Man removed from Wiikwemkoong under community bylaw believes he has the right to stay

By Lori Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Manitoulin Expositor WIIKWEMKOONG—A lone pickup truck has idled  at the edge of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory since January 15, its occupant staging a one-man protest where reserve land meets the municipality of Assiginack. Inside rests Evan Lewis, a non-First Nations man who has been formally trespassed from the Territory one day earlier, insisting that his connection to the community — and to an unborn First Nations child — entitles him to remain. The scene is quietly unsettling: a pickup truck plastered with handmade signs, a flashing green light and questions that bears asking and demands attention. Mr. Lewis had been living in Wiikwemkoong since the fall of 2023. During that time, he and his then common-law partner became pregnant; a tragic miscarriage occurred…

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