Monthly Archives: October 2016

Before I start today’s blog, I’m going to hyperlink one of my favorite graphic novels of all time, “Louis Riel: A Comic Strip Biography” by Chester Brown. I’m a visual learner and years ago when I first learned about Louis Riel, this comic let me see that there is more than one side to Canadian history. Hint-Hint: There is an evil depiction of John A MacDonald from the shadows that surround him to the things that he says.

When Louis Riel and his Metis led government of Manitoba attempted to negotiate directly with the new government of the confederation of Canada to establish their territories as a province under their leadership after the Red River Rebellion, the Metis did not get the land rights that they desired, and eventually Riel ended up being hung for treason in the aftermath the North-West Rebellion.

The reason that the Metis did not get the land rights that they desired according to the Canlitguide’s article assigned for this week is that “Canada at the time was not willing to accommodate more than two founding nations.”

Firstly, Canada was reluctant even for the second nation that it held as a founding nation. According to those who had power in Canada at the time: British, Protestant, Caucasian Males, the ideal future of Canada was Caucasian, Protestant, descendants of Brits. The reason why the French were kept on in Canada was mostly for their population density, as Roman Catholics tended to have many children. The proof in this last statement was in that loyalism was more colonial than national at the time. French Canadians are still largely separated from English Canadians to this day. It was not until Pierre Trudeau launched multiculturalism as a ploy to enact bilingualism that that French Canadians started thinking of themselves as not so separate from the rest of Canada.

If it took that long for the French, who were as Caucasian as the British, to be accepted into Canada, Louis Riel had little chance of creating a third founding Metis nation. After confederation, the future outlook of Canada saw Indigenous peoples, which somehow included the the Metis in the minds of Canada’s first Government lead by John A MacDonald,  as a trading partners to make money from rather than allies in the future of Canada or as peoples to be assimilated in residential schools. Residential schools were already taking away the identities of Indigenous youth then years before the Red River Rebellion and Louis Riel’s provisional government.

Thus for racial, cultural, and political reasons it was incredibly unlikely the Louis Riel’s Metis Government would get to represent a third founding nation.

Works Cited:

“A Timeline of Residential Schools, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 16 May 2008. Web. 28 Oct. 2016

“Louis Riel.” Drawn & Quarterly. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.

In Susanna Moodie’s introduction to “Roughing It In The Bush” she talks of the hard life that some of the first colonial population of Canada had and how in forty years, at least the eastern part of Canada transformed into a place somewhat more like Europe in that cities were built, more resources were available, and European colonial culture had become highly dominant. She describes Canada in many different ways and alludes to Canada as a second Garden of Eden, an empty/wasted land, the noble but vanishing Indian, and the magical map. Below are examples of those allusions, minus he “Magical Map” allusion, which I could not find.

Garden of Eden:

Mudi speaks of the Canada that she lives in as somewhat of an untapped second Garden of Eden, and she most likely understands what she is writing, as she writes about churches in Canada at on page seven (Moodie, 7). She also alludes to advertisements of the riches to be made in Canada on the same page, even if originally, no one would have chosen to immigrate to Canada, according to her.

A Gift from God:

She also alludes to Canada being a gift from God in the poem on page twenty-five. It reads, ” Canada, the blest—the free! (Moodie, 25)”

Wastland/Empty:

There is however a  negative side to her explanation in that she warns her readers who are possibly prospective immigrants that if families move to Canada and decide to live in the middle of the woods, they will live in a vast nothingness. Moodie describes, “remote and unfavorable localities, far from churches, schools, and markets,” early in her introduction on page seven (Moody, 7.)

Noble, Vanishing Indian:

The noble and vanishing Indian is only written about briefly on page fourteen. The “Indians” are spoken about in the past tense and are described as the mutual enemy of colonials (Moodie, 14).

Magical Map:

I reread again and again to find an allusion to the “magical map” in Moodie’s introduction, but I could not find it.

Susanna Moodie seems fairly aware of a few of her allusions, certainly the allusions that relate to Christianity. I her poem Canada, she creates the picture of a beautiful free new beginning for even the lowest of men, and meanwhile states that such a land is blessed (Moodie 25.) Her allusion to the noble vanishing Indian and the empty wasteland, I do not think that she was aware of. The empty wasteland allusion is made amidst cultural warnings of lack of what she would call “civilization.” Meanwhile the discussion of “The Noble Indian is so quickly mentioned in passing, that it was as if she was helping in vanishing “The Indian” from Canada’s History.

The stories that Moodie re-erects through Thomas King’s work in dead-dog cafe are ones of colonialism and the same optimism that she brings to her introduction of “Roughing It In The Bush.” She says things like, “We’re on an adventure,” which is well suited for her role in the story considering that she is characterized as a tourist (King, 158).

Works cited:

King, Thomas. Green Grass, Running Water. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Print.

Firstly, let me apologize for posting this late. I have been through a lot of stress this this week. Case and point, my cabin on Ruxton Island almost collapsed and I’ve had to move out of it to Coquitlam.

Now for this weeks assignment:

John Lutz’s article, “First Contact As A Spiritual Performance: Encounters on the North American West Coast” is not as thought out as it could be and is full of assumptions and at least one contradiction that undermines his own argument.

Lutz assumes that the participation of Indigenous peoples in spiritual performances during first contact  is difficult for his readers to comprehend, he assumes that his readers are of European descent. This is not a fair assumption because the majority of people reading his work are most likely students, and in British Columbia over twenty percent of students attending post secondary institutions are international students, the majority of which are of Asian descent. Meanwhile  according to articles from popular news sources such as the Globe And Mail and Maclean’s Magazine approximately forty percent of UBC students are of Asian descent. Other Universities in Canada share similar statistics such as the University of Toronto. News sources tend to bend the truth so those statistics may not be completely accurate, but that is not the point. The point is that in an age where UBC prides itself for being the most International university in Canada, Lutz’s assumptions do not fit in.

Lutz’s assumption that Indigenous peoples understand performances of people of European descent better than vice versa is fair, but not completely thought out. The reason that Lutz gives is that the mythical identity of ‘the European’ in Indigenous cultures was force-ably shifted over a long period of time due to the implementation of European superiority over other cultures in Christian European spirituality. Meanwhile it is that same idea of superiority over other cultures that has kept those of European descent from understanding Indigenous spirituality and mythical performance such as contact zones fully.  The part of the his assumption that is not thought out is that he states that ALL people of European descent could not understand Indigenous performance fully. As people of European descent read his essay and understand it, they either begin or continue the process of decolonizing their outlooks. These outlooks make up part of their mythic identity as people whose ancestors were colonizers, and those mythic identities are shifted. Lutz undermines his own argument.

Professor Paterson is being fair when she points out Lutz’s assumptions. As an academic, Lutz is accountable for the research that he publishes an is released to the world. As we remember from an earlier week this term, once a story is told, it cannot be taken back.

Works Cited:

It was very interesting reading everyone’s ideas about home and I am honored to share a class with so many accomplished writers. For this post I am going to focus on Chloe Lee’s Blog, Hope Prince’s Blog, and Jenny Bachynski’s Blog. All three of those blogs share much in common. For instance all three students write that home is less about where you are but whom you are with. They also state in their individual voices that home evolves over time and that it is made up of stories. Below are the shared assumptions that these students have of home, what I believe are their shared values, and some stories that they share. Following that is a commentary of what I discovered while reading the class’s blogs about home.

Shared Assumptions:

• Home is not a place, it is an idea
• Home evolves over the passage of time
• Ideas of home changed when some of us began University
• Childhood definitions of home are usually much simpler than those that we understand as adults
• We all make internal stories about what we believe is home
• Sense of familiarity is part of home

Shared Values:

• Seeking Control or Stability In Life
• Family
• The Pursuit of Happiness
• Childhood Nostalgia
• Independence

Shared Stories:

• The idea of home evolved when moving to a different place because of lack of familiarity.
• With age home became less a place and more an idea, or choices made.
• While family is important, independence and adventure are celebrated and enjoyed
• Home was not always comfortable, but still held its meaning.

Commentary:

Besides the blogs above, a lot of class members also have similar senses of home. It is of general consensus that home is understood as an idea rather than a place. A lot of us value family, and a lot of us are nostalgic for the simplicity of childhood. Home and childhood seem interconnected somehow, perhaps because the memory of childhood is tied to familiarity, and familiarity is part of the idea of home. What stands out among the group is that the majority of the people in the class seemingly had stable childhoods, but a few of us did not. Home for those people who experienced childhood adversity is not the same as for those who experienced stable childhoods. The idea of home becomes less stable with adversity, and self-worth is threatened with lack of stability.

I would like to thank the class for taking the time to write honestly about happy times an hard times. Some stories are difficult to read and send us into a flurry of emotions, while others lift us up and put smiles on our faces.

Lastly, I’m glad that this assignment did not end up with lots of people writing the stereotype, “There’s no place like home.”

(Giphy, 2016.)

Works Cited:

Bachynski, Jenny. “Shifting: Assignment 2:2.” Canadian Studies Exploring Genres through Canadian Literature. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.

Giphy, “There’s No Place Like Home” http://giphy.com/search/theres-no-place-like-home. Accessed October 2, 2016.

Lee, Chloe. “2.2 Home.” Chloe’s Blog For English 470.  N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.

Prince, Hope. “Lesson 2:1 – Assignment 2:2.” Hope Prince – English 470 Canadian Studies Blog.  N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.