31, 1932, is a prominent Abenaki American-Canadian filmmaker, singer, artist, and activist who is primarily celebrated for her compelling documentary films.
Bitawbagw (Lake Champlain), the lake between, was a center for trade and exchange connecting the Haudenosaunee and Abenaki people. Mazipskoik (Missisquoi) is located on the northeast shore of Bitawbagw, at Mazipskwebi (Missisquoi Bay), and extends easterly along Mazipskoisibo, the Missisquoi River. It extends easterly along Mazipskoisibo, the Missisquoi River. Mazipskoik is where flint can be found. Missisquoi is one homeland within Wôbanaki, the Dawnland. Missisquoi belonged to a vast trade network that reached from Sobagw, the Atlantic Ocean, to Anishinabewaki, an Anishinaabe territory in the Great Lakes.
Missisquoi people were connected to and intermarried with other Abenaki/Wabanaki communities, as well as with Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) and Muhhecunnuck (Mohican) neighbors. These intermarriages did not end with the colonization but only increased as families were impacted by disease, conflict, and displacement. Long before any European settlers arrived, the Missisquoi Abenaki community began taking in displaced people from other homelands and have continued to sustain this ancient place for thousands of years, up to the present day.