Two days ago I received a phone call from my mom, my younger brother had shown her a social studies question he was expected to answer as part of his homework. This is that question
“Taking into consideration the ideas expressed on page 186, explain some of the benefits that children of residential schools experienced”
Here are snap shots of page 186
After trying to control my out right anger, I knew this had to be written about. This is by far one of the hardest things I have ever had to write about, I have spent the better part of twelve hours furiously writing, only to delete what I wrote over and over again. In Canada if you identify as an Aboriginal person, it is very rare that you would not have a relative whom was a student of a Residential School. In my experience this is something everyone wants to forget, it’s something rarely talked about due to the intense emotional trauma of recalling these experiences. No one likes to speak about the abuses but the effects can be described as multigenerational. “In a sample of First Nations Residential School Survivors that had experienced abuse, 64 per cent were diagnosed
with PTSD (Corrado & Cohen, 2003)” These wounds cut very deep, unfortunately though when children are being posed with questions like this one, forgetting about the past means allowing it to be written by those that never experienced this history.
After deleting draft after draft, I finally decided to just answer the question.
After reading page 186 and the ideas expressed I could not go on to formulate an accurate benefits assessment. In the quote from J.R. Miller “The Irony of Residential Schooling”, he purports that the attempted extermination of the First Nations communities are what essentially made them capable strong leaders, the old “that which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger” routine. Essentially saying the survivors of the school left stronger, for the attempted extermination they endured and now on top of enduring this hardship they were educated, so they could lead their people. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder apparently does not exist in J.R. Miller world. Suffice to say that trauma as a motivator and an educator, is ridiculous and frankly extremely callous, especially when this is what we are teaching our children, as to what the benefits of residential schools were. “They endured trauma and received an education at the same time, making them strong leaders!”. Also what would JR Miller say about the children that didn’t survive? In 1889, the Department of Indian Affairs surveyed death rates in First Nation communities from Manitoba to Alberta. It is a common misconception that the death rate of children that occurred in these schools were representative the children’s home communities. In 1889 the Department of Indian Affairs surveyed the death rate in First Nations communities, on the low-end the numbers came in at 12.7 per 1,000 equaling 1.3% to a high of 76.6 per 1,000 = 7.7% death rate, in all 19 communities surveyed this averaged out to around a 4.8% death rate, in First Nations communities. Two years after this survey, a report by Dr. George Orton stated that the mortality rate of students in residential schools was 30%, that figure continued as the average, as reported by Dr. Peter Bryce (general medical superintendent for the Department of Indian Affairs) in his report in 1909, which showed a mortality rate ranging between 30%-60% depending on school and area. Dr. Peter Bryce was then ‘dismissed’ after providing recommendations on how to decrease this high mortality rate, and it became policy to no longer report student deaths. Dr. Peter Bryce then went on to write the book “The Story of a National Crime: BEING AN APPEAL FOR JUSTICE TO THE INDIANS OF CANADA” Where he reports that not only, was this high death rate preventable but ignoring the recommendations seemed to render it almost purposeful. So J.R. how exactly do dead children benefit a society again?
Now here is where I think the real question lays. Would you ask a survivor to explain some of the benefits they experienced, from their time at residential school?
Shall we ask Irene Favel
who speaks about witnessing a baby born out of the molestation of a young student, witnessing the baby being dressed up in pink and then being thrown into the furnace of her school, while she describes the smell of the baby burning, shall we then ask her, what were some of the benefits you received during your time at Residential school?
Shall we ask the children who were passed around and rented out into pedophile rings, the victims of child trafficking, at the hands of those who were now their legal guardians, what benefits they received during their time at residential school?
Shall we ask Harry Wilson (you can watch Harry Wilsons story at 12:34)
who speaks about being placed in an Indian Hospital, being medicated, restrained and put in solitary, after reporting that he found a little girls body.
Shall we ask Harry Lucas (Harry Lucas Story at 14:05)
who speaks about his experience with the some of the strange disciplinary actions of the staff. He remembers snakes being thrown into his bath water, and because of the hot temperature of the bath, the snakes would climb up the children’s bodies to escape the heat.
Shall we ask Rick Lavallie (at 01:00:35)
a student of Portage la prairie Residential School, who speaks about witnessing the murder and the gruesome torture of his five-year old little brother, at the hands of a Catholic Priest. He states he witnessed his little brother murdered with a cattle prod and a whip. He says he remembers all the blood on the floor and his little brother calling his name for help. Shall we ask him the benefits he received by attending Residential school?
This is only a small collection of the thousands of stories that are currently being collected regarding some of the atrocities that occurred at these schools. So I would ask that the Oxford University press, the authors of Perspectives on Globalization, the Edmonton School Board, any other school boards that implemented this lesson plan and text, and the teachers that teach this to young minds, I would ask them, could you personally ask these survivors to explain “What benefits they received while attending Residential Schools?”. If you can’t personally face these survivors and ask them that question then how can you feel confident in posing this question to teenagers?
I have been reading through the comments both on this blog, on forums and on Facebook, in regards to my letter to Mr. Sowan. One of the most common criticisms I am seeing is “Ok but that still doesn’t address a way to solve these issues, at least Anothony Sowan proposes a solution to the problem, by giving up treaty status”.
So I have been listening and decided to write a piece. I much like Anthony have no formal training in the areas of policy making, First Nation, Inuit or Metis politics or government. I have no skill set in implementing government wide programs or even academic critical analysis of these policies and programs. I offer this writing as a alternative to Anthony Sowans solution. I am going to provide alternate resources, so I highly encourage everyone to do their own research.
Now the reason I had that giant disclaimer above is, this is complicated business. If you read my letter to Anthony you will see I touched on the long standing paternalistic and colonial relationship presently enforced over Indigenous people and communities. I think one of the reasons Anthony piece spread like wild fire, is he proposed a very simple solution. It seems like the majority of Canadians are now aware that the present situation is dire (to put it lightly) and it needs to be “fixed”. Usually in these situations, simple quick across the board solutions are received with open arms by the general public, especially when no other easy to understand solutions have been proposed. I think that is the issue right there, these problems are not simple, they are highly complex and are extremely multifaceted, engulfing every aspect of a Indigenous persons daily life. There have been entire University level courses, texts and hundreds of books written on the far reaching effects that colonialism has on a society. There is never an easy “fix”. That being said there have been a number of educated experienced policy makers, lawyers and scholars, that have proposed different suggestions. I am going to first show the current direction the Harper government seems to be headed, then some of the other possible directions, laid out by policy makers and First Nation people and then in Part two: Where do we go from here? and when looking ahead, lets look at what history has taught us.
When looking at the present situation, familiarizing oneself with the legislation behind South Africa apartheid law is recommended. As you start to familiarize yourself with Canadian legislation regarding Indigenous people and then the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act and the Population of Registration Act of South Africa, you start to notice some staggering commonalities.
Why is that? and why is it relevant to our current situation? John S Saul, political economist and Professor emeritus of politics at York University, goes on the further explain this connection, in “Two fronts of an anti-apartheid struggle: South Africa and Canada.” “an essay which explores both the collaboration between Canada and South Africa in support of apartheid.” From this piece
”As Borgeault further observes, ‘South Africa turned to Canada in the first decade of the 20th century’, since ‘Canada was probably the only advanced capitalist state that had an elaborate system of administration and territorial segregation of an internally colonized indigenous population, a possible exception being the United States’
“Bourgeault then emphasises that, in Canada by the twentieth century, retaining the Indians within separate ‘communal organizations’ was preferable to continued genocide-like military campaigns which were now seen as being ‘too expensive and possibly unchristian[!]’
The similarities in these laws are not a mistake or coincidence, South African Apartheid laws were directly modelled after Canada’s reservation system and Indian Act. Understanding the far reaching effects Apartheid had on the South African people, effects that are still highly visible to this day, almost a decade after the supposed end of apartheid. I think is important to note, especially when attempting to look forward.
I might have lost you at this point, you might be thinking, “That is crazy! Comparing South Africa Apartheid and Canadas current treatment of Indigenous people, is frankly offensive! and farcical! They may have modeled their system after the old reservation system but things are so much better now!” I hear you, this are pretty strong things to state against our friendly-accepting-plaid wearing perception of Canada. Let’s step back and baby step this a bit.
At this point I encourage everyone to review the Indian Act, the reserve system, Indian hospitals and residential schools, as well as review South African 1913 Land Act and The Population Registration Act, especially Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, “”separate development” policies. I will provide a brief summary of each, but these systems are well worth more thorough research and analysis.
The Indian Act(from the Canadian Encyclopedia): is the principal federal statute dealing with Indian status…. The concept of Indian status was originally developed to determine entitlement to live in Indian reserve communities, but this changed after 1985 amendments to the Act which now treat Indian status, band membership and residency as separate issues . The policy of the federal government is to undertake changes to the legislation in response to native initiatives.
Indian Status(from the Canadian Encyclopedia): legislation which was first passed in 1876 but which stemmed from similar pre-Confederation laws, a status Indian is registered as an Indian under the Indian Act, and a non-status Indian has not registered under the Act. A treaty Indian is a status Indian who belongs to a First Nation that signed a treaty with the Crown.
To put things simply, the term Status Indian is a legal definition pertaining to a certain set of individuals as defined and registered through the Canadian government. Essentially conglomerating possibly hundreds of varying ethnicities (as defined by varying cultures and nationhood’s) under the sole title of Indian. This definition was created for the initial purposes of deciding who lived on a reserve.
The Natives Land Act(No. 27 of 1913)( from South Africa History online): also known as the Black Land Act, was passed because of constant pressure by Whites to prevent the encroachment of Blacks on White areas. This law incorporated territorial segregation into legislation for the first time since Union in 1910. The law created reserves for Blacks and prohibited the sale of White territory to Blacks and vice versa. An annexure designated the territory preliminary allocated to Blacks
1950. Population Registration Act No 30(from nelsonmandela.org) ”provided for the compilation of a register of the entire South African population” (Dyzenhaus 1991: 40). The South African population now became divided into three racial groups: ‘White’, ‘Black’ (‘African’, ‘Native’ and/or ‘Bantu’) and ‘Coloured’; the last of which was further subcategorized into ‘Cape Malay’, ‘Griqua’, ‘Indian’, ‘Chinese’ and ‘Cape Coloured’ (Christopher 1994: 103ft).
To put things simply The Native lands act was created to designate areas of land and territory to the Black population setting up what is know as reserves. The population registration act, set forward to conglomerated and define these individuals under the legal definition of “Black” or “Coloured”. From this article in the Lancet 2009
The system was based on racial classification from birth of all South Africans into European (white), Asian (Indian), coloured, or Bantu (black) and a rigid racial hierarchy, with white people positioned at its apex. This classification determined where a person could live, work, and go to school, whom they could marry, whether they could vote, and the resources allocated to their education, health care, and pensions.
One could write a whole graduate thesis on the parallels on the legislation and the concurrent effects this legislation has had on the people. To continue on this piece though.
I was recently watching a livestream with Mohawk Scholar, Professor of Indigenous Governance in the Department of Political Science at Victoria University, Taiaiake Alfred. He addressed the three most effective practices when attempting to colonize a population. You take away their culture, their sense of community and lastly their land.
Going back to Bourgeault
“Canada was probably the only advanced capitalist state that had an elaborate system of administration and territorial segregation of an internally colonized indigenous population, a possible exception being the United States”
To put it bluntly Canada at this present time in history, may the leading expert in effective applications of apartheid law. Now when you look at some of the resonating statements in regards to the legal application of this apartheid and the objectives possibly behind it, as well as the current proposed legislation coming out today. You start to see the undeniable pattern of colonial control and domination, that instead of slowing down, has seemed to have made unfaltering advances.
“Our object is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian department.”
-Duncan Campbell Scott, Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, 1920
Looking through the current bills C-38 and C-45 as well as the proposed legislation laid out by the Harper Government. As you read through the proposed legislation you start to notice the obvious direction this government is headed. The very apparent direction seems to be in what can be coined as the “cut the cord” approach.
Now alot of people might be thinking but isn’t that what you guys want? Isn’t that a good thing? You get to be treated like Canadians and no longer wards of the Crown.
Looking at what has been happening in INAC for almost the past two decades may prove to be the most illuminating. I cannot emphasize enough, Every Canadian needs to see this interview. I want you all to stop reading and watch this interview with Former Deputy Minister of Indian Affaris Scott Serson, in tears over the current situation.
The government intends to introduce this legislation, but it hasn’t yet.
The Act would allow the small existing Aboriginally-owned land base to be
sold to non-Aboriginal buyers, forever losing these lands as Aboriginal lands.
This is particularly a risk for impoverished communities who may be forced by
economic desperation to sell their own lands for short term gain.
First Nations need more options to use their lands for economic development
purposes, but this simple ‘one size fits all’ fix is dangerous. The government
should instead work with First Nations to address real self-sufficiency by
ensuring Aboriginal control over resources extracted in their traditional lands,
and addressing educational, health and other social development.
“Our object is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian department.”
-Duncan Campbell Scott, Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, 1920
Depending on who you talk to, the ideas of how the Indian Act should be dismantled, differ greatly. Ideas of private ownership and self government, differ greatly. One thing is certain though, underfunding programs, placing funding caps on communities already living in third world conditions, this sets the stage for complete and utter desperation. Setting up conditions that any land developer would dream about. Now the big questions every Canadian, should be asking themselves, is this deliberate? and lastly are you ok with this?
Unfortunately this is where we are headed, this is the path that has been laid out by the Harper Government. His government has shown no attempts in changing direction. Remember that when reading through some of the next possible solutions laid out, remember that these solutions were created before the Harper Government laid out their direction. In order for these solutions to be implemented you need a willing and cooperative government, which at present Aboriginal people can not even get the Government to consult with them (which is the governments legal duty to do so) prior to changing laws that effect their lives. There is no cooperation, on the Governments part, so unfortunately that changes everything and looking through these solutions are now almost a practice in pipe dreams and idealism.
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
A 4,000 page document was commission by the government, after the Oka Crisis in the 90′s, in an attempt to address some of these issues, there were 440 recommendations on slow policy changes to take place over 20 years, to dismantle the paternalistic relationship still presently enforced over Indigenous people, policy changes that most communities could stand behind. Policy changes that would not completely cripple communities when attempting to end this Colonial Paternalistic relationship. You can read the whole report here if you wish. I in particular liked this quote from the piece.
“In four years of consultations, research and reflection we have come to see clearly that the problems that plague the relationship cannot be addressed exclusively or primarily as Aboriginal issues. The questions we probed during our inquiry and the solutions that emerged from our deliberations led us back insistently to examine the premises on which Canadian law and government institutions are founded and the human values that Canadians see as the core of their identity.
The analysis we present and the avenues of reconciliation we propose in this and the other four volumes of our report do not attempt to resolve the so-called ‘Aboriginal’ problem.5 Identifying it as an Aboriginal problem inevitably places the onus on Aboriginal people to desist from ‘troublesome behaviour’. It is an assimilationist approach, the kind that has been attempted repeatedly in the past, seeking to eradicate Aboriginal language, culture and political institutions from the face of Canada and to absorb Aboriginal people into the body politic — so that there are no discernible Aboriginal people and thus, no Aboriginal problem.
Our report proposes instead that the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Canada be restructured fundamentally and grounded in ethical principles to which all participants subscribe freely.
The necessity of restructuring is made evident by a frank assessment of past relations. We urge Canadians to consider anew the character of the Aboriginal nations that have inhabited these lands from time immemorial; to reflect on the way the Aboriginal nations in most circumstances welcomed the first newcomers in friendship; to ask themselves how the newcomers responded to that generous gesture by gaining control of their lands and resources and treating them as inferior and uncivilized; and how they were designated as wards of the federal government like children incapable of looking after themselves. Canadians should reflect too on how we moved them from place to place to make way for ‘progress’, ‘development’ and ‘settlement’, and how we took their children from them and tried to make them over in our image.
This is not an attractive picture, and we do not wish to dwell on it. But it is sometimes necessary to look back in order to move forward. The co-operative relationships that generally characterized the first contact between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people must be restored, and we believe that understanding just how, when and why things started to go wrong will help achieve this goal.”
In alternate solutions Taiaiake Alfred, in this video proposes a compelling alternative to the RCAP, again remember this video is two years old and unfortunately times have drastically changed
In Part Two
I plan on addressing the question, now that everything has changed. Where do we go from here?
I am going to end with Anthony Sowans solution, his solution being, renouncing treaty status, now this is not the first time this has been attempted by Indigenous people wanting to get out from under the colonial power, willing to give up their their treaty benefits, at an attempt of “equality”. Some might speculate the the largest benefit being, having a voice in what happens to reserve lands. These are legally binding documents that allow First Nations communities to vote on the collective use and benefit of these reserve lands. So giving up treaty status would potentially mean giving up land rights, making a land developers job that much easier. So essentially Anthony Sowan version of “equality”, means handing over your largest asset to the Canadian government, so you are no longer viewed a ward of the state.
Some people unfortunately would give up everything they have at a shot of equality, which surprisingly is not so easy to do.
“Wearing a traditional ribbon shirt, Peters displayed his status card, adding that when he tried to relinquish status, he was warned he could lose both his aboriginal rights and his Canadian citizenship.
“Until you can prove you’re sovereign, you’re kind of stuck in a hole,” he said. “We don’t want to be governed by this. We don’t want to be under the Indian Act.”
The wide-ranging law governs many aspects of life for First Nations. It also created Canada’s reserves, which today are hotbeds of poverty and unemployment. In fact, when South African legislators created apartheid, a delegation traveled to Canada for inspiration.
Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada acknowledged that renouncing Indian status is more complicated than simply turning in a card.
“The Indian Act requires the Registrar to maintain the Indian Register, in which is recorded the name of every person who has applied and is entitled to be registered,” said spokesperson Geneviève Guibert. “The Act does not give the Registrar the authority to remove the name of an entitled and registered individual from the Indian Register, even at his or her request.
So this blog kinda exploded over the past couple days and I want to thank every single one of you for your comments, the overwhelming support has left me teary eyed and in awe. Love you guys!
My initial purpose was to open a dialogue and discussion with Anthony Sowan over his piece, while he tweeted this morning, #busy. Hopefully this discussion is in the near future.
It is currently -42 with windchill and I have been spending the day inside in documentary mode. I am currently watching the terribly sad and bone chilling documentary The Canary Effect: Kill the Indian, Save the man. Seeing the parallels with The United States policies on Native American relations and Canadian policies on First Nations relations is astounding and of course extremely disturbing. What was also oddly creepy is I had just finished reading this news story from the Ottawacitizen on Stephen Harpers most recent statements on Aboriginal policies,
“We have made … unprecedented investments into things that will make a concrete difference in the lives of people,” Harper told the Commons. “In skills training, in housing on reserves, in potable water, in schools, in treaty rights, in protection of the rights of women and of course … in the resolution of many of the land claims.
when half way through the documentary, this oddly familiar quote from Ronald Reagan is presented.
“Let me tell you just a little something about the American Indian in our land. We have provided millions of acres of land for what are called preservations — or reservations, I should say. They, from the beginning, announced that they wanted to maintain their way of life, as they had always lived there in the desert and the plains and so forth. And we set up these reservations so they could, and have a Bureau of Indian Affairs to help take care of them. At the same time, we provide education for them — schools on the reservations. And they’re free also to leave the reservations and be American citizens among the rest of us, and many do. Some still prefer, however, that way — that early way of life. And we’ve done everything we can to meet their demands as to how they want to live. Maybe we made a mistake. Maybe we should not have humored them in that wanting to stay in that kind of primitive lifestyle. Maybe we should have said, no, come join us; be citizens along with the rest of us. As I say, many have; many have been very successful.”And I’m very pleased to meet with them , talk with them at any time and see what their grievances are or what they feel they might be. And you’d be surprised: Some of them became very wealthy because some of those reservations were overlaying great pools of oil, and you can get very rich pumping oil. And so, I don’t know what their complaint might be.”
Harper our very own Reagan wanna-be. Other famous Reagan quotes ““if an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, it is his right to do so.” Let’s hope Harper stays away from trying to recreate that one.
So my faithful blog followers, I am going to take another break from food and diet things to get a little serious. I came across this opinion piece from a cree man on idle no more, they even made a news story about it. You can read his piece here. This is a letter I wrote to him in response to his piece.
Dear Anthony Sowan
I tried to contact you on facebook, after reading your letter to idlenomore protesters, but I am sure you are being inundated with messages of both support and messages probably of anger and sadness, about some of the common misconceptions, in your opinion piece. I have read your piece over and over again, trying to make sense of it. I understand you wrote what you feel and no one can disrespect you for that. So please take no offense when hearing my opinion. We are living in a very strange time in history, I have never in my life seen anything like this, I have never seen such pride in our people, such unity. This is a very strange time to be Aboriginal, I guess though when looking through our history, when hasn’t it been? I feel as though I am seeing some of the misconceptions mired in your piece, shared by many Canadians and some might say, that is why there is an idlenomore. There is a history here that many Canadians do not know and unfortunately this also includes many Aboriginal people. I do not mean any ill intent when I say, I think you may be one of these people and not to long ago, I was to.
While we live in the same province I unlike you have no family in high ranking political positions, my biological First Nations father is I believe homeless at present. You state preserving the culture is YOUR responsibility. My Metis mother, one of the most amazing women I have ever know, has shared with me the history of her family dating back to the Red River Settlements. As for my First Nations history on my fathers side that will most likely always remain a black hole. I think because of that giant black hole I have always felt as though something was missing. I think for this reason I have spent many hours, pouring over texts, litigation, and Canadian Aboriginal policy, searching for this lost history. What I have uncovered has left me at times shaking. These are not the things I was taught in school. I am going to undertake the arduous task of trying to break down some the common misconceptions in your piece, using this history and hopefully we can come to a better understanding on what is presently happening, all over the world as Indigenous and non-Indigenous people take to the streets chanting idle no more.
One of the first issues you state you have with the movement is
“Clarify what you are protesting for, or against.”
This is something I have been hearing alot of, there seems to be much uncertainty as to why these protests are occurring. I cannot speak for the founders of idle no more, but I can say, I wish the complexities at play could be easily summarized in a 60 second news clip. The main focus of this movement has been the omnibus bills passed at the end of last year. Understanding why people have felt the need to head to the streets over these bills, knowing the history of Aboriginal and Canadian relations is paramount. Some might say idle no more has been brewing for over a century. The globe and mail recently did a piece on “What’s behind the explosion of native activism?” to quote the piece “It has been led and organized almost entirely by young, university-educated women. But Idle No More is also shaped by a collision of demographic and historic forces: a very young population, rising levels of income and education and a community that has suffered decades of injustice.”
I will try and sum this up in the best way I can, idle no more is about a severely fractured, colonial and paternalistic relationship with the Canadian Government, that at the end of last year got incredibly worse. Now I don’t use the terms colonial or paternalistic at an attempt at histrionics. Looking at the definitions of these terms and reviewing the current legislation, they can’t seem to be defined in any other way.
PATERNALISM, defined by Websters- “A system under which an authority undertakes to supply needs or regulate conduct of those under its control in matters affecting them as individuals as well as in their relations to authority and to each other.”
COLONIALISM- “a: control by one power over a dependent area or people b: a policy advocating or based on such control”.
So now we have a group of young university educated people, also reviewing the legislation, and wondering “Why is it 2013 and Canada, internationally recognized as friendly peace-keepers, is still legally upholding and enforcing control over one race of people, over my people?”. What is worse is when you start to delve into the history of the current legislation, the initial purposes behind it and the fact that these policies, were created with “the great aim of our legislation has been to do away with the tribal system and to assimilate the Indian people in all respects” Sir John A Macdonald. So when you look at the current state of affairs you see the extreme far reaching effects these racist archaic policies have had, you not only get angry that they are still in place but mostly it seems they have had their desired effects.
A common theme in your opinion piece is equality, it seems to be a very common misconception that Aboriginal people are out there fighting to stay in this un-equal legally mandated paternalistic relationship. When really this could not be further from the truth. Now you might be thinking well, no that’s not true I know about the amendments to the Indian Act and the constitution, that do not render it completely paternalistic. The amendments state, if the government would like to change laws that effect Aboriginal people, unlike in the recent past, they now have to consult with them. Light bulb moment? Starting to see the foundations of idle no more yet?
Just looking at our present situation and the things that are popping up in the press, it seems to be that the perceptions Canadians hold of Aboriginal people and the view that Aboriginal people hold of Canada are on two separate continents. Here is one example. Watch the press and look at where the focus has been shifted. We are consistently seeing in the media, focus on First Nation community funding, yet in the same token not one word on the Government Department entirely responsible for the supervision and allocation of these funds. I don’t know if Canadians are unaware of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) or have just forgotten about them, or think that they actually have no power. For a basic primer on INAC I encourage every Canadian to go to their website have a look around. Just like any other organization receiving government funding, the allocation of funds is highly supervised. In fact the government has an entire department overlooking the allocation of Aboriginal funding, they call it Indian Affairs. From their own website they state “It has long been acknowledged that First Nations and other organizations that receive funding from the Government of Canada are caught in a complex web of reporting requirements, some of which are of dubious usefulness to them or to the organizations seeking the reports…The roots of this reporting burden are deep.” The common misconception being First Nation communities are just thrown money willy nilly and told ‘there you go free for all’. Indian Affairs oversee all projects, policies and funds allocated to the Aboriginal people. Their actual power is, they distribute the money, decide where it goes, and how much goes where. They also have the power to fire band members and Chiefs when they suspect corruption. They have all the power, so when trying to place the blame for misappropriation of Aboriginal funds. Why is no one paying closer attention to the Government department that is entirely responsible for the proper allocation of these funds?
Now what a lot of Canadians should be asking is why is there even a INAC? Well for that we need to start with a wonderful piece of legislation put forward by Sir John A Macdonald in 1876, that we still follow to this day. This piece of legislation still controls Aboriginal peoples lives. In 1951 because of Canadas commitment to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, post WWII some of the disgusting government mandated racist parts were removed ie. not being allowed to leave the reserve without permission from the government, not be allowed to hire a lawyer, facing jail time and legal prosecution for practicing ‘traditional’ ceremonies. While some of that racist government mandated legislation was removed, the Indian Act still exists today. With some deplorable restrictions still attached.
Now Back to INAC in relation to the Indian Act “Section 61(1)(a-k) of the Indian Act: “With the consent of the council of a band, the Minister may authorize and direct the expenditure of capital moneys of the band” for various purposes.” So I and many First Nations people are wondering where is the media attention to Indian Affairs? Every canadian seems to be very concerned about the proper use of these funds, yet no one has asked about Indian Affairs, the Government department that has been controlling Aboriginal Funding since 1867?
Now the biggest question here is, why do we even need an Aboriginal Affairs, why can’t we just do away with them and the paternalistic racist Indian Act? The government has been aware for some time that this needs to happen, now this is where everything gets messy, you have a Conservative government that is stating it is not the oppressive deplorable restrictions on the First Nations communities imposed by The Indian Act for 137 years that has caused these current conditions, it is the all the extra rights and benefits, that the First Nations receive due to treaty agreements, that has caused this current situation. Anthony you’ve said you received free glasses? and health care benefits? If you lived on reserve some of the other benefits you also might enjoy are no sales tax, and well there you go, with no sales tax, post secondary education and free glasses, it’s no wonder First Nations people are the way they are.
Now let’s look at the opposite side of the coin, what are some of the oppressive deplorable restrictions enforced by the Government. In your piece you stated
“But those days are long over. It defies logic to have the current population pay for the tragedies committed by people that came so long before them.”
Fine lets not drudge up the long ago history that you yourself state was “The native people of yesterday were brutalized, hunted, tortured, and humiliated for decades. It’s awful, and no one should ever have to suffer like that” let’s look at what has occurred in say your life time and your parents lifetime.
Forced sterilization
Up until 1972 forced sterilization of predominantly Aboriginal women was legally protected, and in fact policy. It started under a Canadian driven Eugenics movement in the 20′s and 30′s after World War 2, the government tried to phase out these policies, but they still held strong in Aboriginal populations in Alberta up until 1972.
60′s Scoop
Between the 1960′s and the mid 80′s it was Canadian Policy to steal children from their families and adopt them out to predominately white families, or place them in foster care, without consent. Approx 20,000 Aboriginal children were stolen from their families, some adopted out of country. It wasn’t until an outcry much like idlenomore that these practices were investigated and immediately stopped in the mid 80′s. Associate Chief Judge Edwin Kimmelman commissioned to conduct the inquiry, finished his report in 1985 and referred to the practice as cultural genocide.
Residential Schools
Looking at the current animosity toward the Government and why it exists this is very relevant. Considering the last residential school closed in 1996, and the horrors of the Residential schools have largely gone un-investigated. They are now just starting to investigate seven generations of murder, pedophile rings, torture, medical experimentation and numerous other atrocities on children. It is very relevant on to what is happening out there.
So this is not even getting into the Missing Aboriginal women, or the chronic under funding on essential social services, that every Canadian enjoys if they live off reserve. Services like housing, water, food, sewer, education and health. You are right there is access to post-secondary funding, but when you don’t have proper access to grades k-12, post secondary can seem like a pipe dream. At the beginning of 2012 there was a multi-million dollar panel created with the intent to look at the condition of education of many reserves the National Panel on First Nation Elementary and Secondary Education released their report stating “At least 100 schools on reserves “are not safe places for learning,” as well as “The panel found that there is clearly evidence of underfunding in First Nation schools,” “When we went to many schools we saw libraries with no books, we saw shops with no equipment, (and) we saw technology that was out of date or inoperable. We heard about teachers who are being paid 20 or 30 per cent less than provincial school teachers with the same qualifications.”
But like you say I am sure it the un-equal benefits that First Nations enjoy that is the cause for the current state of affairs in many First Nations communities.
You say it shouldn’t be the population paying for the tragedies of the past. Most Aboriginal people would agree with you. How can we expect communities to move forward when we are still legislating them backward? What are the solutions? Besides dictating their lands, their finances, making changes to racist paternalistic policies without even consulting the people whom these laws affect. We need to move forward. After the Oka crisis, the Canadian Government paid millions looking into a way to solve these issues, and a practical way to get rid of this paternalistic race based legislation, a 4000 page document, The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was released addressing all the issues and recommendations on slow policy changes to rid Canada of the Indian Act, and Indian Affairs. The recommendations have never been followed and some might argue Harper has instead moved in the opposite direction.
So Anthony, I hope this cleared up some of the history behind why there is an idle no more. I didn’t have enough time to address Bills C45 and C-38 but I just thought I would give a voice to how things potentially lead up to this point in history. As an Aboriginal person and public figure your voice holds alot of weight in this time and will be remembered for generations. That is why proper education into these matters is paramount. I hope this addressed some of your concerns.
So I have been using this blog as primarily a food and nutrition blog but I am going to take this moment to get a little political. If you are a Canadian and have been paying attention to the news, you might of heard something about the current #idlenomore movement currently sweeping across the country. This movement is extremely complicated and the media and press outlets as per usual, are doing a pretty weak and in some instances down right terrible job of displaying the story accurately. So I thought I would use this forum, to help spread the message from the source. These are women that started it all and every video from the idlenomorealberta channel is a must watch. Here I thought I would highlight my two favorites.
I have recently been flipping through a book by Jack W. Brink Archaeology Curator at the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, called Imagining Head Smashed In. In this book (which is a great read, if you have the funds I recommend purchasing a copy here) he clearly points out the complete reliance on bison by the Plains people, going so far as calling bison the “soul, center of the Universe, backbone of life and Kingpin” of the Plains people. He provides evidence that there were over 87 different tools (possibly even more) created from bison parts. In sub-section called ‘The fats of life’ he goes on to show that the most coveted part of this ‘center of the universe’ was the fat. ”With few exceptions, such as when animals were hunted for needs other than food, finding and killing fat animals was the objective of every hunt.”
So while I can no longer afford to devote this blog to a 100% pre-colonial diet, I think finding the key nutritional staples and adapting them to fit with a modern lifestyle is my new objective. So now the first most obvious nutritional staple being bison fat. In this modern age finding bison fat is actually fairly difficult, bison are fairly lean creatures, and just try going to your local butcher and asking for bison fat. Luckily I stumbled across a local wild meat butcher shop, specializing in bison meat. The prices and variety will have me coming back. Thanks Buffalo Valley! Now I am pretty much a culinary novice, actually the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know. So most of this has been through internet research and best guesses. I knew I wanted the marrow fat from inside the bones, now how to get at it is a different story. I came up with a couple tricks. For my first batch of rendered bison fat, I used the fat skimmings from bison bone broth and added pork fat. Now that I have more bison broth than I know what to do with. I’ve been searching for an easier way to get this white gold. I stumbled across this blog from, get this an Edmonton chef (Edmonton and buffalo fat seem to be weirdly linked in this post). This chef shows a more efficient way of collecting the fat from the marrow and even goes on to give a detailed way to make pemmican and bison jerky. Yay this guy! I will be back to try all his bison recipes! Check him out. http://buttonsoup.ca/pemmican/
Now that I have all this fat, what am I going to do with it? Well since I have been trying to closely follow a ketogenic diet, where fat is the really the focus. What am I not doing with this bison fat? If I have time in the future, I know I am going to have to try my hand at making some pemmican, for now with juggling work, family life and well enjoying life. I am guessing pemmican will be a January, February project. In the mean time, I am trying to derive the majority of my caloric intake from fat, so the rendered bison fat has been my go to cooking fat. I currently have a pot of quick soup on the stove which is bison broth, bison/pork fat, herbs and greens.
I have a couple of photos of my fat adventures. The first one is starting the bison broth, Thank goodness I have enough bison broth to last me forever because this broth was 16 hour endeavor. This was the beginning.
After the broth cooled, I skimmed all the top fat and put it in this smoothie cup (don’t judge, I was running out of tupperware).
The next day I set out to render the fat, so I googled rendering fat and came across a couple of step by step instructions, again I am no culinary expert but I believe the purpose of rendering is getting rid of all the extras in the fat that may cause it to go rancid. Once rendered I guess the fat will last a long time, we bought some rendered duck fat from the Italian Center that causes me to be a little doubtful of the’ will last for years and years’ claim. Moldy rendered duck fat, mmm. So most of the instructions have you very slowly heat up the fat with a touch of water.
This is when I added some pork fat and heated them slowly. Until yellow fatty gold was created.
You then strain the fat gold, thru a cheese cloth and strainer, into this pan.
Wait for it too cool, then refrigerate and break up into useable pieces, and then add it to things , then eat those things. Simple as pie.
Ok so that’s it for today. I am going to end this post with another video, there are millions! This is another lecture video, this one is of Dr. Eric Kosseff, talking about his practice and his research on ketogenic and modified atkins diets effects on pediatric epilepsy.(parts 2 & 3 of the lecture can be found on the youtube)
I imagine my posts will be further and fewer between with the holidays. So if I don’t get around to it MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
So it’s been pretty quiet around here, busy with work, family and life. Also after my third week into my diet I had a massive cheating carb binge, oh it was delicious but I am back. I did some financial analysis of my food costs over the first three weeks and loosely determined my average food expenditures per week and my findings were disheartening. To consume a healthy amount of calories, vitamins and minerals and reach the macronutrient ratios I was hoping for, my weekly food budget was well over $200 a week. While I was already seeing massive health benefits, $800-1000 a month on food isn’t something I can sustain for the long-term. So lately I have had to be a bit more loose in my pre-colonialism diet, one day when I have millions of dollars and no real job to go to. I may come back to it. In the mean time I have had to make some changes, following something similar to Dr. Jay Wortmans Diet for Namgis First Nation. Even though I have previously posted my apprehension of extremely low-carb, high-fat Ketogenic diets after a lot of research, I have decided I am adapting my diet to follow a ketogenic diet, which is still somewhat similar in macronutrient composition to the diet my ancestors would have eaten. To tell you the truth I don’t know the exact macronutrient composition of my ancestors diet, I know on both sides I come from Plains Indians (long family story, that is a whole other blog) which would be more high-fat, high protein then some of the more agriculturally based communities. So I have adapted a high-fat, high-protein diet to include as many pre-colonial foods as I can work into my food budget and making modern substitutions as necessary. I will post some pictures this week of some of the things I have been eating and my adventures with bison bones and livers and my new delicious invention of bison-pork cooking fat. If meat and animal parts gross you out, you might want to skip the next couple entries. So I will end with a video and I really hope you watch it. What this woman is talking about is kind of the corner-stone as to why this blog exists and why I think this whole undertaking is so important. This is relevant to not just Aboriginals but all ethnicities.
