Early Life
Commanda was born on November 11, 1913 in Kitigàn-zìbì, Quebec to Alonzo and Marie Commanda. His Algonquin name Ojigkwanong (meaning "Morning Star," or more literally "he expels a star") came about as his mother looked out the window of the family's log cabin and saw the morning star shining. Commanda had several notable ancestors, including his grandfather Chief Louizon Commanda, and his great-grandfather Chief Pakinawatik, who in 1854 led his people from Oka, Quebec to Kitigàn-zìbì. Commanda was baptized in a Catholic church eight days after his birth.
His youth was spent in severe poverty and difficulty on the reserve. On one occasion he resorted to hiding in the bush in order to avoided the Canadian Indian residential school system. The Commandas' seven children frequently went hungry, and sources of income were infrequent. For work, William became a master birchbark canoe maker, and also worked in lumber camps. His health, weakened from his years living in poverty, finally began to improve in 1961.
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