“Ojibwa taxonomy has three basic classes: humans, persons, and nonpersons. Humans encompass the living and the ghosts of the dead.

Persons are those "born" with life-giving or life-taking power, including mythical figures, spirit helpers, "certain" animals such as bear,

moose, and thunderbirds; flint, meg is shells, native copper, true vermillion, pipes, kettles, grandfather rocks, grandfather trees, sun,

moon, thun­der, cannibals, and mermaids. The Ojibwa explain the logic behind the person/nonperson distinctions by appealing to human

likeness: persons are self-propelling, sentient, and able to engage in social (and legal) relations with humans and with one another”

(Hallowell 2002)