Surviving Canada : Indigenous Peoples Celebrate 150 Years of Betrayal

Description

Surviving Canada: Indigenous Peoples Celebrate 150 Years of Betrayal (ARP Books) is a collection of elegant, thoughtful, and powerful reflections about Indigenous Peoples’ complicated, and often frustrating, relationship with Canada, and how—even 150 years after Confederation—the fight for recognition of their treaty and Aboriginal rights continues. Through essays, art, and literature, Surviving Canada examines the struggle for Indigenous Peoples to celebrate their cultures and exercise their right to control their own economic development, lands, water, and lives. The Indian Act, Idle No More, and the legacy of residential schools are just a few of the topics covered by a wide range of elders, scholars, artists, and activists. Contributors include Mary Eberts, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Leroy Little Bear.

Informations

• Publié par: Arbeiter Ring Publishing
• Date de parution: 15 mai 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781927886014
• Langue: English

Extrait

Copyright 2017 Kiera L. Ladner and Myra J. Tait
ARP Books (Arbeiter Ring Publishing)
205-70 Arthur Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Treaty 1 Territory and Historic M tis Nation Homeland
Canada R3B 1G7
arpbooks.org
Cover design by S bastien Aubin
Interior design and layout by Relish New Brand Experience
Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens on paper made from 100% recycled post-consumer waste.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
This book is fully protected under the copyright laws of Canada and all other countries of the
Copyright Union and is subject to royalty.
My Country tis of Thy People You re Dying Buffy Sainte-Marie

ARP Books acknowledges the generous support of the Manitoba Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Province of Manitoba through the Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Book Publisher Marketing Assistance Program of Manitoba Culture, Heritage, and Tourism.
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Surviving Canada : indigenous peoples celebrate 150 years of betrayal / editors, Kiera L. Ladner, Myra Tait.
ISBN 978-1-894037-89-1 (softcover).- ISBN 978-1-927886-01-4 (epub)
1. Native peoples--Canada--Social conditions. 2. Native peoples--Canada--Government relations. 3. Canada--Race relations. 4. Native peoples--Canada. I. Ladner, Kiera L., 1971-, editor II. Tait, Myra, editor
E 78. C 2 S 915 2017 971.004'97 C2017-901212-6
Table Of Contents

Surviving Canada: Indigenous Peoples Celebrate 150 Years of Betrayal
Kiera L. Ladner and Myra J. Tait

Acknowlegements

Nokomis and the Law in the Gift: Living Treaty Each Day
Aaron Mills

Reconcile Your State of Mind
Rebecca Thomas

Don t Read the Comments: The Role of Modern News Media in Bridging the Divide Between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous People in Canada
Waubgeshig Rice

Canada is a Pretend Nation: REDx Talks-What I Know Now About Canada
Leroy Little Bear

Anthem
Erin Freeland

Inclusion is Just the Canadian Word for Assimilation: Self-Determination and the Reconciliation Paradigm in Canada
Rachel Yacaa a George

The Path to Self-Determination
Natan Obed

Can Canada Retrieve the Principles of its First Confederation?
Peter H. Russell

Celebrating Canada s 150 th Birthday: A Play in One Act
Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox

Kapyong and Treaty One First Nations: When the Crown Can Do No Wrong
Myra J. Tait

Canada, I can cite for you 150
Christie Belcourt

To Honour the Lives of Those Taken From Us : Restor(y)ing Resurgence and Survivance through Walking With Our Sisters
Shalene Jobin and Tara Kappo

Lament for Confederation
Dan George

Language Rights as Aboriginal Rights: From Words to Action
Karen Drake

Canada s History Goes Beyond 150 Years
Doug Cuthand

Forgetting to Celebrate: Genocide and Social Amnesia as Foundational to the Canadian Settler State
David B. MacDonald

Kahw :tsire: Canada 150 Through The Lens of Mohawk Motherhood
Kahente Horn-Miller and Waneek Miller

Canada: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Jeff Corntassel and Christine Bird

Her
Jana-Rae Yerxa

Because It s 1951: The Non-History of First Nations Female Band Suffrage and Leadership
Mary Jane Logan McCallum and Shelisa Klassen

My Country tis of Thy People You re Dying
Buffy Sainte-Marie

Reconciliation on Trial: Evaluating What Reconciliation Means in the Context of Aboriginal Justice
David Milward

Got Tolerance?
Felicia Sinclair

Drinking Dispossession: Shoal Lake 40, Winnipeg, and the Making of Canada
Adele Perry

Refusing Canada
Eric Ritskes

O Canada: A country cannot be built on a living lie.
James (Sa ke j) Youngblood Henderson

It s Not Your Fault
Raven Davis

Unfinished Business: Bringing the M tis into Confederation
Janique Dubois and Kelly Saunders

By Any Means Necessary: Canada 150-No Reason To Celebrate as an Onkweh n:we Peoples
Ellen Gabriel

Canada s Three Sovereignties and the Hope of Indigenous-Led Populism
Jobb Arnold

Magic Anniversary Syndrome
Ravi de Costa

CANADA PROBLEM
Robert Jago

Building Relations: Confederation Treaties and Settler Obligations Today
Michael Asch

Let s Talk Treaty
Rob Houle

The Natives Are Restless: Indigenous Epistemic Disobedience and Thinking Ourselves Free
Hayden King and Erica Violet Lee

Letter to the Minister
Kurtis Schmitz

Encountering Memories on the Restigouche River
Fred Metallic and Amy Chamberlin

150 Years and Waiting: Will Canada Become an Honourable Nation?
Kiera L. Ladner

WE WILL HELP EACH OTHER BE GREAT AND GOOD
Louise Mandell

The Case of Invisible Racism Disappearing Patriarchy
Helen Knott

Adopting and Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Canada s Existential Crisis
Sheryl R. Lightfoot

Indigenous People Are Not the Ghosts of History : By honouring treaties and the rights they bestow, Canada can go a long way toward restoring pride, respect, and dignity to Indigenous people
Leonard Flett with Nicole Letourneau

Editors and Contributors
Surviving Canada
Indigenous Peoples Celebrate 150 Years of Betrayal
Kiera L. Ladner Myra J. Tait
Confederation-the grand event that we are called to celebrate in 2017. But what, exactly, are we celebrating? Canada 150 commemorates the founding of Canada in 1867, being the political agreement that resulted in the union of two founding nations ; This initial union of four provinces began the vision of creating a federal nation-state, that would eventually effect dominion over the northern part of North America.
Today, what is lacking in this myopic vision is space for a response from the peoples of this land, and moreover, a passionate response from those people who believe Canada can and must do better. In the chapters that follow, our contributors have set out a challenge. This is not a history lesson for the faint of heart, for this book is a challenge that requires a response- your response. Any reader expecting reminiscences from the era of the romantic stoic Indian -we direct you to the fiction section of your nearest bookstore. What follows is a call for Canadians to roll up their sleeves (not just the rim), consider whose land they occupy (not just sing about our native land ), and understand that those cherished symbols of Canadian identity were embossed on to nations that were already here.
From the outset, Indigenous peoples were completely excluded from the meetings that led to the creation of Canada. As well, given that Indigenous peoples were assumed to be a dying race -through eradication or assimilation by agencies such as residential schools-the only real concern of John A. MacDonald, George Brown, George- tienne Cartier, et al. at the conferences in Charlottetown, Qu bec City, and London, England was how to implement the control and removal of Indigenous peoples from their lands, and to oversee their termination.
Truly, the only real thought Indigenous peoples were given was the small matter of which level of government-federal or provincial-would hold jurisdiction over Indigenous peoples and their lands, until, of course it was no longer relevant.
Despite considerable effort and resources directed toward the goal of emptying the land, Indigenous peoples did not die off.
In 1989, Georges Erasmus, then the Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, asked this question. He participated in a committee convened by the federal government to advise on how Canada should mark both its 125 th birthday and the 500th anniversary of the crossing of Columbus.
Erasmus used these events to question assumptions about Canada s history of injustice to Indigenous peoples.
With an impassioned, rhythmic refrain-occasionally angry-Erasmus asked the country, What are we going to celebrate? 1 His answer was poignant, saying there is nothing to celebrate for Indigenous people in Canadian nationhood -unless one wants to celebrate the death of languages, an unemployment rate of 90%, a seemingly endless string of unfulfilled treaties and land negotiations, or simply the lack of basic human rights and opportunities for Indigenous peoples. 2
Erasmus was prescient, too, noting that Canada s French/English problem wouldn t be the problem unless Indigenous peoples concerns were taken seriously. Only a few months later, the resistance at Kanehsat :ke-aka The Oka Crisis -began.
Although he believed Canada could do better and serve as an example to the world, Erasmus nonetheless concluded that, I don t think that we have a solitary thing [to celebrate] unless we are going to do something different in the future. 3 Sadly, things are not so different today in Indian country , as many of the articles and stories included herein attest. The situation has actually worsened on most reserves, and for many communities, at least 50 per cent of their members live in cities, separated from their land and sometimes alienated from their culture. Thus, we find ourselves echoing Erasmus call to action, It s really time that the European people and their decedents, and the rest that are here-that are now Canadians-seriously begin to address the basic relationship that they have with this land and the people that were here first. 4 The