Thank you for your insightful post. I was most intrigued by your discussion of the loss of Aboriginal languages over the century. It made me think back to a passage I read in Chamberlin’s (2003) book, If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories, about a Cayuga chief who translated The Great Law of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois stories and songs) from Cayuga into English. His intentions were to increase the accessibility of Aboriginal cultural narratives to the younger Aboriginal generations who did not speak Cayuga. At first, I thought it was a wonderful way to preserve Iroquois heritage, in that it serves as an avenue to re–engage and expose youth to cultural–specific values and traditions. However, I now realize that such a view is far too simplistic. When Chamberlin asks, “Was the Great Law true when told in another language? Are there gradations of truth” (Chamberlin 22)? He questions the practicality of retaining the true meaning of text when translating Cayuga into English. Inevitably, there will be linguistic challenges in translating Cayuga phrases and sentences into English. Are there directly equivalent terms in English for Cayuga words? Does Cayuga text imply both literal and figurative translations? How can literary devices – metaphors, similes, irony, assonance, epithet – be preserved after translation? But if the Chief were to preclude the translation of The Great Law into English, would he be responsible for restricting youth from fully absorbing their culture? Perhaps it is this conflict, between language and culture, that has proven fatal for those 10 Aboriginal languages.
Chamberlin, Edward. If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories? Finding Common Ground. Toronto: AA. Knopf. 2003. Print.
Please disregard my above comment. I accidentally typed my response to your first blog post, “Oh, hey world” above. Alas, the ramifications of keeping multiple windows open at the same time!
Thank you for providing a wonderful and insightful first post for our class to read. Similar to Zara’s point of view, what most interests me, and shocked me, is the loss of Aboriginal languages. Through some reading that I did, the loss of these languages trace back to the assimilation-driven, destructive Residential Schools put in place by the Canadian government to “end its Indian problem” (CBC Digital Archives). That sentence alone is crippling, and the fact that the government put these in place, who in my opinion is supposed to be the governing body of everyone in this country, is tragic. Here is a link to an audio clip from CBC Digital Archives: http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/society/education/a-lost-heritage-canadas-residential-schools/losing-native-languages.html (I apologize for not being able to make the link active – still learning this whole blog thing! Pasting the link will work though)
Two individuals, Edna Manitowabi, and Delia Opekekew comment on the lack of young children and young adults that are able to speak their own language. I encourage you, and anyone who reads this comment, to take a listen and explore the other videos on this page.
As it seems with most Canadian history, I do not feel the current school system puts enough emphasis on Canadian History, and especially not on the complete and utter mistake that the government made in the case of residential schools. Stephen Harper released an apology in 2008 for the actions of the Canadian Government:
“Two primary objectives of the residential school system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. These objectives were based on the assumption Aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, “to kill the Indian in the child.” Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country.” (UBC Indigenous Foundations).
I certainly do not feel that an apology and minimal financial compensation is even close to enough action on the part of the Canadian Government to right their wrongs – perhaps they never will be able to, and unfortunately now heritage, history, and language is disappearing.
Thank you for your post and I apologize for my long reply!
Works Cited:
CBC Digital Archives. “Losing Native Languages”. 2014.
UBC Indigenous Foundations. “The Residential School System”. 2009.
Thanks for the comments Gillian! I couldn’t agree more that I feel a let down by the Canadian School System when it comes to history. I don’t have a very good memory, honestly, but I have almost no recollection of interesting Canadian history other than a date or two and a few of our Prime Ministers. Given the rich history of each province and region I think we could have a lot more emphasis on local history. It is sad to see it go largely unknown, and I think that undermines our sense of community to some extent.
I’m also glad you brought up residential schools. They extracted an awful toll on many lives and doubtless destroyed families. But! I cannot help myself, I must play the devil’s adovate a little bit. A few years ago (well, five now, time flies) I met a 97 year old woman who had taught in a residential school in New Brunswick. Now I am in no way saying this is the norm for the rest of Canada, because I have no idea… but she had nothing but good things to say about the program on her end. As a young single woman and as a teacher she rose to an incredibly difficult and loaded task – many people thought the schools were a waste of ressources and personel. She was adament and passionate that she helped destitute children make better lives for themselves. I feel as though “better” is a loaded term, who can say when I comes to cultural differences. I tell her story because few people are – I think we have demonized the residential school system and reduced it to a program of cultural irradication, when in fact many well meaning and “good” people had a hand in implimenting and carrying out that system with the honest belief that they were saving lives.
We all know the road to hell is paved in good intentions, I just don’t want us to lose the idea that there were good intentions along the way. That helps temper our future. For what is right today might prove to be wrong tomorrow, and we seriously need to temper our hubris here in the west (IMO).
Hi Duncan,
Thank you for your insightful post. I was most intrigued by your discussion of the loss of Aboriginal languages over the century. It made me think back to a passage I read in Chamberlin’s (2003) book, If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories, about a Cayuga chief who translated The Great Law of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois stories and songs) from Cayuga into English. His intentions were to increase the accessibility of Aboriginal cultural narratives to the younger Aboriginal generations who did not speak Cayuga. At first, I thought it was a wonderful way to preserve Iroquois heritage, in that it serves as an avenue to re–engage and expose youth to cultural–specific values and traditions. However, I now realize that such a view is far too simplistic. When Chamberlin asks, “Was the Great Law true when told in another language? Are there gradations of truth” (Chamberlin 22)? He questions the practicality of retaining the true meaning of text when translating Cayuga into English. Inevitably, there will be linguistic challenges in translating Cayuga phrases and sentences into English. Are there directly equivalent terms in English for Cayuga words? Does Cayuga text imply both literal and figurative translations? How can literary devices – metaphors, similes, irony, assonance, epithet – be preserved after translation? But if the Chief were to preclude the translation of The Great Law into English, would he be responsible for restricting youth from fully absorbing their culture? Perhaps it is this conflict, between language and culture, that has proven fatal for those 10 Aboriginal languages.
Chamberlin, Edward. If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories? Finding Common Ground. Toronto: AA. Knopf. 2003. Print.
Hi Duncan,
Please disregard my above comment. I accidentally typed my response to your first blog post, “Oh, hey world” above. Alas, the ramifications of keeping multiple windows open at the same time!
Hi Duncan,
Thank you for providing a wonderful and insightful first post for our class to read. Similar to Zara’s point of view, what most interests me, and shocked me, is the loss of Aboriginal languages. Through some reading that I did, the loss of these languages trace back to the assimilation-driven, destructive Residential Schools put in place by the Canadian government to “end its Indian problem” (CBC Digital Archives). That sentence alone is crippling, and the fact that the government put these in place, who in my opinion is supposed to be the governing body of everyone in this country, is tragic. Here is a link to an audio clip from CBC Digital Archives: http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/society/education/a-lost-heritage-canadas-residential-schools/losing-native-languages.html (I apologize for not being able to make the link active – still learning this whole blog thing! Pasting the link will work though)
Two individuals, Edna Manitowabi, and Delia Opekekew comment on the lack of young children and young adults that are able to speak their own language. I encourage you, and anyone who reads this comment, to take a listen and explore the other videos on this page.
As it seems with most Canadian history, I do not feel the current school system puts enough emphasis on Canadian History, and especially not on the complete and utter mistake that the government made in the case of residential schools. Stephen Harper released an apology in 2008 for the actions of the Canadian Government:
“Two primary objectives of the residential school system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. These objectives were based on the assumption Aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, “to kill the Indian in the child.” Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country.” (UBC Indigenous Foundations).
I certainly do not feel that an apology and minimal financial compensation is even close to enough action on the part of the Canadian Government to right their wrongs – perhaps they never will be able to, and unfortunately now heritage, history, and language is disappearing.
Thank you for your post and I apologize for my long reply!
Works Cited:
CBC Digital Archives. “Losing Native Languages”. 2014.
UBC Indigenous Foundations. “The Residential School System”. 2009.
Thanks for the comments Gillian! I couldn’t agree more that I feel a let down by the Canadian School System when it comes to history. I don’t have a very good memory, honestly, but I have almost no recollection of interesting Canadian history other than a date or two and a few of our Prime Ministers. Given the rich history of each province and region I think we could have a lot more emphasis on local history. It is sad to see it go largely unknown, and I think that undermines our sense of community to some extent.
I’m also glad you brought up residential schools. They extracted an awful toll on many lives and doubtless destroyed families. But! I cannot help myself, I must play the devil’s adovate a little bit. A few years ago (well, five now, time flies) I met a 97 year old woman who had taught in a residential school in New Brunswick. Now I am in no way saying this is the norm for the rest of Canada, because I have no idea… but she had nothing but good things to say about the program on her end. As a young single woman and as a teacher she rose to an incredibly difficult and loaded task – many people thought the schools were a waste of ressources and personel. She was adament and passionate that she helped destitute children make better lives for themselves. I feel as though “better” is a loaded term, who can say when I comes to cultural differences. I tell her story because few people are – I think we have demonized the residential school system and reduced it to a program of cultural irradication, when in fact many well meaning and “good” people had a hand in implimenting and carrying out that system with the honest belief that they were saving lives.
We all know the road to hell is paved in good intentions, I just don’t want us to lose the idea that there were good intentions along the way. That helps temper our future. For what is right today might prove to be wrong tomorrow, and we seriously need to temper our hubris here in the west (IMO).
All the best!