Because We Are Indian We are locked into a noble savage myth, crafted by the euro-centric mind and perpetuated by our own misplaced sense of what it means to be Indigenous. Through misrepresentation and misinformation, we have been reduced to lowly stewards of lands that “belong” to the provinces, territories and Canada. The implication of being merely stewards of the colonial Canadian geography means that any real power over the fate of these lands has been somehow taken from us. We now merely attempt to ensure that Canada develops our traditional territory sustainably and responsibly through acts of government crafted by the same colonial system. It’s a dangerous rhetorical path that too many people have eagerly embraced. It’s a quaint anachronism that has been useful in keeping the status quo for too many generations, but we are more than this noble savage, this Na’Vi-like disempowered people of the forests who don’t own but who are merely underdog guardians. Where did this stewardship come from? We had collective dominion over our territories, and while it is not the common Eurocentric ownership model, it is ownership nonetheless. Full stop. Are we marginalized? Definitely. But the marginalization is dangerously perpetuated when it is said the land is not ours; when it is said, the water is not ours; when it is said, what lies beneath and above the ground is not ours. These gifts, in this hemisphere, were given to us to use and to support our societies; hence, to use the language that Canadians can understand, “we are the owners.” I fail to see how our Creator, the same one who gifted us the lands and our existence, would take the land away to legislative conquerors (legislative, as we did not lose our land in the European sense through defeat in war) so that we would suffer the indignities arising from poverty, powerlessness and overregulation. The logical thinking is that if poverty in and among First Nations is as bad as we know it to be; and if poverty is as we know it to be the root cause of so many dire social conditions, then we need to do whatever is necessary for the next seven generations to come to eliminate that poverty. So then, if we own (again, to use language understood in the Canadian context) the natural resources available and abundant within our territories, do we not hold the solution? Why do say we should not obtain wealth through the monetization of our natural resources for the benefit of our children? Obtaining this kind of sustainable wealth would mean all of our students would go to school, the backlog of housing would be eliminated, improving and the maintenance of all our own infrastructure including water and sewer systems and energy production, building our own schools, improving health and the delivery of health care to our people, alleviation of the despair of never having enough of anything and everything. We could look after our own children and save them from apprehension; we could send every youth to any university they would want to go to, seeing a clear and bright future that is not out of reach. We are caught. When it is said we dont own the earth, the air or the water. We are merely monitors of these things on behalf of Mother Earth or on behalf of our children or on behalf of Canada. We allow ourselves to be reduced to stewards of the land with vast wealth that is not ours nor that we are permitted to touch or use (there is differing views whether it is a government that forbids us or it is our activists that misinterpret our Creators guidance). There is an overwhelming interpretation of natural resource monetization as being equal to eco-terrorism, irresponsibility and degradation. Who says we must or will manage the resources with greed, or irresponsibly, or as others have done? Why do we doubt our ability to carry our teachings and good faith into this sector as well? When did we lose the confidence that we would be able to lead and excel and still be Anishinabe people? We are continuously engulfed by a force-fed ‘understanding’ – one that is upheld by government as well as reinforced by our own people- that dictates that our lot in life is to be poor, to suffer, to be uneducated, to be jailed, to be unemployed, to be exploited, to be diabetic, to be hungry, to be homeless, and to be killed all the while they rail against the indignity of poverty. We hear from our own people that this is how a real Indian must be, and that if one strays from this caricature, if one is successful, or wealthy, or educated, then they are no longer a ‘real Indian’. We should not and cannot be beggars in our own land any longer. Why do we have to be poor? Because we are Indian? That is such a disrespectful lie; disrespectful to those who came before us and survived displacement, starvation, residential schools and legislative subjugation. Disrespectful to us, our children and our Creator. This must end before we ruin another generation through this collective imperative to even allow marginalization by anyone, especially our own people. We are an incredibly diverse, accomplished and strong people and we excel in so many fields and sectors; those traditional to our nations and those brought to us from others. We are leaders and we are leading change in so many ways. Their success is even more incredible considering the poisonous envy and outrage of those who see betterment and success as turning one’s back on what it is to be “a real Indian”. As Indigenous people, we have developed and perfected survival and adaptation skills; we have survived genocide on an unprecedented scale. Part of surviving is the ability to live successfully, therefore part of being indigenous is the ability to be successful as a matter of cultural existence. Why then are we so resistant to success; why then are we so quick to demean and attack those among us who are successful? Is that not the true spirit of what it is to be “a real Indian”? The barter and trade of our past is alive and well today in the form of currency. We barter our time for money, and we trade the money for goods that we need to provide for our families. Why then do we not want our children to have money? How do some of these activists, from their laptops and city street protests, think that it is for the well-being of our nations that we not participate in development when the community will and desire is there for those that choose, one that will feed children and educate new leaders. Do they really believe that we need to continue to embrace poverty because we are Indian? Why do we not want our children to be educated? Some members of the community say that if you are educated and if you have a role that is considered high level within the government or judicial system, then you are elite, often even those who are themselves in university or with degrees of their own. The naysayer who has a degree or two saying that the Honourable Murray Sinclair is elite because he is a judge conveniently forgets, or simply has no clue, that to become a judge requires intelligence and hard work and years in school. It didn’t happen because of luck or happenstance. It’s not a jackpot to be won. Envy often cloaks itself in lies. Lies first told by priests and nuns and government after government, and then lies people tell to themselves to maintain and sustain the human frailty of envy. Slagging the success of our people and condemning our leaders and the successful? What purpose does that serve? Our children need change; what better role models than their own people who are the makers of change? The envious (and their self-loathing) would have us believe that an Alwyn Morris, or an Albert Rock, or a Carey Price, or a David Tuccaro, or a Tom Longboat, or an Angela Chalmers, or a Susan Laflesche, or a Maria Tallchief, or a John Kim Bell are not worthy of emulation by our children? We need to hold up our greats, and honour their contributions instead of questioning their “real Indianness”. In fact, I would argue, that by virtue of their success, they are the “most Indian” one could be. Perhaps they are too successful or contemporary? How about: Pontiac? Tecumseh? Geronimo? Osceola? Sequoiah? Joseph Brant? Wovoka? Poundmaker? Crowfoot? These are leaders that our children should know and remember. They all had followers and were recognized and respected to this day as leaders, when did we cease to follow guides or chiefs? These “real Indians” proclaim that our history has been bereft of leaders who had community followers. This is a patent lie. That we have never had hierarchal societies and we were some horizontal societal organizational chart is a lie. That we never had the wealthy or the successful within our community and Elder-led societies is a lie. That our nations were all equal in all aspects of our respective civilizations is also a lie. Some nations were wealthy in whatever commodity was deemed to be indicative of wealth. Some within our nations had less than others and others had more. Our nations were neither generic nor homogenous and to have this modern-day revision of history serves no real purpose. And we need to remember that tradition is not history; those are separate but intertwined concepts. We cannot live historically, though we can continue to live traditionally. Our history does not have to be repeated or lived; instead, it must be remembered and honoured for exactly what it was. Our nations warred. Our nations had captives and slaves. But our nations also had diplomats and statesmen. Our nations also had educators, teachers, caregivers, healers, and leaders. Our nations had borders. Our nations have histories. Our nations have governments. We have always been Nations. We appear to have boisterously embraced the colonial notion of imposing one’s will on others through propaganda, misinformation, denial of truth, and manipulation of the past. If that sounds eerily like an Orwellian dystopia, it is exactly how some of the less-community minded and self-serving activists are gathering their strength and imposing their will on the First Nation populace. We have been marginalized and denied our place for so long, that these destructive notions appeal to a growing number of people who need something to believe in. If you need something to believe in, believe in this; ending poverty; believe in a brighter future; believe in First Nations having a free and open society. Lets believe in choice and free will. Lets end lateral violence. And lets end imposition of will from within and from outside our nations. If we make the room for change, if we embrace our leaders and give our children opportunity, we will succeed. Because we are Indian. S. Michael Fontaine, Vice-President Ishkonigan Consulting & Mediation
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 04:43:27 +0000
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