Does Anyone Know About How The Aboriginal People Of Canada Have Been Treated By The Canadian Govt?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

With the emphasis last night at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics on the Native/Nsations/Tribes, I realized I was ignorant about the history of Canada and their aboriginal population, ...btw...their use of aboriginal instead of Indians/Native-Canadians kind of blows me away.

I would love it if anyone can share their knowledge of this. Thanks in advance!

Ommmmmmmmm :) :hi:

[Electric Monk]

1. lmgtfy

http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=history+canada+aboriginal+people

http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginals
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/aboriginals/faqs.html

[frazzled]

6. LOL, I didn't know that existed

I'm going to have to use that service myself sometimes in responding to queries. Snap.

[uncle ray]

23. please don't.

if everybody googled everything, we would never have actual conversations about such topics. yes, everybody knows you can google something and read as much or as little as you want about it, but is of little influence on others. a post here draws others into the discussion and makes more people aware and involved.

[frazzled]

27. There would still be plenty to talk about ...

if people did a little research before posing a question. In fact, the conversation would be a lot deeper and richer and more satisfying. I'm not saying this applies to this particular OP: it's a good question. But it could have been a better question, perhaps, if they'd boned up for 2 minutes and then asked a bit more specifically about treatment of aboriginal peoples in Canada.

But I marvel sometimes at the questions people pose here that are very narrow and could be answered by a simple google first. Like, "what time does such and such start?" Even when there are a dozen threads already discussing the event already in existence. At other times, the issue is that people have not bothered to do a few minutes research on the authors of an editorial or blog post they are passing on. Then, to their embarrassment, they have to be told by other posters that the piece comes from an extreme right-wing source. Always check your sources, always count to ten before asking a question to which the answer could easily be found ... and then ask interesting and provocative questions, like the one that has been posed in this thread.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

54. I actually did a search for about 10 minutes before posting this. I unfortunately

used the wrong search terms on Yahoo search and came up with history sites on the Nations that didn't go into what I was looking for. The responses that I have received so far from my fellow DUers are incredibly helpful (as is yours) and it gives me a very good starting place.

[roguevalley]

83. There is a lot of suicide in the villages out on the Hudson Bay. I

remember a tidal wave of them and everyone was floored. :(

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

7. Thank you for your links and especially to the cbc. It's a good starting point. I just read

their article on the Native Rights Movement. It seems that they are currently up shit creek with Harper as PM.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/aboriginals/native-rights-movement.html

[PDJane]

11. Frankly, we're all in the same position

With Harper as PM. Think Bush with Brains.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

12. I'm so sorry to hear that.

[eppur_se_muova]

98. Bush with brains? Does - not - compute :smokefromears: nt

[frazzled]

2. Aboriginal simply means

"inhabiting or existing in a land from the earliest times or from before the arrival of colonists; indigenous; see note at NATIVE"

I also heard them called "Founding Peoples" (as well as "First People") last night, which I thought was a cool expression.

When I've been to Canada (eastern: Toronto or even Montreal), I've noticed that tribal arts and culture are everywhere evident, in museums and stores.

[Dappleganger]

36. I like 'First People'...

and the settlers plus their descendants should be called 'Party Crashers.'

[MellowDem]

80. There is no such thing as "first peoples"

in the literal sense. Humans were around 11,000 years before the Europeans arrived. They came over in successive waves of immigrations as part of different tribes, and I highly doubt that once they settled in one place, they never moved on for 11,000 years or weren't displaced by other arriving tribes. Everyone in the world is a "party crasher", as you would call it.

[Puzzler]

96. The official term is "First Nations"

[PDJane]

3. The answer is 'badly'

Very, very badly. Read about the residential schools. It is a chapter about which we have nothing but shame.

[G_j]

14. I heard some terrible stories about the schools

and 'suspicious' deaths of school children.
Is that what you read?

[PDJane]

61. among other things,

including physical and sexual abuse, demanding that the children not speak their own language, and removing the children from their families for long, long periods.....whether they or their families wanted that or not. They were also force-fed the Christian religion, which is one of the things that is beyond decency.

[mitchum]

4. That's what I always want to ask good ol' Neil Young whenever I hear his "Southern Man"

[Oregone]

21. Ah, they lynched natives up in Canada, enslaved them, and claimed moral righteousness all the while?

And years later, *during* a Civil Rights movement many opposed, they continued to celebrate their history? Seems like good material for a song at the time.

Its tough to quantify "bad" objectively, but thats hardly fair

He also wrote Cortez the Killer

[mitchum]

22. Are there degrees of evil?

[Oregone]

26. Is there evil?

I do tell you, that if I had the choice of experiencing hardships as a native in Canada, or an African America in the dirty South (anytime before the 1970's when the song was written), Id choose the former with reluctance.

But we don't get to choose in life. There are too many tragic victims.

But your shot at Neil Young also seemed to neglect the active conditions at the time the song was actual written

[mitchum]

28. "Seems like good material for a song at the time"...

Neil the careerist certainly would agree with that statement.
His knee jerk blanket condemnation was rather wrong-headed. And I believe that was why Mr Van Zant so effectively handed him his ass.
Amazing how an "ignorant cracker" was able to see the subtleties.
For the record, I like LOTS of Young's work.

[Oregone]

35. "Mr Van Zant so effectively handed him his ass"

Because they wrote a poppy song for the masses?

"In Birmingham they love the governor
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you? "

Apparently not

[mitchum]

40. Apparently, recognizing subtlety is not your strong suit either, is it?

[Withywindle]

87. Song for song is the best answer

And the Drive-By Truckers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive-By_Truckers) wrote the definitive song about this nonexistent "feud," IMO


Church blew up in Birmingham
Four little black girls killed for no goddamn good reason
All this hate and violence can't come to no good end
A stain on the good name.
A whole lot of good people dragged threw the blood and glass
Blood stains on their good names and all of us take the blame

Meanwhile in North Alabama, Wilson Pickett comes to town
To record that sweet soul music, to get that Muscle Shoals sound

Meanwhile in North Alabama, Aretha Franklin comes to town
To record that sweet soul music, to get that Muscle Shoals sound

And out in California, a rock star from Canada writes a couple of great songs about the
Bad shit that went down
"Southern Man" and "Alabama" certainly told some truth
But there were a lot of good folks down here and Neil Young wasn't around

Meanwhile in North Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd came to town
To record with Jimmy Johnson at Muscle Shoals Sound
And they met some real good people, not racist pieces of shit
And they wrote a song about it and that song became a hit

Ronnie and Neil Ronnie and Neil
Rock stars today ain't half as real
Speaking there minds on how they feel
Let them guitars blast for Ronnie and Neil

Now Ronnie and Neil became good friends their feud was just in song
Skynyrd was a bunch of Neil Young fans and Neil he loved that song
So He wrote "Powderfinger" for Skynyrd to record
But Ronnie ended up singing "Sweet Home Alabama" to the lord

And Neil helped carry Ronnie in his casket to the ground
And to my way of thinking, us southern men need both of them around

Ronnie and Neil Ronnie and Neil Rock stars today ain't half as real
Speaking their minds on how they feel
Let them guitars blast for Ronnie and Neil

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E3GyW7ZeNA&feature=related

Patterson Hood, the front man, is the son of David Hood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hood), who was a session bass player at Muscle Shoals studios in the 60s and 70s. Aretha recorded there. So did the Stones. For the record, as far as Muscle Shoals history goes, Merry Clayton, a black woman, is the unifying electrifying backup voice on both "Gimme Shelter" and "Sweet Home Alabama."

Southern music is complicated. And Ronnie Van Zant was no racist; he just objected to some random Canadian dude claiming all Southern white men were racists based on some evening news hour coverage.

[Zomby Woof]

91. Thank you

"Ronnie and Neil" is one of my very favorite songs of all time.

One fact overlooked about "Sweet Home Alabama" is that it was as much a tribute to the "Swampers" (Ronnie's nickname for the Muscle Shoals band, where Skynyrd recorded their first major demos), as it was a good-natured dig at Neil and others.

As for Ronnie's views on race, look no further than his song "The Ballad of Curtis Loew". It opened side 2 on the album from which "Sweet Home Alabama" opened side 1. Perfect symmetry.

[Withywindle]

92. You're welcome.

It really is all about the Swampers, even in that song,

"They pick me up when I'm feeling blue"

Me too.

I love "The Ballad of Curtis Loew," It's really about how intertwined black and white culture really is in the South.

I'm a mixed white/Latina girl from Virginia, and that recent post about the DC chef who wanted to serve fried chicken, collard greens, biscuits and cornbread for Black History Month? I grew up eating that too! It's not racist, it's Southern culture food - and Southern music, be it R&B, blues, jazz, rockabilly, country, bluegrass, or old-time, is the product of white and black people together. Old-time hillbilly music is the result of the pairing of the fiddle (from Europe, especially Scotland and Ireland) and the banjo, which is an adaptation of an African instrument!

As a Southern Highlands girl, this is the Skynyrd song that moves me the most: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_I_Can_Do_Is_Write_About_It

I love the Blue Ridge Mountains of SW VA and south central WV. I grew up there. I took my first awareness of mortality lying on my back in the woods, and I was OK with it as long as these ancient landscapes that had been there long before I was born would still be there long after I was gone.

Anyone who wants to destroy those hills and woods is my undying enemy.

[Withywindle]

93. I'm sorry for my rant

Southern music and culture is an emotional issue for me.


I'm an Appalachian-American who stays up nights thinking about Blair Mountain, which is an endangered historic site:

http://www.friendsofblairmountain.org/


(Watch John Sayles' 'Matewan' to see the historic importance)

And yeah, all my schoolmates revered Lynyrd Skynyrd, including the black kids. Can we get over the racial issues long enough to understand that some of the oldest mountains in the world are under threat, and there are few advocates for them because the people who live there are mostly elderly and poor?

[Zomby Woof]

99. No need to apologize!

Although born in southern CA, my first American ancestors settled in the Tidewater VA region at the dawn of the 18th century. I grew up in the outskirts of Chattanooga TN (a state where my roots run back more than 170 years), and bringing things full circle, lived in Tidewater myself for many years. Like most settlers of the time, my ancestors were dirt poor, and moved frequently, gradually heading westward towards the Appalachians of North Carolina and Tennessee. By the way, I weighed in on that southern food thread, very pointedly. :-)

As the DBT's say: Stay out of the way of that southern thing!

Best wishes with your efforts regarding Blair Mountain. :toast:

[Withywindle]

100. My background is so conflicted.

My father is from Baltimore originally, but he became a Park Ranger because he loved nature so much.

My mother was a Brazilian foreign student. They met at Zion, eloped to Grand Canyon, gave birth to me at Mesa Verde and raised me on the Blue Ridge Parkway in southwestern Virginia.

Dad was a Park Ranger and Mom got work as a Public School teacher. I feel outclassed because they have pensions and I don't - I wrangled my talent for writing into a journalism career in Chicago in the 90s....

but that ain't no career anymore. They're selling the house I grew up in and moving to a smaller one in NC. That bothers me. I'd hoped to inherit my childhood home someday, and live in it when I get old and go out to the bluegrass jams. But no. They can't afford it anymore and neither can I. :(

(Edit: the gist, I am a child of nature, and I mostly care about THE LAND.)

[Zomby Woof]

89. Mr. Van Zant was a major fan of Young and Jimmy Carter

He loved Neil, even wore a "Tonight's The Night" t-shirt just to get the point out there. "Sweet Home Alabama" was written with tongue firmly in cheek, knowing full well the Watergate line would get a rise out of the same crowd who held blanket prejudices against southerners (which shows that nothing has changed, looking at how the so-called liberals on DU love to bash the fuck out of southerners every few days - I love to press their buttons too, because sanctimonious hypocrisy is fun to mock). But he was no Nixonite. He enthusiastically supported Carter's candidacy in 1976, and raised money for his campaign through benefit concerts. His more serious songs weren't exactly conservative screeds - check out "Things Going On", "Lend A Helping Hand", "All I Can Do Is Write About It", and "Saturday Night Special" just for starters. Those songs take on the government's neglect of inner city poverty, the waste of life in Vietnam, environmental degradation, overdevelopment, and handguns. Need I mention that Neil himself loved Van Zant and "Sweet Home Alabama"? I even have a t-shirt of Neil wearing a Skynyrd t-shirt.

In other words, "Sweet Home Alabama" defended Wallace and Watergate about as much as Warren Zevon endorsed murder and necrophilia by writing "Excitable Boy". It's called writing from another POV in order to make a point. Or better yet, as Skynyrd bassist Leon Wilkeson put it, "We supported Wallace about as much as your average American supported Hitler."

[Zomby Woof]

86. Post rec'd

This is the same brick wall we ran into the other day isn't it?

[alfredo]

59. There's a movie called "the Black Robe" that talks about early missionaries

in Canada.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Robe-Lothaire-Bluteau/dp/1573623903/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1266089046&sr=8-2

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

A good imposed on another becomes an evil.

[Captain Hilts]

5. Lousy. nt

[SpiralHawk]

55. The Canadians have broken or violated just about every treaty ever written

with the aboriginals -- think it's about 400.

The USA has a perfect record of faithlessness, too -- having broken or violated every single freaking treaty entered into with various native nations. A perfect record of broken trust.

That's a mighty heap of krappy karma.

[heli]

8. They weren't given smallpox-infected blankets

but otherwise they have been treated pretty badly. Overt violence is rare, but discrimination is still rampant especially in the private sector.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

15. Thank you and welcome to DU!

:hi:

[heli]

17. Thanks!

:)

[Oregone]

20. Were some of their villages surrounded and slaughtered by the army?

I'm getting the impression Canada does occupations pretty half-assed

[Posteritatis]

79. We mainly outlawed FN cultures up until the seventies and eighties in various places

Doesn't have the same volume as firearms, per se, but the length those policies lasted may well make up for it in vileness.

[EFerrari]

9. The Olympic Resistance Network is led by indigenous people.

The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place in Vancouver & Whistler, on unceded Indigenous land, from February 12-28 2010. Over the past seven years, there has been a groundswell of opposition to the Games. This began in 2002 when members of the St'at'imc and Secwepemc Nations filed a submission with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to oppose the bid.

(snip)

The ORN supports the international resolution passed by over 1500 Indigenous delegates at the Intercontinental Indigenous Peoples Gathering in Sonora, Mexico to “boycott the 2010 Olympic Games” based on Resolution #2 of the Gathering which states “We reject the 2010 Winter Olympics on sacred and stolen territory of Turtle Island–Vancouver, Canada”. Based on this call, our organizing as natives and non-natives alike is largely being done under the slogan of "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land".

http://olympicresistance.net/content/about

8 Reasons to Boycott 2010 Olympics
http://vimeo.com/4872922

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

10. Wow! Thank you for this! I'll watch the video later on my desktop, and

:hi: :hug:

[EFerrari]

30. Nice to see you!

:hi:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

38. .....

:)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

34. The video is very powerful and is a must see. Here we go again with another

dichotomy. You have the sport competitions which are being done by athletes for in most cases, the joy of it, and then behind the scenes you have the greedy puppet masters leaving a wake of destruction. So what else is new?

:grr:

[EFerrari]

57. Amy ran a segment on the Olympics which was done by an indy

in BC. He described it as yet another instance of public funds being funneled into private hands.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/2/12/olympics

(Video, audio, transcript at link.)

This problem exists wherever the Olympics are held but it's especially problematic (and outrageous) when held in cities that have big underserved populations like Vancouver does as outlined in the vid you saw earlier.

Watching the dances last night that seemed to celebrate native cultures was sort of awful because it's lipstick on the piggery of the corporations who benefit from the games at the expense of the local, vulnerable population. ;(

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

70. Thanks for the link to Democracy Now. Going to click on it shortly but must

add before I do.... The reason I needed to start this thread was to see if the opening ceremonies emphasis and "repect" for the First Nations was real, which then made me wonder about our history in regard to our Native-Americans and theirs. I have become such a cynic which really conflicts with my inner spirit, which is truly optimistic. I have to go and give myself a hug now! lol!

[EFerrari]

72. We share an inner conflict.

:rofl:

Or, another way to see is, that no matter how much money Coca Cola puts up to hide this valuing of the people, it didn't work because we're talking about it. :)

[Spazito]

76. Very true!

I was very conflicted watching the opening last night. On the one hand, the reality of Canada's treatment of First Nations, Inuit and Meti was and continues to be shameful and honouring their culture in the Ceremony was more lip service than a recognition of their true value but, on the other hand, the more the world learns about First Nations' culture and place in our history the more likely it will be that their concerns will be understood and supported and that can only be a good thing, imo.

Without the focus on First Nations, Inuit and Meti threads like this, questions like those posed by the OP poster would be much less likely to be asked.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

82. lol!

[SidDithers]

13. Poorly...

it's an uncomfortable part of our history.

I'd like to think it's getting better, and I hope last night was another step in the right direction.

Sid

[time_has_come]

16. What are you looking for?

There is a long history of mistreatment. The residential school system is one of the biggest shames inflicted on aboriginal people. Aboriginal is the term used in Canada to describe First Nations, Metis, and Inuit. It encompasses them all.
Many First Nation communities suffer with poverty and inadequate services of all kinds today. That is an ongoing issue. And if you asked the Dakota people they'd tell you they've been excluded from land claim treaties because Canada considers them refugees arriving after confederation.

There has been some steps in the right direction in recent years. Reconciliation and compensation to victims of residential schools, for one. Greater attention to substance abuse issues on some remote reserves has helped bring help and resources, in some cases.
It's a painfully slow process. Canada has a real racism problem in regards to aboriginals, especially towards First Nations. People will complain that "Indians" are handed everything on a silver platter...and that we shouldn't be forced to pay for the sins of our ancestors against them. What those people don't realize is that many of the sins are very recent, and young adults today are living with the legacy, and sometimes the cycle, of abuse against their parents.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

18. This is very informative and I thank you for your input and insight. From all appearances,

at the opening ceremony last night, it seemed that the Nations were held in high esteem. This really saddens me.

[time_has_come]

88. They are held in very high esteem by most Canadians, I believe. There are a loud minority though....

...who see them as burdensome complainers with a perpetual hand out for financial help.

Some folks just don't care about truth or circumstances or history or sweet f-all...they just expect everyone to be as favoured and able to make their way in the world as they are and they spit on anyone less than them. Just the way of the world.

[UnseenUndergrad]

95. Ah, Residential Schools...

If ever there was a less-well-thought-out assimilation scheme devised by Victorian Man, I've yet to hear about it: isolated from the society they were supposed to emulate, estranged from the culture of their ancestors, used as free labour at facilities that were notoriously under-equipped and generally smegged six ways from thursday while being espected to conform like good little robots.

From what I've been exposed to at my Uni (and doing research for a project in a freakin telecourse), I think there would have been AT LEAST two or three better ways to integrate (if not assimilate) First Nations peoples into Pre-WW1 Canadian society.

1. Bringing them into the cities as a form of "Immigrant" labour (to be used by the Capitalists as strikebreakers and scabs if NOTHING else) while leaving them alone to find new avenues of spirituality in a slum-ish environment.

2. Actually allowing the Reserve agriculture schemes on the praries to get off the goround by providing proper equipment, finds for investment and not hemming Aborioinal Farmers with an idiot "peasant Farming" policy.

3. Generally not treating First Nations people like autistic toddlers.


Addendum: My Professor at U Winnipeg in this regard (Ross McCormack) seems to have a thing about pissing off his students to encourage discussion. I think he's generally on the more conservative side of the spectrum (though I don't want to sound like some Dr. Zhivago stereotype who judges all people politically). This may have affected my views somewhat... in a "Mr. Burns seething over his generation's stupidity leading to the disasters of today" kind of way.

And the Racism thing is definately what I hear alot from my parents and their circle of aqauintences (ie. over 50 or low income). It can drive a soul mad sometimes.

-Cynical in Winnipeg

[Oregone]

19. Normally called First Nations up here

Well, I know their housing blows. A simple problem the government could fix. Bands here do continually get money for land claims from the government, and there is an effort to preserve sovereignty of the First Nations people. The government also recently apologized for their treatment and certain sexual abuse allegations they suffered in government schools. There is some effort to right the wrongs, but poverty is quite entrenched from the past

Historically, I think their treatment of the natives was less malevolent than in the US, but I'm not thoroughly familiar with it. I do remember reading that BC was first established as an official colony after the governor pleaded for British troops to occupy the land to protect some natives and prevent war/bloodshed between the them and the incoming gold miners flooding up from States after San Fran cooled down. I thought that was interesting. Again, Im not entirely familier with Canadian history in this regards, but Id imagine there are plenty of skeletons in the closet.

[ellenfl]

24. probably the same as our european occupiers treated our

native peoples.

ellen fl

[CitizenWill]

25. I am a Dene First Nation person from the Western Arctic of Canada

Our history was not as bad as in the United States but shitty stuff did happen.

The Dene are part cousins to the Navajo and Yellowknife aboriginals in Florida.

My mother is a residential school survivor, it tore our family apart and damaged our heritage. When she got out she said she learned how to pray and that was it. She was a stranger in her hamlet (they are hamlets up here not towns) as the family link had been broken. She had to move out of the area for fear of marrying a second cousin or relative. This was knowledge that was passed down from our hamlet elders.

She doesn't see the damage that Residential school did to her and was happy there. Life at home at the time in the 30's was dismal. So she lost her heritage and gained shame for being a native. I wasn't told we were native until I was in my early 20's.

Things are good now and looking brighter there is a big drive to renew our traditions and culture.

I am much happier here than when I lived in Southern California. I was shocked to find out the treatment of the Natives down there.

Marsi-Cho

Will

[EFerrari]

29. Welcome to DU, Will.

:)

[CitizenWill]

31. Thank you

I have been a lurker for 6 or 7 years now. Finally had something to talk about that related to me.

:)

Will

[Spazito]

32. Welcome to DU!

Thank you for your post as it is very important to hear from those who have experienced how Canada has treated First Nation, Inuit, Meti peoples.

I am heartened by the drive to renew your traditions and culture and I hope, as well, there is a drive to bring back the languages that have been lost over time.

[SidDithers]

33. Thanks for your post...

speak up more often! If there's one thing apparent at DU, it's that you don't need to have a connection to a topic in order to have an opinion about it :)

Sid

[CitizenWill]

53. Thanks I enjoy the banter

and to see what goes on in the rest of the world. We are so isolated it seems like we are on a different planet completely (15 hour drive to the nearest major city).

I mostly just read in awwww... at the horrors that are being inflicted on the US citizens by their own people.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

37. Hello Will and welcome to DU Will. Thank you for sharing your personal history

as it adds an additional dimension to what I'm learning here. I can feel your hopefulness and hope as well that your traditions and culture will go through a renaissance.

Peace to you and :hi:
Ommmmmmmmm

[CitizenWill]

41. Thanks

The healing is ongoing. The residential schools destroyed my parents generation and almost did away with our heritage. But I think that was the plan all along. To make us assimilated white folk but second class cause we were still dirty Indians as they saw it.

The shame my mother had caused the most damage. It led to rampant alcoholism and she had no idea how to nurture her children. It was never taught in the schools and there was no connection with their mothers or aunties to teach them.

My generation is fucked up because of this, we have rampant alcoholism, suicides, drug abuse etc. But there is hope we are lost, but our children the third generation are finally getting their act together and are lot more proud of themselves.

There is bad racism up here but I think it is a lack of understanding of our culture. We don't view money and wealth the same way white people do. There is a running joke with the Dene. "If you are down to the $15 in your pocket and nothing in the fridge what would you do? Take it and go play bingo! May as well enjoy yourself!"

We are very close knit and know if we need something our neighbor will help or share. Nothing to worry about. Most white people don't understand this mentality but it's how we survived in the arctic for thousands of years. You will starve to death if you are greedy and selfish.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

56. One of my favorite books in the whole world is Buried My Heart At Wounded Knee.

Dee Brown, the author wrote about the taking of children from the tribes and placing them in residential Christian schools back in the latter part of the 1800s here in the US. Those schools were meant to erase the heritage and to "civilize"/convert them. One of the sad tragedies of the history of the US and the Native-American people.

I am so sorry about what your mother went through and how it affected your generation but once again, your hopefulness and your good humor is touching me.:)

I wish you and your fellow Dene the best always and in all ways.

[CitizenWill]

60. Thank you....

Life sucks sometimes you just gotta get up and brush yourself off. Look at the sunshine, give your kitty a kiss and get on with your day. Can't go back only forwards.

My great grandfather was Peter Erasmus and a book was written about his life back in the 1880 it contains a lot of our history in it.

The book is called Buffalo Days and Nights

If your interested in the history it's a good read also.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

63. Tell me all about it in regard to life! Laughing here. I might be living

in middle class, suburbia NY, but have had my share and still do of instances of life sucking, but I have learned how to walk, one foot in front of the other, and use humor (mostly self-deprecating) to survive. :)

As to reading the book about your great grandfather, I have suffered the last several years from what I call readers block. I work on the Internet and find it impossible now to read from books. I have a stack of books, mostly just started and put down. My eyes just keep doing weird things and I get nauseous. Frustrating as I used to read between 5-6 books a week at one time.

I did though search your great grandfather's name just now, and it did give me a thumbnail look at who he was and what he did. Incredibly interesting. Did Erasmus have any input into sending you mother away to school?

[CitizenWill]

64. Lol.. me to. Can't read books anymore

No the school thing was not by anyones choice. The government just went into the hamlets rounded up the kids and took them. No one decided anything.

Because of the vast distances here it was impossible for parents to visit their children. If it was even allowed.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

66. How your grandparents must have suffered having their

daughter taken like that. I'm a Mom and the thought of it alone, if anyone would have done that to my sons cuts through me like a knife.

[CitizenWill]

67. Yeah I know

The impact was generational. That is one reason we have many social issues.

Plus the children were then conditioned to think of themselves as dirty Indians, especially their parents and grandparents.

Then they were sent out into the world with that baggage on their backs.

When my mom got back to her family 12 years later she was a stranger and disgusted with herself and were she came from.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

71. Once upon a time, a long time ago,

I must have been 15 or 16. I was standing in front of my apartment building in Queens, NY (a borough of NYC) and a man passing me on the street looked into my face and called me a dirty Jew. And he walked on. It was the only time in my life that someone addressed me in a discriminatory manner for my ethnicity and I felt polluted. Not for being a Jew, but that such hate can exist in another human being for someone they didn't even know. I cannot even imagine how your mother handled discrimination from others, but even more so, her discrimination for herself.

Please give her a warm hug from me.

[CitizenWill]

74. I know how it feels I feel it everyday

For some reason it is still tolerated here.

My mom drank herself mental for 30 years. I hated it back then but now I understand why she did it and is the way she is today.

I'll give her a hug for you. I love my mom.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

81. Thank you.

My Mom passed over this past July and although she had many of her own issues, I still love her very much.

[EFerrari]

85. My mom did that for 7 years and I hated it, too.

I thought we were going to lose her and our future seemed nonexistent.

Whatever miracle or power that helped that stop, it did. That was over 30 years ago. I adore my mom. :thumbsup:

[Blue_In_AK]

39. Are you related to Alaska's Dena'ina Athabascans?

[CitizenWill]

43. Yes we are all Denesuline (Deh Gah Got'ine)

We are settled up and down the Mackenzie river and Great slave lake all the way to the Arctic ocean. My people are horn toads so I believe the seed has spreed into the Yukon and Alaska. As well as Nevada and Florida.

[Blue_In_AK]

50. Did you know that Anchorage's new convention center

is named the Dena'ina Center? Here are a couple of pictures of the beautiful stained glass celebrating your people. http://indiancountrynews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5322&Itemid=1









Alaska doesn't have any better history than Canada does as far as how the first peoples were treated in the old days, but I do believe that our Native Claims Settlement Act is far more equitable than what happened to the Native people in the Lower 48. There is still much to be done to improve relations.

[CitizenWill]

51. That's beautiful thank you.

I'll have to show my mom. She will be proud.

[Blue_In_AK]

52. Please do.

And tell her that I am working with the campaign of Diane Benson for lieutenant governor. She is Tlingit from Sitka.

http://anchoragehealingracism.org/index.html

[Oregone]

42. How are you cousins with tribes so far away

And not closer ones? How do you know this?

[CitizenWill]

44. I studied the migration paths and our heritage

We took boats down the pacific coast and went over land to Nevada and Arizona. The Yelloknife tribe in Florida are the same people as here in Yellowknife, NT.

Our traditions, clothings, food etc are the same as the other tribes as well.

[Oregone]

45. Thanks

Pretty remarkable

[CitizenWill]

46. Yeah, tough people. lol

[Number23]

47. Welcome to DU! Would really love to hear more from you about your experiences

in the future. :hi:

[Odin2005]

58. I've read that the various Athabaskan languages (like Navajo) are REALLY HARD to lean!

:hi:

[CitizenWill]

62. We have 11 official languages here

Chipewyan
Cree
English
French
Gwich’in
Inuinnaqtun
Inuktitut
Inuvialuktun
North Slavey
South Slavey
Tłįchǫ

I can understand Tłįchǫ and a twelfth lost language called Michif but can't produce enough saliva in my mouth to speak them lol..

My grandfather was a interpreter for the RCMP and knew all the local languages

[PDJane]

68. It's good to hear from you.

Welcome to the crowd.....and I am glad that you are here at DU.

I am from Ontario, where the schools caused a great deal of damage to the First Nations people.

[time_has_come]

90. The residential school system was a horendeous thing...

...it really was such an inhumane and barbaric thing perpetrated against your people.

The sad legacy and continuation of the suffering is so large today still.

I'm glad, though, it's being recognized as it is today. That won't fix everything, by far. But it's a start.

[KT2000]

94. thanks for that info

I am noticing a rejuvenation of tribal cultures here. I live in WA state across from Victoria BC. Our local tribe, S'Klallam is the going concern for economic development in our area. They are opening a medical clinic that is open to all, developing diverse businesses, are considered the best employer and are engaged in cultural education for the younger members and non-natives. They are also saving natural resources like the rivers.
Their land was not something that was set aside, rather they are building it with each purchase of land.
The tribe does extend into Canada.

Here's what I have noticed. Many people come to this area, which was once forest that became farmland and is now divided up. They try small shopping malls and office complexes and so many of them fail. The tribe though has more success with their endeavors. When they buy existing businesses they invest alot of effort at making them attractive and they have a master plan they have worked out. This has eminated from an initial effort to renew their traditions and culture and has grown from there. It is really amazing.

When you say things are looking brighter I think it is more than that - your time has come again.

[XanaDUer]

48. Here is one tidbit of info

http://www.missingpeople.net/women_in_canada.htm

Canada and its law enforcement officials have become notorious for their indifference to the deaths and violence inflicted upon Aboriginal Peoples. Yet, more importantly, Canada has been found to be increasingly indifferent to the value of life placed upon the head of an Aboriginal woman. Canada has often failed to provide an adequate standard of protection to Aboriginal women and it has become more readily apparent as more Aboriginal women go missing, more are found murder and a huge majority of the cases are not investigated. They, the missing and murdered Aboriginal women, seem to be seen as just another dead Indian. The fact still remains that the life of an aboriginal woman is a life valued in pennies. This article will hopefully show you, the reader, how the RCMP and Canada has failed to adequately address the discrimination, racism and violence against Aboriginal women but more importantly, how the RCMP and Canada has failed to protect them.

[CitizenWill]

49. That rings home

Just dirty Indians.

Robert Pickton the pig farmer murderer preyed on native women as he knew they would not be searched for. Hacked them to death and fed them to his pigs.

[Blue_In_AK]

65. This is also a very serious problem in Alaska

where we notoriously have the highest rate of sexual assault in the country, with Native women being the most usual victims. Does Canada also have a high rate of alcoholism? Alcoholism and sexual assault seem to go hand-in-hand here.

[CitizenWill]

69. Yes

It's rampant her but is improving. Native women have very low self esteem are taken advantage of very easily. Especially coming into cities from the hamlets. They don't know the evils people can do and inflict on another. They get sucked up in the vacuum of western society and don't always come out whole.

I am Wenkte (two spirit) so I care for many of my female cousins children and the elders. That is why I came back from a comfortable life in California. It was my time to care for the children and elders.

I see first hand how messed up their mothers and grandmothers are. Very heart wrenching.

[EFerrari]

73. Maybe we should be a little careful before we finger low self-esteem

as an element in this situation.

Young people, no matter who they are, don't have a fund of experience to draw on when they venture out into the world away from their families.

And in a civilized culture, a young person extending trust is someone to be greeted and fostered, not preyed upon.

[CitizenWill]

75. Yes I would agree somewhat

Youthful innocence is also at fault but the self esteem issue is still there. I know first hand and speak with a lot of these women.

Shame from the parents is still there.

My opinion anyways.

[EFerrari]

84. You seem to have much more direct experience than I do.

I can't help thinking though, that fingering self esteem in these situations is like faulting a sapling for bending in a storm. Self esteem can help you avoid trouble, deal with trouble and recover from it. That's true. It doesn't really protect you from people who are stronger or more influential than you are if they are determined to behave in a harmful way.

Anyway, just mo. :)

[CitizenWill]

102. Yes my opinion may just be local

I see it in my family. My sisters, aunties, cousins, etc. They don't recognize it but I see it and hear it in their voices and see it in their actions.

In our local hamlets women were basically baby machines and workhorses. This may of been drilled into them by the strong influence of the Catholic church and the Grey Nuns that raised them.

My grandmother was forced to remarry in her 40's and had her last child at 50 because her husband wanted kids. My new grandfather was a monster and treated his sled dogs better than he treated her.

She lived well into her 90's and still chopped wood for heating, melted snow for water and maintained a trap-line (we finally had to follow her into the bush to find the line and dismantle it. We were scared she would collapse one day and be lost to us). This had always been her life.

There are many empowered confident native women here. They may have had mothers that were to tough for the Grey Nuns to break.

In my family I think it was passed down from our mothers and grandmothers and whatever may of happened to them.

Will

[Solly Mack]

77. K&R

Good thread. Lot of information.

Thank you!!!

[Posteritatis]

78. The short version is that Canada often made the US' track record look good

There was a whole lot of ugly and it's gone on until embarrassingly recently. The term "genocide" in the actual correct, legal definition of the term would easily apply to several practices that were ongoing into the eighties.

Generally, the tribes in BC were least-hosed from the whole situation, though they were of course also devastated. They're generally at the forefront of rights groups, cultural reconstruction/establishment, etc., and often set the tone for a lot of the rest of the country in that regard.

The standard term up here is First Nations these days, incidentally; I've always liked that.

[roamer65]

97. Better than how we European-Americans treated them in States definitely.

It is a very sad part of our history, you are correct.

[winyanstaz]

101. Well I know they are still finding the graves and bodies of the dead children

all across Canada.

06/01/2009: The government of Canada formally apologized on Wednesday to Native Canadians for forcing about 150,000 native children into government-financed residential schools where many suffered physical and sexual abuse.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/12/canada.usa

(and many were murdered and their dead babies bodies are found with those dead children as well...babies forced to have babies...it is such a horrible thing)

and as to today...: There are very few aboriginal women that have not been the victim of rape and violence...including from their own men folk...
The Aboriginal voice is not heard very well still.
Just like America..the Canadian government has a history of lying to the Natives and stealing their land and their livelihood etc and in many places it is still going on today.

It is harder for a Native to be hired or to have any chance of health care.

There is a lot of racism alive and well in Canada,,just like in places here in America.

There is a long way to go but at least more are trying to get there.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

103. Thank you for your input. I'm getting a fuller picture of the situation. This part of the violence

and abuse towards First Nations women and prior abuses towards the children, just tears the heart out of me. :cry: