Canadian government apologises to Indigenous people.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by B-bird

Métis & Inuit Children at Residential Schools

Prior to the 1800s, few opportunities for formal European-based education were available for Metis children. Treaty provisions for education did not include theses children who were considered "halfbreeds" and not Indians. It wasn't until the Northwest Half-breed Claims Royal Commission of 1885 that the federal government addressed the issue of Métis education. The Catholic church, already a strong presence in Métis society, began instruction Métis children in the Red River area of Manitoba in the 1800s. Despite these efforts, many Métis parents struggled to find schools that would accept their children and would often have to pay tuition for their education.

Attendance at residential school, where the use of Aboriginal languages was prohibited, resulted in the erosion of an integral part of Métis culture. Residential schools profoundly affected Métis communities, a fact often overlooked in the telling of the history of residential schools in Canada.

Although policies to manage "Indian Affairs" were being devised in Ottawa as the numbered treaties were signed across the Prairies in the 1870s, it was not until 1924 that Inuit were affected by the Indian Act, and not until the mid-1950s that residential schools began to operate in the North. For Inuit, the Residential School System was but one facet of a massive and rapid sweep of cultural change that included the introduction of Christianity; forced relocation and settlement; the slaughter of hundreds of sled dogs eliminating the only means of travel for many Inuit; the spread of tuberculosis and small pox and the corresponding mandatory southward medical transport; the introduction of RCMP throughout the Arctic; and other disruptions to the centureis-old Inuit way of life.

I think the Catholics ruled with a heavy hand, or believed that to be an affective method of control. Having the outlook that all Indigineous peoples were savages and needed reform. It happened all over. Ask anyone over the age of 60 if they went to a Catholic school, how they were treated. The veils are being lifted and some pretty disgusting stuff is being uncovered.

It's amazing that it is now only being apologized for.

The Red River thing is a completely different story though isn't it?

Interesting that the Australian story is so similar to the North American story. With the rise of human rights things made a turn for the better, since there is a whole host of rights of indigenous peoples, including the right to determine for themselves their cultural identity, but I'm convinced that indigenous peoples generally want to be part of modern society while retaining cultural heritage. This is why the approach of redressing history as colonialists wrote it, which excludes aboriginals as 'us' or even as people at all, and re-writing it to include the indigenous cultural movement both prior to and during the colonial era up until today.

Originally Posted by Gem

Interesting that the Australian story is so similar to the North American story. With the rise of human rights things made a turn for the better, since there is a whole host of rights of indigenous peoples, including the right to determine for themselves their cultural identity, but I'm convinced that indigenous peoples generally want to be part of modern society while retaining cultural heritage. This is why the approach of redressing history as colonialists wrote it, which excludes aboriginals as 'us' or even as people at all, and re-writing it to include the indigenous cultural movement both prior to and during the colonial era up until today.

I agree and I am sure the majority of us European Americans are with you in that thought. No one likes the wool being pulled over their eyes and to be taught and made to believe things happened in a certain way, only to find out things happened differently. It's embarrassing to find out our, my, ancestors had the mind thought that it was to the better to try and change or obliterate a culture.

The aboriginal people were totally innocent, just following their path..

but they weren't. And this is getting to the off topic part of this thread.

inter-ethnic violence.

August 14, 2008. A History of Inuit Warfare

The Inuit of the Central and Eastern Canadian Arctic, especially the Utku and Qipisa communities, have traditionally tried to avoid manifestations of anger, though there is no question that violence has occurred. Some Inuit groups have even fought wars, particularly with the Indians who lived to the south of them, both during prehistoric times and well into the period after European settlements.

For a hundred years in the 17th and 18th centuries, Europeans posted at fur trading forts on both sides of Hudson Bay and James Bay recorded in tedious detail protracted instances of warfare between the local Cree Indians and the Inuit just to the north. A recent book chapter examines the course of the inter-ethnic violence during that period; it speculates on the causes of the warfare and posits reasons why it probably ended.

Descriptions of the warfare between the Inuit and the Cree are preserved in the historical records. The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) traders recorded many accounts of Indian war parties moving north in the summers to attack Inuit camps wherever they could find them. Into the early 18th century, the traders also mentioned a few instances of war parties of Inuit invading the territories of their enemies to the south. For the most part, however, the Inuit aggression had ceased by the 1670s or 1680s, a few years after the Europeans began establishing their trading posts. Cree raids to the north continued for over a hundred years, until 1793.

One trader wrote, during a visit to York Factory in 1746-47, “the Indians are inclinable to War; if there is a bad season of Hunting in the Winter, or anyone of their People is missing, or that they have a Sickness amongst them, they must prepare in Spring to go and seek out the Eskemaux, and make a Carnage of them; for they attribute to them the Cause of their Misfortunes…

Another factor that encouraged the Indians to send raiding parties northward was the prestige that would accrue to the warriors. While not the primary motive for the raiding, warriors’ prestige became an important secondary cause of the continuing attacks. Furthermore, the raiding produced captives, sometimes women and more frequently children—an economic incentive for war. At times, the HBC would purchase the captives and give them their freedom in order to ensure that they would not be murdered subsequently. Other times, the Indians took their captives south to their villages and sold them as slaves.

[Star Wolf Medicine Woman]

That is all very interesting but this was not the time frame of the Residential Schools, that took place between 1840 and 1996 and they were 'innocent children' frightened and confused, torn from their families...
A child should not be punished for the sins of the father, let alone several generations before they were borm..

These damaged adults are the evidence here and now and the effect of the abuse they took has such far reaching scarring.. No one can alter history, the point is this terrible catalogue of abuse, murder and extreeme cruelty went on for 150 years and only now do they have the audacity to print 94 recommendations as to how people should be treated... Too little, too late.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Star Wolf Medicine Woman

That is all very interesting but this was not the time frame of the Residential Schools, that took place between 1840 and 1996 and they were 'innocent children' frightened and confused, torn from their families...
A child should not be punished for the sins of the father, let alone several generations before they were borm..

These damaged adults are the evidence here and now and the effect of the abuse they took has such far reaching scarring.. No one can alter history, the point is this terrible catalogue of abuse, murder and extreeme cruelty went on for 150 years and only now do they have the audacity to print 94 recommendations as to how people should be treated... Too little, too late.

I'm not up the American story, but I imagine that it's similar to Australia, and the American colonising culture wrote the history of Columbus, Mayflower, the Boston tea party, Washington etc and pretty much excluded the Indigenous from the historical discourse. Because of the exclusion, the indigenous story has little influence on American culture in modernity. The tactic being used in Australia is an academic exercise where scholars are re-writing history, not to exclude the colonial account of James Cook and other historical icons, but to write in the cultural presence of the Aboriginal peoples. This hasn't quite got into the primary and high school education system yet, but it will as soon as it's taken to be the 'real history', and when it does, the young people will be brought up learning a very different culture to what I was taught. This will have the very fundamental effect of changing what it means to be 'Australian', as the Indigenous cultures will become integral to the national identity. New Zealand is quite advanced in this way, where even the white settlers quite strongly identify with Maori culture. Whites in New Zealand know some Maori dances and language and folklore, and the Maori culture is quite prominent in the NZ national identity.

The healing of decimated cultures, who were stripped of their lands, families and spiritual beliefs, and the killings and atrocities, is a long term inter-generational effort - and the end game, as I see it, is changing the very fabric of what it means to be an American.

[Howla Dark]

Originally Posted by Gem

I'm not up the American story, but I imagine that it's similar to Australia, and the American colonising culture wrote the history of Columbus, Mayflower, the Boston tea party, Washington etc and pretty much excluded the Indigenous from the historical discourse. Because of the exclusion, the indigenous story has little influence on American culture in modernity.

In a way the Native American culture and traditions has influenced modern people in a positive spiritual way, not just in America but throughout the world. In a small level, yes, but it's still a part of the teachings, wisdom, beauty and magic of the American peoples spiritual beliefs. For example, the Dream Catcher, totem animals, Spider Grandmother, even stories are teaching people a lot about nature and animals.

The tactic being used in Australia is an academic exercise where scholars are re-writing history, not to exclude the colonial account of James Cook and other historical icons, but to write in the cultural presence of the Aboriginal peoples. This hasn't quite got into the primary and high school education system yet, but it will as soon as it's taken to be the 'real history', and when it does, the young people will be brought up learning a very different culture to what I was taught.

The Australian aborigines have a really mystical and fascinating belief and culture that reminds me of ancient wisdom that was lost. I wonder if there's any books and TV shows aimed at children to teach them about the positives.

This will have the very fundamental effect of changing what it means to be 'Australian', as the Indigenous cultures will become integral to the national identity. New Zealand is quite advanced in this way, where even the white settlers quite strongly identify with Maori culture. Whites in New Zealand know some Maori dances and language and folklore, and the Maori culture is quite prominent in the NZ national identity.

Sorry but am reminded of the All Black rugby players.

The healing of decimated cultures, who were stripped of their lands, families and spiritual beliefs, and the killings and atrocities, is a long term inter-generational effort - and the end game, as I see it, is changing the very fabric of what it means to be an American

Yes but don't forget if this didn't happen, a lot of people wouldn't of been born today. And also if this terrible event(s) or any atrocity never occurred anywhere in history, we would still be in caves.

Originally Posted by Star Wolf Medicine Woman

That is all very interesting but this was not the time frame of the Residential Schools, that took place between 1840 and 1996 and they were 'innocent children' frightened and confused, torn from their families...
A child should not be punished for the sins of the father, let alone several generations before they were borm..

These damaged adults are the evidence here and now and the effect of the abuse they took has such far reaching scarring.. No one can alter history, the point is this terrible catalogue of abuse, murder and extreeme cruelty went on for 150 years and only now do they have the audacity to print 94 recommendations as to how people should be treated... Too little, too late.

the raiding produced captives, sometimes women and more frequently children

but it just goes to show, we all have blood on our hands from the past. They were innocent children and woman also. And it dosn't matter when in history it happened, it happened. Not one ethnic group is exempt.

Originally Posted by Gem

Interesting that the Australian story is so similar to the North American story. With the rise of human rights things made a turn for the better, since there is a whole host of rights of indigenous peoples, including the right to determine for themselves their cultural identity, but I'm convinced that indigenous peoples generally want to be part of modern society while retaining cultural heritage. This is why the approach of redressing history as colonialists wrote it, which excludes aboriginals as 'us' or even as people at all, and re-writing it to include the indigenous cultural movement both prior to and during the colonial era up until today.

Never realized that Gem. Went and did some reading. All of this if very sad, to all Aboriginals. It just blows my mind sometimes thinking, this is 2015! We should be so much more evolved than we are.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Howla Dark

In a way the Native American culture and traditions has influenced modern people in a positive spiritual way, not just in America but throughout the world. In a small level, yes, but it's still a part of the teachings, wisdom, beauty and magic of the American peoples spiritual beliefs. For example, the Dream Catcher, totem animals, Spider Grandmother, even stories are teaching people a lot about nature and animals.

That's true, and everyone learns a lot form cultural interaction, but it also has another face to it. The basic notion of the 'other' has two faces to it you see, one face is the uncivilised savage and the other face is the noble savage who is one with nature, but both of these faces is still the face of the 'other' which the dominant colonial culture orients itself to by making the 'other' 'what we are not'. Said's 'orientalism' captures this, and was influential in formulating human rights of indigenous peoples (2007) (Australia, Canada, USA and NZ voted against) which over comes 'othering' by convening that indigenous peoples have the human right to self-determine their own cultural identity... rather than the whites classifying them. This is to say, that any notion I (as a white) might hold about what it is to be an aboriginal person is an erroneous colonial attitude. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH2T6a_2gBo

The Australian aborigines have a really mystical and fascinating belief and culture that reminds me of ancient wisdom that was lost. I wonder if there's any books and TV shows aimed at children to teach them about the positives.

Yes there are many Australian aboriginal peoples and their 'countries' are culturally diverse, so there's not really an 'aboriginal culture' per-se. It's like European countries have their own languages, dances, costume,... cultures... The problem with colonists is that they hegemonise diversity in their own endeavour to orient themselves. It's at the heart of 'us' and 'them', which is pervasive in euro-centric ideology.

Sorry but am reminded of the All Black rugby players.

Go the all blacks.

Yes but don't forget if this didn't happen, a lot of people wouldn't of been born today. And also if this terrible event(s) or any atrocity never occurred anywhere in history, we would still be in caves.

What really happened did happen, and there's no way of retracting it, so the apologies in Australia and Canada were important historical milestones that mark a change in sentiment in colonial attitudes, and in Australia at least, it was a healing. PM Paul Keating made a powerful acknowledgment back in 92 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKhmTLN3Ddo) but stopped short of saying sorry. Rudd went the whole hog in 2008... so that's 15 years of process. It's a very long term process... a couple of hundred years or more, but as they say, it's the journey that counts.

Originally Posted by Star Wolf Medicine Woman

Last tuesday a reort on the systematic abuse of Indigenius people was released with 94 recommendations. The report is called the TRC document, which stands for 'Truth & Reconciliation Committee..

Since 1840 and up to 1996 150,000 children of Inuit & Metis tribal groups in Fort Albany, Ontario were taken from their families and placed in church governed so called Residential schools.. These frightened children were in the charge of nuns mostal.. The school were set up to break the spirit and to stamp out everything Indian about these children..

They were kept their against their will, you know the drill forbidden to speak their Ojibwa lamguage and told to speak either French or English.. Beaten half starved, kept in dorms 40 to a room. beaten and abused, never to see their families again..
The survivor gave 7,000 statements, there were over 6000 children murdered. Abuse was , physical, Mental and even sexual..
Since the announcement last tuesday there have been 150,000 tweets on this.

The Canadian government supposedly apologise to some survivors by a photocopyed letter signed by the PM Stephen Harrup.. that was back in 2008.
The survivors were offered 'Compensation' who knows if they ever actually got it and how the hell can one put a price on what was done to them..

How come this has taken so long. I saw some photos on line of the children crammed together, even heard an interview with one 54 yr old man who was still so terribly affected broke my heart...
How can any amount on money compensate for generation of Genocude!!!!

There are more horrors concerning the abduction and murder of young girls from various tribal communities in Manitoba, I saw a website earlier in the week, I think its called Red River Women...it is also heart breaking..

Booshoo, Niijii Star Wolf Medicine Woman. Thank you for caring about your relatives up here in Canada to keep in tune with what's been happening "politically" in this part of the world.

You mention the systemic murder of Indigenous women and girls ... I'm not sure what website this is - I will definitely "google" it. But there are more and more social advocacy groups forming to do something about this horrifying matricide - the targeted violence towards Indigenous women and girls in Canada. This is an issue that cuts deep for me. One of my students, a smart, kind, and beautiful young woman, lost an auntie to violence a few years back. Her auntie's death was so horrific I can not and will not speak of it. But my heart goes out to my student - how can one sustain the tragedy of losing a loved one to such a horrific act of targeted violence based not only on gender but on skin colour.

The residential school survivors that I have talked with - they call this "compensation" money "blood money". For many, it has not brought about healing and forgiveness. I'm told that our People need to reconnect to our Spiritual ways, our ceremonies, our language, and our communities - that will bring about the healing we need.. not a cheque to absolve a government's guilt.

Please keep learning more about the tragedies - and ways to be part of the solution. That is one thing that keeps me going - what does Spirit want me to do to bring love, healing, and peace into this world to offset the violence and suffering our species - us humans - are so capable of producing.

Akina Ndinawe Makiinak Hey-ya - All My Relations.