The Metis people were not white, so there was not a chance they would be recognized as a “third founding nation” of Canada. Two white countries struggled for the Dominion of Canada and the British won; but they did allow the French to retain much of their nationalism since they were powerful, civilized, and white. To think that the government ever considered the Metis requests for recognition of being a unique people and nation is not realistic due to the racism of the colonizers. Canada was much too racist and ethnocentric to consider these “half breeds” worthy.

The white immigrants to Canada were deemed civil and acceptable and those with dark skin were considered “…unsuited to the climate or requirements of Canada (section 38). Immigration from outside Northern Europe was actively discouraged until the middle of the twentieth century.” Chinese people were only welcome if they could pay a head tax that “…was levied on Chinese immigrants in 1885, 1900, 1903, and culminating in the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, commonly called the Chinese Exclusion Act.” Exclusion policies included preventing Indians from India to enter Canada and this “…led to the Komagata Maru incident in 1914, where a boat with over three hundred Indian citizens (all British subjects) was turned away from Vancouver, after sitting in the harbour for three months, and forced to sail to India.”

I am sure Asian countries did not easily assimilate white people either. There were and still are huge cultural differences between people in the world. As we globalize, Canadians accept diversity more, but we have been a racist country from the start. Canadians enjoy a reputation that says “we” are kind and accommodating–and we may not realize that early colonization of this country was clearly from the perspective that whites were superior people. Superior enough that they moved right into settled land and claimed it for their own. History shows “the discourse of race is colonialist, racist, and capitalist. Also obscured in critical race scholarship is how the contemporary colonization of indigenous peoples could and should inform an analysis and politics of “race,” racism, and empire” (3 Race Racism and Empire).

When the Hudson’s Bay Company discontinued in Metis territory, the government of Canada sent surveyors to divide the land. The government started surveying and dividing land that the Metis people had already sectioned. The Metis people opposed this takeover, “But the government did not feel justified in discontinuing its system of surveying, because the ignorant Half-Breeds were unable to comprehend its scientific and practical value” (Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 1, March 1887).

Riel did get some response from the Canadian government when he spoke for the Metis, but there was not a chance he would ever secure a nation in itself. Riel was not fully Metis nor Indian, but most importantly, he was not fully white and therefore not a significant “Canadian.” He did get some positive action from the Canadian government, like scrips and patents re-distributed. In Saskatchewan, the government observed that many of the Metis were taking scrip instead of patent, then would sell their scrip for cheap, or some Metis were double dipping because they had already received scrip in Manitoba–so the government just stopped awarding scrip to them. There was not a great deal of respect for the Metis people–The Hudson’s Bay Company had used them to strengthen their business–not because they saw them as equals.

History proves over and over that at the root of everything is material and power. Canada has become less racist but we are certainly not innocent of racism and the “contemporary colonization of indigenous peoples could and should inform an analysis and politics of “race,” racism, and empire” (Empire) The Metis did not stand a chance becoming a nation of Canada.

It took Canada a long time to welcome people with out white skin. Canada changed their policies only when it meant improved economics or power:

“The end of the nineteenth century saw a wave of immigration after the completion of the CPR. The government saw a need to populate the prairies, especially the land near the railway line. They offered land grants of 120 acres each for suitable immigrants, including British, Scandinavian, Icelandic, Doukhobor, Mennonite, and Ukrainian farmers, among other groups (including those fleeing persecution before and during the Russian Revolution of 1917)”

Extra Notes Below…

All from peer reviewed and scholarly sites.

Must edit bibliography.

Further, new immigrants from non-English or French speaking cultures were also expected to assimilate to the ideal of white (British) civility.

As a result of the construction of the white British settler as the ideal Canadian, early racialized settlers and later immigrants were seen as less worthy, and therefore less Canadian. The word immigrant can carry a negative charge when it is applied to some incomers and not others. An account of a speech given by Louis Riel in 1884 comments that

Assimilation was sought through legislation such as the Immigration Act of 1910 that

http://canlitguides.ca/canlit-guides-editorial-team/nationalism-late-1800s-1950s-canadian-immigration-and-war/

http://canlitguides.ca/canlit-guides-editorial-team/nationalism-1800s-loyalism-and-nation-building/gemony

Political Science Quarterly

Race, Racism, and Empire: An Introduciton

I think Carlson is saying that Indigenous stories are no less authentic and relevant than the white man’s stories. Although at the time of European settlement, the First Nation’s people were not writing their stories using an alphabet per se, Native people are well known for their ability to pass down stories and information from generation to generation, and it was and is their way of literacy. Carlson explains how elders in the Salish communities do not earn respect lightly, and stories would not be passed on to future generations unless the elder believed the story with his or her whole heart.

How can I presume to know how Salish people thought and think? Clearly it is not in my paradigm, and I can only try and understand their ways of telling. I can only listen and be willing to learn from the voices of the past and the voices today. There is no doubt, European arrival has affected much of Salish language, culture and practices–but there are truths in Indigenous story telling that remain despite traumatic effects of European entitlement of land and residential schools.

I believe there is truth to Indigenous stories, as there are truths to most stories. It does not mean the stories have not changed. I told the story of my sense of “Home” and if I were to ask my sister to read it and tell me if it is correct, she would probably have a different perspective of my life. But my story is still true. I also have stories of my children’s births. They are true to me—I was there, but if my husband (who was in close vicinity) told the story, it would be different. However, we are both right and the birth of our child is a sacred story; it must be passed down with truth. It might be from different perspectives, but there will be truth represented. I think this is what Carlson says about Salish stories—they were sacred. It was their way of literacy—and it must be received with honour and respect. However, there is no doubt the consequences of colonization and residential schools affected their stories in different extents.

Brad Baker is a district principal for North Vancouver, and his life has been deeply affected by residential schools. He was the first Indigenous teacher in North Vancouver’s district—and he is an advocate for First Nations people. Baker’s father Harry Baker is a survivor of residential schools, but it is something he rarely speaks of: “He does talk about heading down to his grandfather Willy’s house to learn about their Squamish culture, but Harry doesn’t have much to say about why those lessons didn’t always stick. What he does say, however, is chilling.”

‘Me and my two sisters, after school we would go down to his house and he would teach us the Squamish language…Then we’d go to school and get it slapped out of us.’

Harry then goes silent again. (Prest)”

The impact of colonization and residential schools In First Nations’ lives is great, but with determination they are insisting their voices be respectfully heard. First people being made to live on reserve land has had dire consequences for them and is not a proud part of Canadian history, but many First Nations people are living happy healthy lives, and they have a community that insists and ensures their language, cultures and stories be told. Shonfield writes of a visit to a reserve: “I went to Gull Bay First Nation Reserve, two hours North of Thunder Bay…I was surprised and amazed by the generosity of the strangers I met there. There were so many people on the reserve that were working diligently to make their community a better place” (Shonfield, Graham).

This solidarity and community is also shown in Baker’s life:

Those who know Harry aren’t surprised at the path his son has taken. Around the Reserve the elder Baker is known as Uncle Harry. Young Squamish Nation members feel comfortable coming to him for counsel, or just to joke around. Brad sees that — he visits his parents’ house every single day — and he realizes where his own charisma and compassion come from. He also knows why he’s chosen this path in life (Prest).

“I wanted to make our elders — my dad — proud of us as people (Baker).

Let all people’s stories be told, for there is truth and meaning in every story.

http://www.lifeonthereserve.ca/about.html

http://www.nsnews.com/news/carving-a-new-path-in-education-1.1588261

Searching for Connection and Meaning in Story Telling

When I first read of Coyote and his twin, I thought of Cain and Abel from the Old Testament, as these sons of Adam and Eve seem to represent good and evil, just as Coyote and his twin do. Cain was the evil brother, and he was similarly banished from his land. This is how the Bible explains two different branches of people entering the world. Coyote is brown and his brother is white; Coyote is good, and his brother is dishonest. Coyote’s brother steals an important piece of paper, and as a consequence is banished from North America, and this explains the two different races of people (Native, and white) being separated until colonization.

Robinson’s story of Coyote and his twin and the bible story of Cain and Abel both have a message of good versus evil, and leave their scholars intrigued and mystified. A biblical scholar writes, Abel who is killed by his brother is “a gap in the story withholding both his name and his identity and creating even more ambiguity as the narrative progresses…is he somebody and therefore of importance to understanding the story? The use of chiasms and alternation of the brothers strengthens the impression that the order and thus the outcome of the story are yet undecided” Vermeulen, 41). Abel represents good, yet he dies; Cain is evil, and like Coyote’s twin he is banished. Abel’s brother Seth is born later, and propagates Abel’s branch of the human race. Scholars explore and investigate to unravel the stories of the Bible, just as Wickwire searches for connection and meaning within Robinson’s stories.

Robinson’s stories of Coyote and his twin, and Coyote’s visit to the King both involve important papers, yet Indigenous people were not writing their stories at colonization, but passed them down orally. The paper in Robinson’s story reveals how the two cultures have intersected over time, and colonization has seeped into Indigenous story telling. Which leads to a question? Did the white inhabitants adapt and broaden their stories to reflect the culture and beliefs of the Indigenous people. It seems to me they did not, and this attests to the lack of flexibility in Christian based societies. First Nations people seem to be the ones who have broadened their beliefs, probably because their spirituality is (often) not as rigid, but has a natural flow with nature. Lutz says, “Indigenous people here had no gods that they worshipped. Instead, they were aware of a wide variety of spirits that could take human form” (36).

Christianity and its paradigms have been at the root of colonization, and First Nations story-telling has not been a significant part of education until recently. In British Columbia, the government has (in 2015) embedded Indigenous culture and study into our curriculum. White people have taken a long time to be willing to blend cultures with First Nations people, and perhaps the decrease of Christianity in Canada is the reason for more open mindedness. During my twelve years of grade school education in British Columbia, Canada, Indigenous cultures, stories, or people were not discussed.

King writes two creation stories: one Indigenous, and one Christian. He says, “In the Native story, the conversational voice tends to highlight the exuberance of the story but diminishes its authority, while the sober voice in the Christian story makes for a formal recitation but creates a sense of veracity” (23). Writing the Christian creation story rigidly, versus King’s story-telling version of the Indigenous creation story emphasizes the irony of how Western people thought (think) their story was (is) so much more believable.

What makes the Christian story more believable than any Indigenous creation story? As a former Christian, I taught Sunday school, and when teaching the creation story, children never failed to inquire, “But who made God?” to which I would have some pad answer (while puzzling in my own mind). The Pentecostal sector of Christianity, which I grew up in, is rigid. Like many other religions, they believe their way is the only way to salvation, and anyone else that does not agree will die and go to hell. God is the authoritative boss in the sky, and he must be served and obeyed.

Although there is still much rigidity, many Christian churches are evolving. Vosper is a Reverend of the United Church, but she is at risk of being fired because she claims to be an atheist –she no longer believes in the rigid god of the bible. She says, “the idea of an interventionist, supernatural being on which so much church doctrine is based belongs to an outdated world view” (Perkel).

We are beginning to show respect for Indigenous story-telling, and I look forward to the day when Bible stories will be taught in school—not as literal and factual, but like myths, fairy tales, and Indigenous stories—full of truth—yet full of mystery. Bible stories and Indigenous stories of North America (and many other cultural stories) are full of wonder and truth, and should be celebrated and passed on.

Works Cited

Cain-Abel jpg. http://middleagedmormonman.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Cain-Abel.jpg Accessed 7 Oct 2016.

King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Peterborough: Anansi Press. 2003. Print.

Lutz, John. “First Contact as a Spiritual Performance: Aboriginal–Non Aboriginal Encounters on the North American West Coast.” Myth and Memory: Rethinking Stories of Indigenous-European Contact. Ed. Lutz. Vancouver: U of British Columbia P, 2007. 30-45. Print.

Perkel, Colin. Atheist minister fighting United Church’s effort to fire her. The Globe and Mail. 2015. Web. Accessed 7 Oct 2016.

Robinson, Harry. Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Ed. Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2005. Print.

Vermeulen, Karolien. “Mind the Gap: Ambiguity in the Story of Cain and Abel.” Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 133, no. 1, 2014, pp. 29-42. doi:10.15699/jbibllite.133.1.29