Tag Archives: Canada

Module #3-1: Aboriginal People in Canada

This post returns to the basics. According to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC), the Canadian constitution recognizes three groups of Aboriginal people: Indians (commonly referred to as First Nations), Métis, and Inuit. More than one million people in Canada identify themselves as an Aboriginal person. These three distinct peoples have unique histories, languages, cultural practices, and spiritual beliefs. Their cultures are displayed online by numerous organizations and museums.

The First Peoples’ Cultural Council supports the revitalization of Aboriginal language, arts, and culture in British Columbia. They monitor the status of B.C. Aboriginal languages, cultures, and arts, and facilitate and develop strategies which help Aboriginal communities recover and sustain their heritage. They also provide program coordination and funding for Aboriginal language and cultural preservation and enhancement.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) is the national Inuit organization in Canada. They represent and promote the interests of the Inuit on a wide variety of environmental, social, cultural, and political issues and challenges facing Inuits on the national level. ITK does not deliver or fund programs and is instead a national advocacy organization.

The Metis Culture and Heritage Resource Centre Inc. (MCHRC) is a Métis managed and non-profit membership-based charitable organization in Winnipeg. They publish a quarterly newsletter, hold cross-cultural workshops, and offer various community outreach programs, etc. As for Métis culture, the Virtual Museum of Métis History and Culture is a good resource. They chronicle traditional Métis history and culture and contain a wealth of primary documents such as oral history interviews, photographs and various archival documents in visual, audio and video files.

Module #3 – Post #1 – Healing Through Creative Arts

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The document “Dancing, Singing, Painting and Speaking the Healing Story: Healing Through Creative Art” written by Linda Archibald with Jonathan Dewar, Carrie Reid, and Vanessa Stevens provides a summary of research conducted between 2009 and 2010. Commissioned by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, the study emerged out of a desire to address the effects and legacy of the residential school system. The study was built upon the notion that research “points to evidence that cultural activities are legitimate and successful healing interventions,” perhaps even more so for a population that had for generations been largely robbed of its ability to maintain and connect with aspects of their cultural identity.

The core research question the authors posed was: “What happens when art, music, dance, storytelling, and other creative arts become apart of community-based Aboriginal healing programs?.” The research involved surveys and interviews with Aboriginal participants from across Canada, and also included an art-therapy workshop.

The premise of the research is also rooted in Western-based art therapy, with the notion that due to the impact of colonial practices on Aboriginal peoples in Canada, that they suffer from “historic trauma,” and a collective post traumatic stress disorder. By reconnecting Aboriginal groups with their language, traditions, spirituality and knowledge, the hope is that a process of healing can begin.

Check out the full details and findings of the research here.

Module 3 – Post 1 Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change

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Reading this weeks readings reminded me of a documentary I had seen a few years back. It is entitled “Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change”. The documentary was written, produced, and directed by Zacharias Kunuk, is presented almost entirely in Inuktitut, and features interviews with Mary Simon as well as many Inuit elders. In the documentary the Inuit present their observations that prove that climate change is happening. The Inuit elders have hundreds if not thousands of years of traditional oral history that they rely on in order to provide food for their families through hunting and fishing. Unfortunately, the climate is changing, and hunting and fishing are becoming harder to do.

The Inuit present evidence for the following:

later freeze up
earlier break up and melt
decreased thickness of shelf ice
change to weather patterns and prevailing winds
change in behaviour of seals and polar bears
change in the earth’s tilt, changing star navigation and position of sun on horizon
increase in pollution in the north

Also presented are alternate reasons for the decline of the polar bear population (although the Inuit assert that the bears are not in decline) and the seal population. The Inuit elders feel that the wildlife biologists are to blame for the decline in the animal populations, and that the methods of tracking with helicopters and tagging is causing more harm. In a few well presented and passionate speeches, the elders present their love for and kinship with the animals and assert that the Inuit are not and could not ever bring harm to the animals.

The Inuit know that climate change is happening, but fell powerless to do anything about it. Their hope is that by presenting this information that more people will sit up and take notice. The video is approximately 54 minutes long and is well worth a view.

View the video for yourself here.

Entry 7: Canadians increasingly reporting aboriginal identity

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Gloria Galloway and Travis Grant published this article in 2013 in The Globe and Mail The authors report on the phenomenon where many Canadians are now claiming to be aboriginal. Galloway and Grant cite Wayne Smith of Staistics Canada, who discovered “an unexpectedly high number… who claimed to be aboriginal” in the 2011 data from the National Household Survey. Yet, many of these Canadians did not report aboriginal identity in the census of 2006.

I find this article worrisome on the basis of comparing data from 2006 and 2011. Having worked with Staistics Canada for the 2002 census, I was told, and in turn relayed, that nams on the census were simply for keeping track of households completed.

The authors comment that aboriginal leaders believe the trend to be partly a result of social media and a new sense of pride. Betty Ann Lavallee, National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples states that young people ” are no longer afraid. They know they have the basis of law behind them and they’re becoming extremely vocal.”

Wilf falk, Manitoba’s top statistician, indicated that ‘the number of people who self-identified as Metis at both the national and provincial level went up about 60 percent… He attributes the shift to increased awareness of identity.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/native-people-boldly-standing-up-to-be-counted/article12912056/

Module 2 – Post 5 – Who are the Metis?

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The Metis Nation of Ontario website provides a great resource for research into Metis culture. The Website provides a look into Metis culture from both a historical and a contemporary point of view, including areas such as language, leaders, symbols and traditions.

The website also provides information on current and ongoing legislative battles that the Metis are engaging in with provincial and federal governments to regain and perpetuate their rights and culture. Particular attention is given to reference to the Powley case, which has reaffirmed the Metis right to maintaining their culture through hunting and gathering activities on their traditional lands.

I think the Metis Nation of Ontario’s website is a good example of using the technology of the internet to both protect and further the culture of the Metis People.

The website can be found here: Metis Nation of Ontario

Module 2 – Post 4 – Rights Granted to Metis

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When thinking about how governments need to provide support for Indigenous groups in maintaining their culture, I cam across an article from the CBC News. The article discusses the recent court victory that affirms that the government of Canada has the same responsibilities to the Metis and Non-Status Indians under the Canadian Constitution as they do to Status Indians. While the judgment did not go so far as to spell out what the duties of the government are, it clarified that it is the federal and not the provincial government who bears the responsibility. The court battle has been going on since 1999, and is widely expected to be appealed by the government of Canada.

The article provides links to a full text copy of the court ruling as well as links to other background information on Indigenous rights issues.

You can read the story here:

Federal Court Grants rights to Metis, Non-Status Indians

Module #2 – Post #5: Witnesses

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Witnesses, a series of works by aboriginal artists across Canada, has been on exhibit at The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at UBC since September 6. Its focus is on the representation of the effects of the residential school system from an aboriginal perspective by those that experienced it directly, or those who have experienced the impact that it continues to have on the indigenous population in Canada.

The exhibition is an insightful, educational and sobering experience, as the works included serve to communicate the psychological, social and physical impact of the residential school system in a way that only works of art can convey. Lisa Jackson’s video Savage, for instance, explores a number of themes such as grief, cultural dislocation and assimilation in just over five minutes solely through the use of images and music. Nonetheless, what transpires illicits a great deal of empathy for the characters, their families, and the indigenous peoples of Canada for whom they represent.

The opening of the exhibit coincided with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada National Event held in Vancouver from September 18-21. In the spirit of that occasion, the focus for this exhibit has been about dialogue and understanding, with a number of events and symposiums with the artists and representatives from First Nations communities to share their experience, knowledge and views with the public. Check out the schedule of events here for more information.

Module #2 – Post #3: Creativity, Connectivity and Culture in the Digital Realm

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The Gulf Islands Film and Television School (GIFTS) has garnered a reputation for delivering excellent film production education, especially for youth, since its inception in 1995. Through intensive courses that often run weeks at a time, students are taught the necessary skills for developing and producing film projects surrounded by the natural beauty of the Gulf Islands in British Columbia.

In researching for this blog, I came across an article in the Georgia Straight from 2009 highlighting a new program aimed directly at aspiring First Nations filmmakers from across BC. Through a special grant, the school was able to invite students from nine First Nations across the province, and equip them with cameras and computers that they were able to take with them upon returning to their communities. The program also placed an emphasis on training students on how to use the internet and social media to promote their work and connect with other First Nations artists across the country.

What I found unique and refreshing about the program was that it placed an emphasis on creating content by First Nations for First Nations. The instructors were primarily of aboriginal descent, and the school hoped that in years to come that current students would return to serve as mentors to new students going through the program. The students also came together to create a kind of artist collective called REZolutions Media, which served to advance their online presence and build a community of aboriginal media artists from a variety of backgrounds.

The article is a few years old, however, upon checking the GIFTS website, it appears as if the program is still being offered. Unfortunately, it’s not entirely clear of REZolutions Media continues to function, or whether it has any connection with Rezolution Pictures, a mostly First Nations-run production company, whose films, documentaries and TV series focus on contemporary First Nations issues (the trailer for Mohawk Girls is certainly worth a look).

Module #2 – Post #2: The Work of Sonny Assu

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I first encountered Sonny Assu’s work a few years ago as part of the Beat Nation exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery. What struck me about his work was the fusion of traditional coastal motifs with pop sensibilities, which had the unique effect of presenting imagery that incorporated what is considered to be traditional First Nations iconography with familiar objects derived from a Western, consumer culture. Assu appropriates aspects of consumer culture as a means of exploring the impact of Western culture and colonialism on the culture, history and identity of First Nations in Canada, something that is well-represented in works such as “Ellipsis” and “Breakfast Series.”

With “Ellipsis,” Assu forged 136 vinyl records out of copper that served to represent the audio recordings taken during the early-twentieth century of coastal First Nations songs (and also represent the 136 years of the Indian Act at the time of the instillation), which at the time of their recording were prohibited from being sung in any context, apart from requests by anthropologists who wished to document the last remnants of First Nations cultures before their perceived (at the time) demise. What is reflected in the work, therefore, is the apprehension by many indigenous cultures to make available through mass produced technologies certain cultural traditions that might be appropriated or misused for purposes that are disrespectful. In addition, the work speaks out against the racist policies that the Canadian government has inflicted upon First Nations peoples for centuries, a theme that Assu explores in a number of works including “The Happiest Future” and “Product (RES).”

I was also intrigued by the works presented in the series iDrum and iPotlach, both of which explore the contentious relationship between digital technologies and First Nations oral traditions, which the tagline: “5000 Ancestors in Your Pocket” delivers in a perhaps less than subtle fashion.

To see more, and to read some of Assu’s intriguing artist statements, make your way to http://sonnyassu.com.

Module 2 – Post 3 – Virtual Museum

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The Virtual Museum of Canada has a great website entitled “Back to Batoche”. The website is a virtual museum of sorts, and includes both historical and contemporary information on Metis culture. The website is organized into two sections with many subsections each:

1885 Batoche

Involvement from Other Places

Duck Lake
Fish Creek
Red River
Western Canada
Central Canada

Areas of Interest

Tipi
Farm Life
General Store
House Visit
School/Post Office
Church
Cemetary
Battlefield
Middleton’s Zareba
Red River Cart
Northcote

Key People

Gabriel Dumont
Louis Riel

Present day Batoche

Areas of Interest

Festival House
Race Course
Voyageur Games
Grandstand
Fire Pit
Souvenir Stand

Visit Town of Batoche

Visitor Reception
Church
Zareba
East Village
Rifle Pits and River Lots

The website includes video clips, sound recordings, photographs, and drawings that depict the various sections. The website also includes interviews, recipes, games, language lessons, and more. It would be a great resource for anyone wishing to explore aspects of Metis history related to the 1885 Resistance and/or contemporary Metis culture.

The website is here: Back to Batoche