Question 4

As I expressed in my 2:2 blog, my initial reaction to Robinson’s story of the stolen scripture was one of frustration and confusion. I felt as though the story conveyed somewhat of a paradoxical message: The Europeans were not Gods chosen people and it was wrong for them to assume so (totally agree)… We (First Nations) are thus morally superior to them (wait… what?). Amid the frustration of writing my 2:2 blog, and in my usual considerate fashion, I took it upon myself to include those closest to me in my suffering. I voiced my displeasure with the story to my parents at dinner, and ignoring history as the greatest indicator of future outcomes, hoped they would tell me how right I was. Predictably, they told me quite the opposite.

The conversation quickly veered away from Robinson’s stories and started pinballing around a variety of issues First Nations peoples face. It was here that I subconsciously found myself relying on stereotypes to prove my point. My father provided me with the most convincing counter. He stated that growing up in a small town, he witnessed many First Nations people fulfill the stereotypes they are often labeled with, and at my age, he was skeptical of what role many of them play in society and the taboo that surrounded the question. However, through experiences dealing with First Nations people in his industry, in addition to his own continued learning on the subject, his perspective changed.

He then asked me how many of the jobs I had worked, especially my newly started career path, were the result of a personal connection to someone. Truthfully, all of them were to some degree. “First Nations people don’t have the benefit of that connection,” he suggested. In a world that favours who you know rather than what you know, it becomes increasingly difficult for those less connected to succeed. That is exactly what has happened to many First Nations people living on reserves, they have become increasingly disconnected from mainstream “Canadian” society. By no control of their own, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to assimilate themselves, or to at least assert themselves in “Canadian” society. As my Dad concluded, this is chiefly the result of the inadequacy of outdated treaties that should never have been signed in the first place, however, the First Nations people at the time really had no choice but do so.

My Dad’s explanation exposed myself to unchartered territory in my thought process surrounding the issue. Moreover, Robinson’s second story Coyote meets the King of England served to contextualize a background to my father’s point. Coyote goes to England to make a law for “white and Indian people… so then our children they can be good”. What ensues is an ultimatum, war or no war, and the resolution there will be no war. What follows is a treaty, but not the one Coyote initially had in mind. A treaty that fell through the hands of several Kings over a long period of time. By the time the treaty is finally enacted by the Queen, Canada is likely a far different place, and European dominance is far more prevalent. Moreover, as Coyote alludes to, the law is to be written in a book, and to be given to the First Nations once they are educated. “They can get good education so they can read that book to understand”. Of course that education would be none other than a European education.  This ties into the story of the stolen scripture, and the loss of stories and literature. The law itself was written by the Europeans, and to be given to First Nations only upon them being “educated” (ie. Having things explained to them by Europeans).

The message the story tries to convey is that despite the early efforts of Coyote to create a society for both the First Nations and Whites, the treaty that emerged was a bastardized version of the original agreement between the two kings, heavily tilted towards European interests. What has ensued in the several hundred years since is exactly what would be expected, a society built on imperial pillars, wherein First Nations beliefs and culture are far from the forefront. Consequently, First Nations generations have, through no control of their own, been engulfed by another society, and forced to adapt from a culture and way of life far different from their own.

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