Keynote address by Paul L.A.H. Chartrand, I.P.C. (Professor
of Law, University of Sasatchewan):'On Further Thought: Reflections on the Last Two Decades'
First Nations, First Thoughts conference: Abstracts and papers |
Conference home page | Centre of Canadian Studies home
This interdisciplinary conference explored the significance of Aboriginal peoples in the development of cultural and intellectual thought in Canada. The conference was designed to bring Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal scholars together to consider the development and transmission of Indigenous thought and the impact of Aboriginal perspectives on cultural, political, environmental, historical, legal, philosophical and anthropological thought in Canada.
View the conference programme (PDF)
Keynote
address by Nora Sanders (Deputy Minister, Department of First Nations and
Métis Relations, Government of Saskatchewan):
'Through
Cultural Eyes: Perspectives on Aboriginal
Governance'
Keynote address by Paul L.A.H. Chartrand, I.P.C. (Professor
of Law, University of Sasatchewan):
'On
Further Thought: Reflections on the Last Two Decades'
Two Streams, One River: Comparing Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Community-Based Research in Canada
Aboriginal Community-Based Research (CBR) is defined as a set of culturally-appropriate and methodologically-sound processes for research, analysis, and dissemination which empower and benefit participating communities and other stakeholders [1]. In Canada, these research processes have aimed to develop research capacity among communities in order to help prepare effective strategies for health promotion and health maintenance [2]. As a philosophy and paradigm for knowledge discovery and dissemination [3], Aboriginal CBR promotes OCAP principles of ownership, control, access and possession through self-determination applied to research [4]. This paper describes one river’s confluences where Aboriginal and other Community-Based Research streams meet and intertwine.
[1] Health Canada (2002) Community-Based Research. Web Document at URL: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/aids-sida/hiv_aids/federal_initiative/research/community.html
[2]
Myers, T. and D. Allman (1995) La Recherche Communautaire et l'épidémie
du VIH/sida au Canada: une histoire de Partenariat. (Éd. Gaëtan
Morin, Sous la direction de M. Ready, et M.E. Taggart) VIH/sida: Une Approche
Multidisciplinaire. Réflexions et Stratégies Pour Les Professionnels
de la Santé.Montreal: G. Morin Ltée., 589-602.
[3]
Allman, D., Myers, T. and R. Cockerill (1997) Concepts, Definitions and Models
for Community-Based HIV Prevention Research in Canada.
Toronto: HIV
Social, Behavioural and Epidemiological Studies Unit, University of Toronto.
Web Document at URL: http://www.hiv-cbr.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=132
[4] Schnarch, B. (2004) Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession (OCAP)
or Self-Determination Applied to Research: A Critical Analysis of Contemporary
First Nations Research and Some Options for First Nations Communities. Journal
of Aboriginal Health, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 80-95. Web Document at URL: http://www.naho.ca/english/pdf/journal_p80-95.pdf
Good People with Good Things: The Cultural History of Russian and Scottish Trade along the Yukon River
It is a little known fact that the Russian and British Imperial traders ran up against each other in the interior of what is now the Yukon Territory in the middle part of the 19th century. This paper examines the history of encounters between Scottish and Russian tradesmen and their Gwich’in middlemen. Using archival data, as well as some fieldwork data from Ft. McPherson, NWT, the paper will examine the canniness with which Gwich’ins mediated relationships with these two empires.
Two Newspapers, One Solitude: Canada’s First Nations in the 1873 Press
This paper examines coverage of how the two leading newspapers of the late nineteenth century-the staunchly Liberal Toronto Daily Mail (forerunner to the Globe and Mail) and Montreal's assertively conservative Gazette-framed Canada's First Peoples and Treaty Three, struck in 1873. Curiously, despite the frequent vitriol in political squabbles between the two dailies, they agreed closely on the espied inferiorities of Canada's indigenous population and championed the establishment of stern and steady federal suzerainty in Indian country. In this way, the two newspapers aided and abetted Canada's colonial project.
Reconciling Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Perspectives in Aboriginal Literacy Practice
To better understand the contemporary aspect of Aboriginal literacy, one must begin with an understanding of the history of European and Aboriginal relations in terms of colonization and residential schools. As stated in the RCAP report, before Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people can get on with the work of reconciliation, a great cleansing of the wounds of the past must take place. This paper outlines the stages of relationship of the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Canada and how this relationship has impacted literacy concerning Aboriginal people. By acknowledging and owning Aboriginal literacy as a valid, valued and valuable alternate perspective will affirm and strengthen the contribution of Aboriginal Peoples to their own literacy and to the broader society.
Out of the Shadows: The Story of the NGC Haida Crest Pole
In 2003, the National Gallery of Canada reopened its permanent Canadian Collection as Art of This Land – an unprecedented exhibition displaying historical Native works alongside Euro-Canadian ones. Of the 100 Aboriginal artworks exhibited only one, a Haida argillite pole, is owned by the National Gallery. This quietly displayed object represents the Gallery’s entire history of acquisition and representation of Aboriginal art prior to 1986 – a history filled with empty spaces and neglect on the part of an institution whose mandate has traditionally been to build a ‘national’ collection. Does the pole’s presence in the exhibition result finally in its appropriate representation or does its treatment merely magnify its longstanding history of misrepresentation?
The Politics of Accommodation in Winnipeg: The Dynamics Involved in Developing a Policy of Aboriginal Inclusion
This paper will elaborate upon the City of Winnipeg's recent attempts to develop a policy of accommodation stressing the foundation of partnerships with municipal Aboriginal organizations to encourage sustainable community development. Aboriginal urbanization has occurred in Winnipeg and Aboriginal community leaders are now demanding municipal government accountability. The City of Winnipeg responded by embracing Mayor Glen Murray's collaborative partnership model, an approach he claimed would necessitate Aboriginal participation in the development of an urban Aboriginal initiative. This protracted process begun in 2000 has yielded limited results, due in part to Murray's 2004 resignation, resulting in the loss of the plan's most influential advocate. Even so, a handful of city councillors maintain that they are working towards finalizing the process of implementation of the municipal Aboriginal policy. This paper will chronicle and evaluate the policy process while evaluating how in this context the mayor and council envisaged the concept of collaborative partnership.
The Task Force on Museums and First Peoples, A Decade Later: A Case Study of the McCord Museum of Canadian History
In the early 1990s, the Task Force on Museums and First Peoples, a working group jointly sponsored by the Assembly of First Nations and the Canadian Museums Association, gained much attention in the Canadian and international museum worlds. The Task Force report, Turning the Page: Forging New Partnerships Between Museums and First Peoples (1992), outlined a new way of presenting Aboriginal material culture in museums and called for greater mutual respect of Euro-Canadian and Aboriginal approaches to the representation of art and culture in museums. This report, still used as a reference in cultural institutions today, provides recommendations for cooperation and compromise between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal ways of presenting Aboriginal histories and cultures in museums.
More than ten years after the appearance of the Task Force report, my paper examines the steps taken by one institution, the McCord Museum of Canadian History in Montreal, to follow the guidelines set out by this report. Was the McCord Museum successful in making its exhibitions and infrastructure more accessible to Aboriginal audiences and cultural workers? Through archival research and personal interviews with McCord staff and researchers, I consider the progress of the McCord Museum in its efforts to abide by the recommendations of the Task Force on Museums and First Peoples and to navigate the highly politicized obstacle course of the representation of Aboriginal history and culture in an institution with few Aboriginal workers and no Aboriginal board members.
Post-colonial Insight for Success in Self-Government
This paper discusses the difficulties surrounding the establishment of sovereignty at the local First Nation community level by building on the work of Paulo Freire (1970) and Edward Said (1979), as well as more recent debates surrounding aboriginal education and self-government (Battiste, 1998; Schissel, 2003; Snyder-Joy, 1994; Shewell, 2004). The Restoration of Jurisdiction (ROJ) project of the Union of Ontario Indians (UOI) is used to illustrate the potential impact of increased critical awareness and participation for natives at the community level.
First Nations Perspectives and Historical Thinking in Canada
This paper examines Aboriginal interventions into historical thought and writing in Canada since the mid-nineteenth century and considers their impact. The nineteenth-century Anglo-Canadian historical imagination was strongly resistant to the histories produced by Aboriginal writers because they expressed intolerable truths about the colonial destruction of their people. Aboriginal writers since 1969 have been more influential: some of their interpretive frameworks have affected non-Aboriginal historians, especially their focus on colonization, oppression, and injustice. Yet while non-Aboriginal scholars are increasingly aware of distinctive Aboriginal approaches to history, they have not sought to adjust their own chronologies, narrative structures, or epistemologies to accommodate Aboriginal ones.
Critical Indigenous Pedagogy in Social Work Education
“The Seven Fires” alludes to the challenges faced by Aboriginal people to survive and live with colonizing newcomers. Two Aboriginal social work educators present their experiences of “working in circle” at a mainstream university and an Aboriginal college to meet the challenges of living their cultural identities and to bring traditional cultural practices into contemporary Canadian settings during the time of the Seventh Fire. This culture-based teaching and learning method helps non-Aboriginal students to deconstruct the place of racism in their own lives, to better understand Aboriginal perspectives on Canadian history, and to learn to respect Aboriginal cultural practices and issues. This approach also helps Aboriginal students to reclaim and strengthen their own cultural identities and prepares them for leadership positions among Aboriginal communities in Canada.
Aboriginal Form and Content in Prairie Deep Mapping Narratives
This paper addresses four main questions: what a deep mapping narrative is; how it relates to Indigenous ideas; what its value is for decolonizing Canadian prairie space, and what problems might develop in the genre. The Canadian prairie is defined overwhelmingly as agricultural space, and this definition has become naturalized to the extent that it is rarely questioned. This definition works to disenfranchise Aboriginal peoples. I argue that in its parallels to Aboriginal narratives, the deep map offers a site from which to critique agricultural ideology and to begin to advance a more inclusive idea of regional identity.
Minority Rights & First Nations in Canada: An Ill-fitting Pair
In recent years several scholars, most notably Will Kymlicka, have attempted to articulate a vision of Indigenous rights within a liberal minority rights framework. The minority rights framework is seen as offering increased protections than found in cultural rights models, while preventing uncertainty and instability some claim will result from a sovereignty/self-determination model. This paper will note that there are major distinctions between Indigenous rights and minority rights models, which makes minority rights a poor fit. The paper will note that any attempts to articulate First Nations rights should necessarily include the participation of, and perspective of, First Nations peoples themselves. This paper will also argue that recent developments in Canadian law make it possible to argue for a sovereignty/self-determination model, and as such, attempts to invoke minority rights on behalf of First Nations would be detrimental to the aspirations and interests of First Nations.
The Rights of Indigenous Peoples: The Constitutional Issues
The 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Liberties clearly stated that both the federal and the provincial legislations were to recognize aboriginal rights, in relation to which it used two different linguistic expressions: existing rights and treaty rights. The recognition of community rights in Canada brings to light the tensions opposing the unique territorial and cultural features possessed by some groups and the movement favoring a universal expansion of rights in the name of equality. It is possible to show how difficult it is – especially with regard to fundamental rights – to search for a steady balance between the need to unify and the desire to enhance territorial uniqueness. An analysis can also point out how such balance should be strengthened on an institutional level, by virtue of specific constitutional means or formulas. Finally, it may highlight the instances in which social claims have been able to prevail over territorial claims, as well as cases when the rights to territorial identity have been acknowledged by derogating to universal human rights.
Politics of Knowledge and Scale: Indigenous Knowledge, Political Change and Local Participation in Resource Management in the Northwest Territories, Canada
The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which the formal application of indigenous knowledge in resource management in the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada indicates changing dynamics in the social production of space. Moreover, I examine the post-colonial significance of the incorporation of indigenous knowledge in resource management legislation as an indicator of increasing local participation in, and control of, the decision-making process. Using responses from qualitative research interviews, I address the ways in which this increase in local decision-making capacity can be linked to processes of rescaling of intergovernmental relationships and jurisdiction vis-à-vis comprehensive land claims settlements, self-government and devolution of authority over resources from the federal to the territorial government.
Aboriginal Literacy and Education: A Wholistic Perspective that Embraces Intergenerational Knowledge
Embracing literacy from an Aboriginal perspective requires that we understand education in a wholistic way as a life-long process; the intergenerational transmission of knowledge is fundamental to this way of learning. From our Elders we learn our histories, languages, cultures, and how to survive; their stories and experiences teach us who we are, where we come from and guide us in visioning for the future. We learn from our Elders, our families and our communities that Indigenous knowledge is informed by relationships and balance between body, mind, heart and spirit. Acknowledging and owning Aboriginal literacy and education as a valid, valued and valuable alternate perspective will affirm and strengthen the contribution of Aboriginal Peoples to broader Canadian society and towards our own self-determination.
Redefining Rhetorics: Academic Discourse and Aboriginal Students
To Aboriginal peoples, essay writing has symbolized the loss of languages, cultures, and people groups. However, the paradigms of classic Aristotelian rhetoric, as taught in introductory composition courses at university, are being reshaped, especially by theories such as new rhetorical genre theory (Giltrow, 2002, among others) that emphasize the socio-political contexts of knowledge. This shift creates greater opportunity for traditional, Aboriginal discourse conventions to be welcomed as frameworks for new knowledge.
These dynamics, in turn, make way for the process Bakhtin (1981) terms hybridization, the co-expression of “two or more different linguistic consciousnesses, often widely separated in time and social space” (p. 429) and resulting in what has been termed métissage (Zuss, 1997; Chambers, Donald, Hasebe-Ludt, 2002; Donald, 2003), the complementary co-existence of different voices in one place. These processes are especially significant for Aboriginal students who are positioned in both discursive communities as they learn academic discourse.
I outline the traits of classic rhetoric as they are encoded in written academic discourse and give a rationale for redefinition. Then I examine how conventional definitions of discourse are being expanded in a way that allows Native voices valid expression within the academic discursive community. Third, I summarize some of the new understandings and approaches in both discourses that open the way for the hybridization process to occur. These changes mean that university writing is becoming a discourse that connotes gain instead of loss for Aboriginal students.
Representations of Indigenous Sovereignty in Olympic Games Ceremonies Hosted in Canada, the United States of America and Australia
In Sport: a Prison of Measured Time Jean-Marie Brohm asserts: ‘’Most major national liberation movements which have fought for the establishment of nation-states have consciously made use of physical activity and mass sport as a means of creating national identity” (48). Without doubt the biggest and most important mass-sporting event is the Olympic Games. For an event which supposedly champions international cohesion and individual endeavour, the Olympic Games runs very much along nationalistic lines with, for instance, team sports contested by nations and athletes competing in individual events ‘for their country’. The emphasis on nationalistic representation in the Olympic Games is, however, particularly evident in what John Hoberman refers to as the “theatrical qualities of the games” (36) such as the medal ceremonies where national anthems are played and national flags are raised, and the opening ceremony where teams march in national groups led by a flag bearer.
At each Games it is the host nation that has the most significant opportunity for nationalistic representation in the form of the opening and closing ceremonies. The convention is now that these ceremonies tell a celebratory performance of the story of the host nation. These ceremonies, then, provide a valuable means by which stories of nation can be read and analysed, particularly the stories of colonized nations.
Since the revival of the Olympic games in 1894, Olympiads have been hosted by the colonized nations of Canada, the United States of America and Australia a total of twelve times. This paper conducts a comparative analysis of the ceremonies of a selection of these games to consider how representations of Indigenous sovereignty have been included in them. It suggests that while there has been a steady increase in the recognition of indigenous sovereignty in these ceremonies certain silences and elisions remain. This would seem to indicate that, despite this growing inclusion of indigenous stories in the national imaginary, the demands of the dominant (white) story of nation still, and perhaps will always, prevail.
Aboriginal Educational Teaching Experiences: Foregrounding Aboriginal/Indigenous Knowledges and Processes
Aboriginal studies in education is a relatively new phenomenon for many sites of learning in Canadian educational institutions from kindergarten to post-secondary settings, and adult education. This paper deals with how I developed my own academic work (teaching, research, and community service) to advance Aboriginal knowledges and perspectives in education for teachers, university students, and other professionals interested in Aboriginal studies in education as a form of academic and professional development. The ways that Aboriginal/Indigenous knowledges and processes are foregrounded in my teaching is a particular focus of this writing. I contend that students go through a transformative experience as they learn (new knowledge for them) about another aspect of Canadian living (often ignored or misrepresented in curriculum): Aboriginal peoples’ contemporary lived and contextualized experiences; socio-historic experiences with treaty making, oppressive policies, colonialism, and assimilation; needs and aspirations for safeguarding and advancing culturally relevant education, Aboriginal languages, cultures and spiritualities, philosophies, and more. Students learn to integrate this knowledge into their teaching responsibilities and they learn to value this knowledge as a critical aspect of Canadian living.
Investigating the Viability of Off-the-Land Food Practices: Moving Forward Through the Past in the Esketemc First Nation
A multidisciplinary research team was assembled to determine if reemphasizing ‘traditional’ lifestyle patterns (as it relates to dietary and physical activity patterns) enable a viable and sustainable health model for First Nations communities in Canada. The aim of this preliminary study was to characterize food choices of Esketemc community members during the Winter. Food selection of volunteers was quantified using a modified seven-day dietary journal. Based on data collected from 19 participants between the ages of 21-65, 93% of total food items consumed were store bought whereas, only 7% were obtained from off the land sources. Further research will be needed to verify seasonal variations in food choices found within this community.
News Discourse about Aboriginal Self-Governance in 1990s British Columbia
This paper explores representations of aboriginal self-governance issues in the Canadian news media. Methods of critical discourse analysis are applied to newspaper coverage of two “flashpoints” in aboriginal - non-aboriginal relations in 1990s British Columbia:
1. 1991 BC Supreme Court decision in the “Gitxsan-Wet’suwet’en” land
claim (Delgamuukw)
2. 1992 government report recommending increased First Nations control over
child welfare
In recent years, the scope of news discourse about aboriginal autonomy has broadened and the tactics for managing relations with aboriginal people have become more varied and sophisticated. The 1990s news media tended to frame aboriginal self-governance issues and land claims in ways that protected dominant interests and signified aboriginal people as a threat to the status quo. However, discourse has evolved to include a wider range of actors, including aboriginal people and organizations, whose voices were almost entirely excluded in the first half of the twentieth century. While the Canadian news media still offer one-dimensional, and often, stereotypical images of aboriginal people and issues to their audiences, the incorporation of aboriginal voices into news discourse presents opportunities for modifying and even challenging dominant representations of aboriginal self-governance.
Sharing our Stories: Cross-cultural Programming on the Aboriginal Peoples’ TV Network
In his Massey Hall lectures in the Fall of 2003 titled The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative, Aboriginal author Thomas King provides the listener (broadcast on CBC) and the reader (published by House of Anansi Press) with the following storytelling mantra: “The truth about stories is that that’s all we are.” In essence, the claim is made that the totality of oneself and one’s culture is found within one’s stories. This totality of existence or of self-definition is important in regards to how people learn their stories either in the familial setting, through schooling and via the social and cultural practices to which one is exposed. These practices include not only traditional storytelling, but also storytelling that is transmitted in modern technological forms such as film and television.
My paper examines how the traditional oral storytelling art has continued to find its way in a world of cinematic and digital technology. This type of storytelling has a direct impact on the social construction that shapes and, in essence, creates self and cultural identity. With the creation of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) in 1999, a new means of cultural and cross-cultural communication was created. In an attempt to transcend cultural lines, APTN promotes a storytelling theme that is open to all Canadians. APTN acts as a discursive space that opens up new avenues for Aboriginal People to find self-expression on a national stage. The cross-cultural programming theme is the main focus of this paper.
Qadlunaat Qaujimajatuqangit: Inuit Political Integration in the Northwest Territories, 1954-1978
The establishment of a new legislature in Nunavut provided architects of institutional design with an opportunity to create a polity that better reflected realities in the eastern Arctic. At the time, public consultations and policy documents emphasised the importance of continuity rather than change. Since then, however, there has been a groundswell of support for the integration of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or the Inuit way of doing things, in the operation of the legislature and bureaucracy. This paper examines Inuit integration into the political system of the Northwest Territories, with particular attention to the establishment of consensus politics and experiences with voting. The article is grounded, primarily, in archival material from the 1960s and 1970s, but draws also on semi-structured interviews and the database of interviews with elders housed at the Igloolik office of the Nunavut Research Institute.
Unity and Self-Determination: The Meaning of the ‘Mohawk Warrior Flag’
As Indigenous peoples we have found it necessary both to react to and to differentiate ourselves from the beliefs, values and practices that have been imposed upon us through colonization. To make our resistance effective, we sometimes use the tools of the dominant society. The Unity Flag in the incarnation that is commonly known as the “Mohawk Warrior Flag” is one example of this phenomenon. Flown all over the world, it serves as a symbol for the unity of Indigenous peoples, illuminating our discordant relationship with a world that remains dominated by beliefs and values that are alien to us. This paper will introduce a Kanienkehaka perspective on the Flag, reconstructing its history and illustrating how it carries the message of unity-in-resistance for the various peoples who have turned to it for support in their ongoing struggles with colonialism.
Reconciling Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Perspectives Through Negotiations of Modern Treaties
The Supreme Court of Canada has spoken repeatedly of reconciliation as a major organisational principle in Canadian law on Crown/Aboriginal relations. Most recently, the Court in Haida Nation v. BC and Taku River Tlingit v. BC examined the expression of reconciliation when the Crown addresses claims to Aboriginal rights under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.
The author will examine the role of reconciliation in shaping the resolution of claims to land and governance rights through the negotiation of modern treaties in British Columbia. In particular, the author proposes that reconciliation can be expressed as an organising principle in the design and implementation of negotiation processes.
Poetry in the Archives: Armand Garnet Ruffo’s Grey Owl: The Mystery of Archie Belaney and At Geronimo’s Grave
The proposed paper examines archaeological poetics in Armand Garnet Ruffo’s Grey Owl: The Mystery of Archie Belaney and At Geronimo’s Grave. Beginning with an analysis of archaeological imagery and figures in the poetry, the paper develops an analysis of the archaeological approach to poetic form and diction and concludes with a discussion of its implications for First Nations historiography.
Who Brings “The Good Tidings of Peace and Power”? Early Native Interventions in Canadian Legal Discourse
In this paper, I will discuss a newspaper called The Indian put out biweekly through much of 1886 and the “Traditional History of the Confederacy of the Six Nations” published by the Chiefs of the Grand Council of the Six Nations in 1911. Both publications were addressed by Native writers to Canadian audiences of European descent. Both ask why Native peoples lack influence over legal discourse in Canada. Using versions of epideictic (or ceremonial) rhetoric to disarm their white readers, The Indian and the “Traditional History” present a counter-discourse that challenges the nation’s legal system. I will suggest that by introducing this counter-discourse, this strategy intervenes in the language of Canadian law because it asks the most empowered stakeholders of that language to become more aware of the law as a discourse—that is, as a specialized language determined by a specific cultural context that includes assumptions about who should have political power.
Marked by the State: Canada’s Commemoration of Aboriginal History, 1867-2004
State
commemorations -- officially sanctioned memorials and markers -- provide an
indication of a government’s attitude toward the peoples on its land
base. They offer insights into conceptions of national identity and they reflect
how the contributions of different groups are acknowledged. The commemoration
of Aboriginal peoples’ history by the Government of Canada went through
several pronounced phases between the mid-19th century and the end of the 20th
century. In the mid to late 1800s, private and government commemorations largely
ignored Aboriginal histories. Following the federal government’s establishment
in 1919 of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, the HSMBC allocated
a limited number of designations in the field of Aboriginal history for seven
decades; typically on European or Euro-Canadian criteria or that of professional
archaeologists. Beginning in the 1990s, the HSMBC made the commemoration of
Aboriginal history one of three priorities in its programme of national
designations.
Transmitting Cultural Knowledge in Ruby Slipperjack’s Narratives
Ruby Slipperjack – Farrell (1952 - ), an Anishnabe writer and scholar, leads her protagonists [The Owl in Honour the Sun (1987), Danny in Silent Words (1992), and Janine (Channie) in Weesquachak and the Lost Ones (2000)] to recognize the value of the Ojibway culture and perpetuate it as their own. “[Slipperjack] enacts the role of the traditional Native story-teller by telling the story that is instructive and which communicates cultural knowledge to reaffirm and strengthen Native beliefs and values.” [1]
Experiences like that of residential schools, various relationships, different forms of violence and abuse are presented through multiple meanings of silences. Loss of the Ojibway language, loss of a baby, loss for words, as well as conflict between traditional and contemporary Native life in Slipperjack’s open-ended narratives allude to the impact of colonization. “Given the many facets and the ambiguity of silence, the question arises: how can individuals decipher meaning when silence is subject to such diverse interpretations?” [2]
[1] Salat, M. F. “Other Words, Other Worlds: of Ruby Slipperjack.” Intersections:
Issues of Race and Gender in Canadian Women’s Writing. Eds. Vevaina,
Coomi S., and Barbara Godard. New Delhi: Creative Books, 1996. 76.
[2] Horne, Dee. “Listening to Silences in Ruby Slipperjack’s Silent
Words.” Studies
in Canadian Literature 23.2 (1998): 127.
From ‘Forgotten People’ to Aboriginal People: Canada and the Métis
On September 19, 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized the existing Métis right to hunt and the uniqueness of the Métis as an Aboriginal people. While this court decision is without any doubt an historical breakthrough, at the same time the unique contribution of the Métis people is still being contested in Canada (see for example the work of Thomas Flanagan who was also Stephen Harper's campaign director during the last federal elections). One year after Powley, one reads in the Globe and Mail in an article entitled "Métis Designation Divides Small Town" that Métis land claims and ancestry are already testing loyalties in the Saskatchewan community of Buffalo Narrows."
In this presentation, I propose to look at the history of the Métis and how their unique expression of nationalism has helped shaped the Canadian federation. I will look at the gains the Métis have made since 1982 and also at the insidious colonial processes that are still at play even after Powley. Since on the one side the judicial power is using a discourse of existing and meaningful rights and on the other, the federal government, politicians and the general public are using a discourse that minimizes those gains, are we really seeing the renewal of a historic relationship? If a renewed relationship is indeed in the horizon, in whose principles will it be anchored? How will it shape the Canadian federation?
The Woman Underwater: Rhizomatic Body in Inuit Storytelling
In the centre of the traditional belief system and worldview of the Inuit is the myth of Sedna, rendering a story of a proud young female who, after suffering ultimate rejection at the hands of her community, undergoes a metamorphosis into the all-powerful godess of the sea and of the sea mammals. The centrality of the myth arises from the fact that it “raises the profoundest fears of Inuit life”, including “the primal fear of … separation from family, community and the human world” (Seidelman), as well as from its representation of the phenomenon of metamorphosis, of which the female body is both the real and narrative agent, in the manner echoing Deleuze and Guattarri’s notion of rhizome. The story of Sedna has maintained its appeal for contemporary Inuit people, struggling to define their position on the cultural map of Canada today. The paper proposes to argue that such texts as Alootook Ipellie’s subversive short story “The Summit with Sedna, Mother of Sea Beasts” and Cindy Cowan’s eco-feminist play “A Woman from the Sea” document the power of myth to formulate apposite statements about pressing cultural, political and environmental issues which affect the Canadian Inuit realities of the present.
Indigenous Knowledge(s) and Research: Creating Space for Different Ways of Knowing within the Academy
This paper is a theoretical discussion of the link between Indigenous knowledge(s) and research methodology within the Interdisciplinary context of social work and education. The two primary questions of this paper are: “Is there a uniquely Indigenous methodological approach to research?” “What are the conditions within western academic settings that create space for this discussion?” This paper explores how the nature, depth, ways and substance of Indigenous thought impacts Indigenous research practices and explores how Indigenous researchers, having articulated their Indigenous theoretical perspectives and epistemological positioning, are able to find methodologies that are congruent with their worldview, research purpose and motive, and need for accountability to their Indigenous community. Integrated into the discussion is my own emerging research story as Indigenous person, of Plains Cree and Saulteaux heritage, who is currently engaged with academic research. Central to this discussion is the importance of creating space for Indigenous knowledge(s) and research methodologies in decolonizing the academy.
Taking Archaeology to Court: Aboriginal Rights and Title in Mi’kmaq Country
In litigation, Aboriginal groups are required to demonstrate cultural and territorial continuity, usually in terms of demonstrable land use and occupation since ‘time immemorial.’ As a result, archaeological knowledge is often used to both support and contest such claims. Yet to date the archaeological profession has largely overlooked the use of archaeological knowledge as expert testimony in the context of Aboriginal rights and title cases in Canada and elsewhere in the world. This paper, drawing from several legal cases involving the Miawpukek Band (Mi’kmaq) at Conne River, Newfoundland, considers the colonial origins of the archaeological knowledge used in rights and title litigation, and the associated, but largely unrecognized, problems it has created for Mi’kmaq litigants.
Gathering Strength: Canada’s Will to Reconcile, Recover and Repair
Affirmed as Canada’s Aboriginal Action Plan, Gathering Strength sets out to improve the quality of life and self-sufficiency of Aboriginal people. My paper explores the hidden gem of the initiative: the cathartic potential of a government acknowledging past injustices and then creating the space for meaningful dialogue to flourish. Aboriginal response to centuries of abuse has been to deny emotional pain and internalize aggression. The paper’s psychoanalytic approach posits a solution, which lies at the heart of Gathering Strength, namely a mourning process whereby Canadian abuse is honestly acknowledged and discussed. I then examine how indigenous philosophy and Canada’s affinity with multiculturalism provide a gateway for Gathering Strength to ultimately succeed.
A Complex Ecological Framework of Aboriginal Family Resilience
Aboriginal families are often negatively portrayed in the mainstream media: news programs highlight Aboriginal youth crime and academic literature often focuses on the risk factors and health issues that plague the Aboriginal individual, family and community. However, this perspective has done little more than produce inventories of deficits, without illuminating strategies that can assist families and communities who require help to move forward. The purpose of this discussion is threefold: first, to describe the traditional Aboriginal family, precolonization; second, to argue for the saliency of Aboriginal family resilience as a paradigm for research; and finally, to put forward a theoretical framework of Aboriginal family resilience.
Reconciling the Irreconcilable: Indigenous Constitutional Visions, Canadian Constitutional Visions & Cultural Pluralism
Following on the footsteps of the first piece of my current research project on competing constitutional orders - I now seek to understand how two constitutional orders and their contested sovereignties can be reconciled. Acknowledging that the courts have suggested that reconciliation is a constitutional requirement, I seek to determine whether reconciliation is in need possible. In so doing, I begin by framing the issue in terms of competing constitutional orders, then I look to the existing literature to determine if there is an existing vision of reconciliation in Canada which would allow for these contested sovereignties to be reconciled, and I conclude by addressing the possibilities for reconciliation that exist as part of the Constitution Act, 1982.
First Nations' First Thoughts about Aboriginal Rights: A Preliminary Synthesis
My paper will compare the Mi'gmaq, Malécites and Abénakis' conceptions of aboriginal rights, in the form of a progress report on an ongoing project that aims at analysing, from the perspective of legal pluralism, and then comparing the aboriginal rights conceptions of all eleven Nations that live on their territory, now known as Québec . The general trends emerging so far show that, for these three nations at least, territorial rights are paramount but inextricably linked with economic and cultural rights in patterns that differ from nation to nation, most probably influenced by their respective colonial history.
Federal Constitutionalism and Aboriginal Difference
[paper will be delivered in English]
La "question autochtone" en droit canadien est régie par un éventail très large de normes jurdiques. Certaines ont véhiculé, et véhiculent encore, une idéologie colonialiste (par exemple, la Loi sur les indiens); d'autres, au contraire, comportent une incontestable dimension émancipatoire (par exemple, le droit international et, plus spécifiquement, le projet de Déclaration des droits des peuples autochtones); certaines naviguent entre deux eaux (le paragraphe 35(1) de la Loi constitutionnelle de 1982, et la jurisprudence qui lui a donné sens); d'autres, enfin, étouffées pendant longtemps par le positivisme étatique, cherchent aujourd'hui à s'imposer de nouveau (règles produites par et pour les Autochtones). Certaines des normes susmentionnées —et d'autres encore (traités, Proclamation royale de 1763, doctrine des "droits ancestraux", etc.)— enjambent les univers juridiques autochtone et non-autochtone puisqu'elles ont été engendrées par les pratiques et les ententes intervenues entre Amérindiens et Euro-Canadiens au cours de notre histoire.
La coexistence de toutes ces normes rend difficile la solution au problème de la "question autochtone", même si tous s'entendent sur l'abandon nécessaire de la politique colonialiste enchâssée dans la Loi sur les indiens, cette loi qui, malgré plusieurs réformes d'importance, n'en garde pas moins toujours l’empreinte de l'idéologie "civilisatrice" et assimilatrice de ses origines.
Les solutions proposées jusqu'ici pour nous sortir de l'impasse, que ce soit l'approche essentialiste de la Cour suprême du Canada ou, à l'autre extrémité du spectre, le fédéralisme contractuel —"treaty federalism"— préconisé par plusieurs tenants de la cause autochtone, ces solutions, dis-je, comportent toute deux des faiblesses de taille. Après avoir exposé brièvement les difficultés qu’elles posent, je proposerai une troisième avenue : le constitutionnalisme fédéral.
Aux termes de cette approche, le fédéralisme, en tant que principe juridique, est enchâssé dans la Constitution canadienne. Il est à la source de droits et d'obligations pour tous les acteurs fédéraux qui peuvent s'en réclamer. Enfin, compte tenu de sa nature juridique et constitutionnel, les tribunaux ne peuvent se soustraire à l'obligation d'en assurer le respect. Le constitutionalisme fédéral suppose une tentative de définition, dans l'abstrait, des principes constitutionnels inhérents à l'idée fédérale, mais également un examen du contexte historique particulier, et donc contingent, dans lequel ces principes se sont déployés au Canada. Le constitutionnalisme fédéral se fonde sur une conception "organique" par opposition à "formelle" ou "positive" de la Constitution canadienne. Lorsque la perspective organique est adoptée, il devient impossible de nier aux peuples autochtones le statut d'acteurs fédéraux dans l'ordre constitutionnel canadien, ce qui ouvre la porte à la reconnaissance du caractère multinational de l'État fédéral canadien. Enfin, si accepté, le constitutionnalisme fédéral entraîne une série de conséquences en droit positif, conséquences qu'il appartient aux tribunaux de matérialiser.
Canada's Native Languages: Wrongs from the Past, Rights for the Future
This paper asks whether Canada's First Nations have the constitutional right to educate their children in their own languages at public expense. It proposes a five-part, positive answer addressing five sub-issues:
1. how has the teaching of aboriginal languages been governed since Confederation?
2. why should Canada's First Nations have the right to educate their children
in their own languages at public expense?
3. does section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 affirm and constitutionalize
that right?
4. if so, of what value is the constitutional right to First Nations?
5. if not, can this right be nevertheless be recognized by ordinary legislation?
The Northern Challenge: Indigenous Autonomy and the Governance of Nunavut
Nunavut is in the process of attaining more autonomy within the territorial public governance system in Canada’s Eastern Arctic. This process is a result of a combination of factors, including political compromise and the national government’s need to accommodate Inuit interests within Canada’s diverse constitutional ethnography. The rapid evolution of a sub-national entity such as Nunavut towards greater autonomy is also due to the development of the Inuit’s right to self-determination, the growth of their political consciousness and the gradual devolution of powers from Ottawa to Nunavut, including possibilities for increased authority for Nunavummiut and jurisdiction in such areas as the police, judiciary, and, to a lesser extent, foreign affairs and security. By examining the nature of Nunavut’s governance system, I argue that this Arctic jurisdiction is displaying a new form of autonomy which is not captured well by international law. Furthermore, this autonomy is not amenable to abstract legal definitions and can be best comprehended by moving from de facto analysis of autonomy to an understanding of its juridical content. This paper will thus show how public governance in Nunavut merges with Inuit visions of self-governance.
Progress or Regress: A Critical Examination of the Canadian Government’s Shift to ‘Autonomous’ First Nations Child Welfare
There has been increasing consensus that the demands of First Nations peoples of Canada can be met within a framework of group rights accommodation. In response, I explore the legal procedures and practices of a particular form of group rights as they have been developed with regards to child welfare services. While this form of rights is often empowering for the group, these rights may simultaneously bring about negative consequences. Thus, I examine to what extent these rights, generally viewed as “concessions” made by the state to meet the demands of the group, must be evaluated as part of a broader governmental strategy of neo-liberalism.
Professing an Interest in First Nations History: Reflections on Teaching Native/settler Relations in a Canadian University
As an historian interested in Native/settler relations in Canada, I make it a point of including issues of importance to First Nations within the courses I teach on Canadian history. This has often been difficult to do for a number of reasons. Students at this institution show a decided lack of interest in Aboriginal Peoples, (what do they have to do with us?); in my survey courses, I am obligated to cover a broad swath of history in a short period of time, meaning that I have to choose which history to privilege and which to exclude. Finally, given the structure of history as a discipline, I find it difficult to incorporate Aboriginal perspectives on the events I have chosen to include. How does one teach a circle in a discipline that emphasizes linearity?
Certainly, I am not alone in my difficulties and this paper will combine personal experience with scholarly literature, both Aboriginal and non, in order to examine ways in which Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal perspectives within history can be incorporated and respected. It will be guided by theoretical discussions of de-colonization and methodological approaches to teaching.
Life Along the Line: Landscape Contestion and Place Among the Mohawks of Akwesasne
Meanings of place are typically bound up in specific events or acts that, among indigenous peoples, are symbolic of their cultural practices. In many instances the meaning of place and culture are quite inseparable, reflecting landscapes of healing, power, and social relations. In the early half of the 20th century, rivers were highways and borders were zones of uncertainty for the Mohawks of Akwesasne, leading to multiple subjectivities and landscapes of contestation between them and the emerging politics of Canada and the United States. This article provides insight into that landscape in the context of the sweetgrass basket trade between Canadian-based Mohawk basketmakers and American-based trading store owners uniquely situated in the centre of Mohawk territory. An historical overview of borders and boundaries along the St. Lawrence River foregrounds this analysis of multiple subjectivities – as a people dispossessed of their land and river, and as producers of cultural representations that become exploited. Drawn from numerous interviews of Mohawks who lived by and along the St. Lawrence River between 1900 and 1950, the river and borders reflect their places of cultural importance. Competing discourses, however, disrupt the layered relationships that defined the Mohawks.
That Albert Johnson Story: Aboriginal Oral History Inclusion in Canadian Archives
Using the example of the story of Albert Johnson, the Mad Trapper of Rat River, this paper will discuss two related issues: the lack of recorded oral history by Canada’s First Nations in Canadian archives and once deposited into the archival holdings, the inadequacies of the current categorization and copyright laws pertaining to the recordings. Many archives in Canada house document versions of the Johnson story as created by the RCMP and popular media. Few if any Johnson stories can be found in the archives as told by the Gwich’in people who also participated in the events. Issues arise however as to how oral stories opposed to those in literary form can be given the same protection and respect.
Les Amerindiens dans la Litterature Canadienne Française et Québécoise
La coexistence avec les Amérindiens trouble les Canadiens français. D’abord, les colons venus convertir les "Sauvages" eurent la surprise de trouver chez "ces pauvres gens" culture et vertus. Au modèle du "Bon Sauvage" à l’européenne, répond au Canada une image plus nuancée. Puis, séduits et charmés, des coureurs des bois adoptèrent le mode de vie indien. Ensuite, la conquête anglaise fournit aux Canadiens français des revendications douloureusement semblables aux revendications indiennes. La littérature québécoise, hantée par la présence amérindienne, exprime une conscience inquiète. Le Canada doit sa richesse à la coexistence des deux Nations fondatrices. Et la Nation francophone est elle-même enrichie par sa gêne envers les Premières Nations.
The coexistence with First Nations worries the French Canadians. At the beginning,
the settlers who came to Christianize the “Savages” were surprised
to find culture and virtues in “these poor people”. The American
counterpart to the European pattern of 'the Good Savage' is a more shaded picture.
Then the Indian way of life charmed Rangers who embraced it. Later, the English
conquest gave the French Canadian reasons to claim, painfully similar to the
Indian reasons. Quebec literature, haunted by the Aboriginals, shows forth a
worried conscience. Canada owes its specific value to the coexistence of French
and
English speaking
Nations.
And French speaking Nation owes its self value to the unrest it feels
towards the First Nations.
full paper [PDF]
Peace, Order and Good Government: Indian Treaties and Canadian Nation Building
Canada’s sense of identity is, in a large part, created by our geography. However, this geography is also dictated by the history of Canada’s territorial expansion; a relatively peaceful expansion made possible through a series of treaties signed between the Crown authorities and different Aboriginal People. Since the first treaties which granted access to resources and rights to the land, Canada’s geographic expansion has been intimately connected to the Crown’s relationship with North America’s Aboriginal People. First the British, and then Canadian, Crown recognized its role as intermediary between the land hungry settler and various Aboriginal groups. Colonial and Canadian territorial expansion throughout what is now Ontario, the Prairie provinces, British Colombia and the North was largely eased because of the some 70 treaties signed between the Crown and Aboriginal groups. This treaty process went a long way to influence Canadian perception of itself and its relations with Aboriginal people. Because of these treaties, Canada portrays itself as more peaceful, more conciliatory and more fair than the United States policies and expansion which led to conflict and warfare.
Civilizationism
The paper examines civilization theory as a means of justifying the dispossession, subjugation and assimilation of indigenous peoples in colonial settler states. Following an exploration of the historical roots of civilizationist thinking in the history of ideas, the paper turns to a critical examination of Tom Flanagan’s efforts to resurrect and rehabilitate civilizationist thinking in the context of contemporary debates over the future of Aboriginal-state relations in Canada.