Sounding Thunder, the Song of Francis Pegahmagabow
LodgePole Arts Alliance is the new proud producer of the stage performance and multimedia experience, Sounding Thunder, the Song of Francis Pegahmagabow. This work is a musical journey into the life of the renowned Ojibwe WWI sniper, decorated officer of the Canadian military and Indigenous political activist, Francis Pegahmagabow. Sounding Thunder is a complex work divided into three acts, exploring Pegahmagabow’s early years immersed in the world of the Anishinaabe spirits, his extraordinary accomplishments in the trenches of WWI, and finally his political life as Chief of the Wausauksing Ojibwe and founder of the early Indigenous political moment in Canada.
About the Production
Written for multiple roles, both human and non-human, Sounding Thunder draws upon the memoirs of Pegahmagabow himself, family memories, and historical sources to introduce spectators to a little-known side of Canadian history while offering a fascinating story and a dynamic musical experience. A multi-disciplinary production, it was commissioned by Festival of the Sound, Artistic Director James Campbell, a Canada 150 project.
Since its premiere in 2018, the production has toured twice at music festivals across Ontario. One of the most noteworthy of these performances was at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Kingston (ON) as part of the Human Rights Arts Festival. The late Senator Murray Sinclair, Mizanay Gheezhik-iban, former Chief Justice and Chancellor of Queen’s University, attended the performance and spoke following the show on the importance of Francis’ Pegahmagabow’s story for Canada. Since then, the production has become a compelling teaching tool for Ontario school history programs, with numerous 2023 Canada Council-funded performances for primary and middle-school age audiences. In June 2024, the Agassiz Chamber Music Festival of Winnipeg mounted the production for the first time outside of Ontario, and in February 2025, the performance was proudly invited to showcase at the Invictus Games in Vancouver.
The show itself is 60 minutes long, featuring a troupe of 4 actors accompanied by a small orchestra. Three of the actors have close family ties to Francis’ story, with roots in the reserve communities of Shawanaga First Nation (Francis’ birthplace) and Wasauksing First Nation (Francis’ home community). Notably, the role of “narrator” is played by Brian McInnis, great-grandson of Pegahmagabow and author of the book Sounding Thunder, the Stories of Francis Pegahmagabow. The show is normally staged with lighting and features a visual backdrop projected onto a 30 ft-wide by 10 ft-high projection screen.
The images below were taken during an Indigenous Veteran’s Day performance on November 8th, 2025.
Words from the Honourable Murray Sinclair
Below is an excerpt from the speech given following the performance at the Isabel Bader Centre, Kingston, Ontario – August 2, 2022
“As indigenous young people growing up in this society, for many generations now we have had so little that society has been prepared to acknowledge that we should be proud of. So only recent generations, one or two, maybe three, where we have, through our own struggles been able to find those things that make us proud of what our ancestors accomplished and what their ancestors accomplished about what our people accomplished, and the stories of our creation, the stories of connection to the creator, our connection to the earth, our connection to the spirit world, our connection to all of those things told with this story. And this story is important for all of those reasons…”
– Hon. Murray Sinclair
15th Chancellor of Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
Chair, Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Senator Emeritus
Chief Justice Emeritus
Would you like to bring this impactful production to your community? Reach out to us to learn how!
Reviews
“Assembling some of Canada’s finest performers to make it shine made it even more compelling. If we can get this kind of art to mend the injustices of several centuries, maybe truth as well as reconciliation actually stand a chance. “
– John Terauds, Toronto Star
“The music was essentially atmospheric but much more than just a background. It’s a colourful and occasionally challenging score with Indigenous elements well integrated. It concludes with a song by Jodi that had the audience on their feet joining in.”
“Ruffo blends dry historical fact and military detail with poetic, mystical and spiritual elements that allude to Pegahmagabow’s traditional culture and belief system, his roots in clan and family, and the wild, watery beauty of his homeland near Parry Sound.”
– Natasha Gauthier, Artsfile
Books
Sounding Thunder, The Stories of Francis Pegahmagabow
Overview:
Much of the inspiration for the musical production, telling the story of Francis’ life, came from the book written by Brian D. McInnes and published with University of Manitoba Press.
Francis Pegahmagabow’s stories describe many parts of his life and are characterized by classic Ojibwe narrative. They reveal aspects of Francis’s Anishinaabe life and worldview. Interceding chapters by Brian McInnes provide valuable cultural, spiritual, linguistic, and historical insights that give a greater context and application for Francis’s words and world. Presented in their original Ojibwe as well as in English translation, the stories also reveal a rich and evocative relationship to the lands and waters of Georgian Bay.
In “Sounding Thunder”, Brian McInnes provides a new perspective on Pegahmagabow and his experience through a unique synthesis of Ojibwe oral history, historical record, and Pegahmagabow family stories
Reviews:
“Sounding Thunder is invaluable for those working in biographical, historical, Indigenous, military and political studies and the general reader. McInnes skillfully contextualizes his subject as one of Canada’s greatest war heroes as well as a member of his family, community, and Anishinaabe people.”
– Brock Pitawanakwat, Assistant Professor, Department of Indigenous Studies, University of Sudbury
“More than 20 years in the writing, Brian D. McInnes’s Sounding Thunder is an extraordinary book.”
– Tanya H. Lee, Indian Country Today
“We could all benefit from a lesson in the storytelling traditions of McInnes, Wasauksing, and the Ojibwe nation. I know I have. Do yourself a favour: buy this book. Read it, enjoy it, and learn.”
– Robert J. Talbot, The Canadian Historical Review
This Place: 150 Years Retold
Overview: In graphic novel format, Indigenous writers explore the untold stories of the past, present, and future in what is now Canada.
Explore the past 150 years through the eyes of Indigenous creators in this groundbreaking graphic novel anthology. Beautifully illustrated, these stories are an emotional and enlightening journey through Indigenous wonderworks, psychic battles, and time travel. See how Indigenous peoples have survived a post-apocalyptic world since Contact.
Each story includes a timeline of related historical events and a personal note from the author. Find cited sources and a select bibliography for further reading in the back of the book. The accompanying teacher guide includes curriculum charts and 12 lesson plans to help educators use the book with their students.
For more information visit: This Place: 150 Years Retold
This is one of the 200 exceptional projects funded through the Canada Council for the Arts’ New Chapter initiative. With this $35M initiative, the Council supports the creation and sharing of the arts in communities across Canada.
The Dialogues: The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow
Overview: In The Dialogues: The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow, award-winning author Armand Garnet Ruffo brings to life not only the story of the famed WWI Indigenous sniper, but also the complexities of telling Indigenous stories. From Wasauksing (Parry Island) to the trenches of WWI to the stage, Ruffo moves seamlessly through time in these poems, taking the reader on a captivating journey through Pegahmagabow’s story and onto the creation of Sounding Thunder, the opera based on his life. Throughout, Ruffo uses the Ojibwe concept of two-eyed seeing, which combines the strengths of Western and Indigenous ways of knowing, and invites the reader to do the same, particularly through the inclusion of the Anishinaabemowin language within the collection. These are poems that challenge Western conventions of thinking, that celebrate hope, and that show us a new way to see the world.
Published as of May 7, 2024.
Teacher Resources
The Indigenous War Heroes Project explores the experience of First Nations soldiers and veterans such as Sergeant Francis Pegahmagabow, the most decorated for bravery, historical Canadian Aboriginal serviceman.
Indigenous men and women have long contributed to the efforts of the Canadian military. Developed by the Wasauksing War Hero and Native Veteran’s Educational Awareness and Commemoration Project, the lesson plans, stories, and photos included here provide educators and students with a framework and resources for better understanding and celebrating the past and continuing contributions of Native Canadian soldiers.
Quotes From Grade 10 Students about the Performance
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