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Ethical Standards through FNMI perspectives

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Ethical Standards through FNMI perspectives

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Talking Circles Overview from the First Nations Pedagogy Online Project

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Talking Circles or Circle Talks are a foundational approach to First Nations pedagogy-in-action since they provide a model for an educational activity that encourages dialogue, respect, the co-creation of learning content, and social discourse. The nuance of subtle energy created from using this res…

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How the Indian Act continues to impact the lives of First Nation people

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How the Indian Act continues to impact the lives of First Nation people

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Originally published on June 19, 2020.

There is no piece of legislation that has had more of an influence on the lives of First Nation people in Canada than the Indian Act.

Originally passed in 1878, the Indian Act outlines everything from the current reserve structure, to the creation of residential schools.

In 2015, author Bob Joseph wrote a viral blog post called, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act. He has since turned it into a book. This week, Joseph will serve as an Indian Act tour guide.

Wolastoqew artist Emma Hassencahl-Perley examines identity in her work, and in particular, how the Indian Act impacts her life as a First Nation woman. She'll describe her art piece Ahtolimiye (she keeps praying), which is a jingle dress that incorporates pieces of the Indian Act.

Before an amendment to the Indian Act was passed in 1986, First Nation women lost their status if they married a non-First Nation man. Lynn Gehl has been at the forefront of changing this, and spent years trying to get her status back, and fighting the residual sex-based discrimination in the amendment.

Enfranchisement is the legal process by which First Nation people give up their Indian Status, for the promise of gaining the same rights as non-Indigenous Canadians. In 1958, the Michel Band in Alberta was the first community to entirely enfranchise. Band member Celina Loyer tells the story of how that happened, and how the community is still trying to be recognized by the federal government.

While some First Nation people continue to fight to get their status back, others have given it up. Hear how Isaac Murdoch, from Serpent River First Nation, was inspired by the words of his mother and Nelson Mandela to distance himself from the Indian Act.

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How the Indian Act continues to impact the lives of First Nation people | CBC Radio

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There is no piece of legislation that has had more of an influence on the lives of First Nation people in Canada than the Indian Act. Originally passed in 1878, the Indian Act outlines everything from the current reserve structure, to the creation of residential schools.

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1. Bill Reid (born 12 January 1920; died 13 March 1991; Haida)

Reid studied art in Toronto and London, England before returning to Vancouver to create large sculptures that celebrated Haida culture. His work earned international respect and several high-profile commissions. His most notable pieces were the four-tonne Raven and the First Humans done for the University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology; a whale called The Chief of the Undersea World done for the Vancouver Aquarium; and Spirit of Haida Gwaii, majestic canoeists that now grace the grand entry of the Canadian embassy in Washington. His sculptures renewed interest in Northwest Pacific Coast Indigenous art and culture and his political advocacy brought attention to Indigenous issues.

2. Daphne Odjig (born 11 September 1919; died 1 October 2016; Anishinaabe)

Beginning in the 1960s, Odjig's expressive, richly colourful paintings spoke to Indigenous history, spirituality, and the beauty of nature. In the 1970s, Odjig's large murals became increasingly popular, and her collage entitled Earth Mother was prominently displayed at the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 70 in Japan. In 1974, she opened the New Warehouse Gallery, the first Indigenous-owned art gallery in Canada. It became a meeting place for emerging Indigenous artists who, with Odjig, were called The Indian Group of Seven. They advanced respect for contemporary Indigenous art. Her later work became even more experimental and distinct in its representations of Anishinaabe stories and legends.

3. Norval Morrisseau (born 14 March 1932; died 4 December 2007; Anishinaabe)

Morrisseau was a member of the Indian Group of Seven and creator of the Woodlands School artistic genre. He used bright colours to express traditional Indigenous stories and spirituality. His 1962 exhibition at Toronto's Pollock Gallery made Morrisseau the first artist of First Nations ancestry to break through the Canadian professional white-art barrier. Morrisseau became a national figure while advancing interest in Indigenous art. His work joined that of eight other Indigenous artists at the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 67. His 1968 Windigo and Other Tales of the Ojibways portrayed Anishinaabe legends and increased the popularity of his work that remains permanently displayed in prominent art galleries across Canada.

4. Frieda Diesing (born 2 June 1925; died December 2002; Haida)

Diesing brought a pride in her Haida culture to her creation of jewellery, blankets, and masks. At age 42, she carved her first totem pole that, in 1974, was erected in Prince Rupert, where she had been born. She went on to carve more totem poles while instructing others how to carve. By the 1980s, her totem poles were standing tall in public outdoor places and in galleries and museums across Canada. Her stunning exhibition, Legacy - Tradition and Innovation in Northwest Coast Indian Art, toured the world, teaching all who marvelled at the power and beauty of her art about the rich Haida culture and history.

5. Kenojuak Ashevak (born 3 October; died 8 January 2013; Inuk)

Ashevak's early work portrayed etchings of animals and birds in vibrant colours and forms that seemed to blend into nature and each other. Her work gained immediate attention in the late 1950s and increased interest in the North and in Indigenous art. She was also a sculptor and designer of blankets and stained-glass windows. She created a large and vibrant mural that was displayed at the 1970 World's Fair in Japan. Her Enchanted Owl(1960) was used on a stamp to celebrate the Northwest Territories' centennial. Ashevak's later work became more stylized and challenging, such as the dog-man-dragon represented in the widely respected Dog Mother Shaman Transformation. A founding member of Cape Dorset's famed printmaking co-op, Ashevak was the subject of one of Historica Canada's Heritage Minutes in 2016.

6. Allen Sapp (born 2 January 1929; died 29 December 2015; Cree)

After years of struggling to promote interest in his art, a 1969 showing at Saskatoon's Mendel Art Gallery sparked a national then international appreciation for the manner in which Sapp's oil and acrylic paintings reflected a reverence for Indigenous spirituality, traditions and the land. His work speaks of family, community, pride and the sadness of loss. Sapp and his art became the subject of books and films. He was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, earned the Saskatchewan Award of Merit and the Order of Canada; all of which reflected his significance in bringing Indigenous stories to a wide and appreciative audience.

7. Kent Monkman (born 13 November; Cree)

Monkman's work depicts serious issues such as the settlers' contact with Indigenous peoples, attacks on Indigenous traditions and the depiction of homosexuality, but always in ironic, satirical ways. Large canvasses reveal startling colour and multiple characters in a style reminiscent of 19th-century Western romantic art. For example, Monkman presented an exhibit in 2017 that included The Daddies. It harkened to the Robert Harris portrait of the Fathers of Confederation but had them in a circle leering at a naked Indigenous woman. Monkman's work is displayed in Canadian galleries and internationally. He has earned many awards and is respected as one of the most important artists of his generation.

8. Christi Belcourt (born September 1966; Métis)

While primarily a painter, Belcourt also works with copper, clay, birch bark and other natural materials to create art that speaks to Indigenous traditions, spirituality, knowledge and respect for the earth. Her work is displayed at galleries across Canada. Her stunning stained glass piece, Giniigaaniimenaaning (Looking Ahead),that commemorates residential school survivors is permanently installed at the main entrance at the Parliament Building's Centre Block. Her blending art with political activism was seen in 2012, when she began Walking With Our Sisters, which involved 1,500 artists in an exhibit that toured the world for over seven years, bringing attention to the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Poitras earned a Bachelor of Science degree, but then devoted her life to art and studied printmaking, painting and sculpture at Columbia University. Her work combines Indigenous history and cultures with contemporary Western artistic styles such as combining photographs with text. A Sacred Prayer for a Sacred Island (1991), for example, presents an eagle feather with a five-dollar bill, blending the sacred Indigenous symbol with the Canadian government's annual treaty annuity. She remarked, "I didn't intend to be political. But somebody has to be the troublemaker and it might as well be me." Her work is enjoyed at galleries across Canada and around the world.

10. Alan Syliboy (born 8 September 1952; Mi'kmaq)

Syliboy's nationally and internationally respected art, music, books, and films express his search for family and identity within the celebration of Mi'kmaq traditions and spiritualism. In 2018, Syliboy presented a mixed-media exhibit inspired by the Mi'kmaq legend of Thunder teaching his son, Little Thunder, that he must accept his responsibilities. Expanding on the exhibit, he illustrated and wrote the book, The Thundermaker, in both English and Mi'kmaq. The bestselling book was shortlisted for First Nations Reads. Syliboy was presented with the Queens Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002.

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Reid studied art in Toronto and London, England before returning to Vancouver to create large sculptures that celebrated Haida culture. His work earned international respect and several high-profile commissions.

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21 Things you may not know about the Indian Act

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21 Things you may not know about the Indian Act

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OPINION | 21 things you may not know about the Indian Act | CBC News

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The Indian Act imposed great personal and cultural tragedy on First Nations, many of which continue to affect communities, families and individuals today. Here are 21 restrictions imposed at some point by the Indian Act in its 140 years of existence.

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CONTRARY WARRIOR :The Life & Times of Adam Fortunate Eagle

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Mapping

We strive to map Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages across the world in a way that goes beyond colonial ways of thinking in order to better represent how Indigenous people want to see themselves.

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Native Land is a resource to learn more about Indigenous territories, languages, lands, and ways of life. We welcome you to our site.

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Dr. Dion - The Historical Timeline as A Lesson

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Dr. Dion - The Historical Timeline as A Lesson

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Dr. Susan Dion - The Historical Timeline as Lesson

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INDIGENOUS WORLDVIEWS VS WESTERN WORLDVIEWS

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INDIGENOUS WORLDVIEWS VS WESTERN WORLDVIEWS

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"Any individual within a culture is going to have his or her own personal interpretation of the collective cultural code; however, the individual's world view has its roots in the culture - that is, in the society's shared philosophy, values and customs. If we are to understand how Aboriginal and Eurocentric worldviews clash, we need to understand how the philosophy, values and customs of Aboriginal culture differ from those of Eurocentric cultures" [1]

The world we live in is multicultural with a corresponding plethora of worldviews. In this article, we provide a definition of "worldviews" and a comparison of Indigenous and Western worldview perspectives. Understanding the core differences between Indigenous worldviews and Western worldviews is an important component in achieving cultural harmony and respectful relationships. We are speaking in very general terms in the description of these differences and are in no way indicating that individual Indigenous cultures share the same worldviews; ditto for generalizations of Western worldviews.

Chief Tony Alexis and Pope Francis in Vatican City 2016 | Vatican Radio Facebook

First of all, what is the definition of a worldview?

"A worldview can pertain to an individual, group, or society. Overall, a worldview is a set of beliefs and values that are honoured and withheld by a number of people. A worldview includes how the person or group interacts with the world around them, including land, animals, and people. Every person and society has a worldview. Many societies pass on their worldview to their children to ensure worldview continuity. As people interact and learn from one another, it is not uncommon for them to acquire the beliefs of other worldviews. Worldviews evolve as people and societies evolve" [2]
Leroy Little Bear, professor

The root of the difference between the worldviews is that they generally subscribe to opposite approaches to knowledge, connectedness, and science. Indigenous cultures focus on a holistic understanding of the whole that emerged from the millennium of their existence and experiences. Traditional Western worldviews tend to be more concerned with science and concentrate on compartmentalized knowledge and then focus on understanding the bigger, related picture.

Eight differences between Indigenous and western worldviews [3]

1.

2.

3.

Indigenous worldview: Society operates in a state of relatedness. Everything and everyone is related. There is a real belief that people, objects and the environment are all connected. Law, kinship and spirituality reinforce this connectedness. Identity comes from connections.
Western worldview: Compartmentalized society, becoming more so.

4.

Indigenous worldview: The land is sacred and usually given by a creator or supreme being.
Western worldview: The land and its resources should be available for development and extraction for the benefit of humans.

5.

6.

7.

8.

It also has been suggested that in any society there is a dominant worldview that is held by most members of that society. Alternative worldviews do exist, but they are not usually held by the majority of society. [4]

"We must learn to live together or perish together as fools."
Martin Luther King Jr.

Understanding and respecting the differences in worldviews will help in relationship-building between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. So, if you ever find yourself in a situation in which you encounter an opposing worldview and are perhaps not quite understanding it, we suggest you open the "curiosity" portal in your mind and try really hard to see across worldviews. This is what is meant by cultural competency.

This is a very brief description of the basic differences between Indigenous Peoples' worldviews and western worldviews. We encourage readers to do further reading to expand their knowledge of the topics we present on our blog.

[1] John Ralston Saul, The Comeback

[2] Teaching Treaties website

[3] Adapted from Working with Aboriginal Worldviews, Anne Mead

[4] Journal of Indigenous Voices in Social Work

Understanding the historical and ongoing impacts of the Indian Act is a key component for reconciliation. Our book, 21 Things You May Not Know About The Indian Act, provides that understanding.

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Indigenous Worldviews vs Western Worldviews

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"Any individual within a culture is going to have his or her own personal interpretation of the collective cultural code; however, the individual's world view has its roots in the culture - that is, in the society's shared philosophy, values and customs. If we are to understand how Aboriginal and Eurocentric worldviews clash, we need to understand how the philosophy, values and customs of Aboriginal culture differ from those of Eurocentric cultures" [1] The world we live in is multicultural with a corresponding plethora of worldviews.

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Reconciliation Is Dead: RCMP Invade Unist'ot'en Territory

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Reconciliation Is Dead: RCMP Invade Unist'ot'en Territory

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Reconciliation Is Dead: RCMP Invade Unist'ot'en Territory

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“A Lament for Confederation” a speech by Chief Dan George in 1967

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“A Lament for Confederation” a speech by Chief Dan George in 1967

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Here is what Sir John A. Macdonald did to Indigenous people

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Here is what Sir John A. Macdonald did to Indigenous people

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Of course, all this was happening in an era that was comparatively brutal almost everywhere

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Right now, Canada is experiencing another spasm of controversy over the legacy of its first prime minister, John A. Macdonald. Although he undoubtedly laid the foundations of modern Canada, he also personally set in motion all the most damaging elements of Canadian Indigenous policy.

Here, in brief, is an accounting of the toll that Macdonald had on Canada's First Nations.
"I have reason to believe that the agents as a whole ... are doing all they can, by refusing food until the Indians are on the verge of starvation, to reduce the expense," Macdonald told the House of Commons in 1882.

It's one of the most damning quotations ever attributed to Macdonald. And yet, in the parliament record it's immediately followed by an even more damning comment as the Liberal opposition benches accuse Macdonald of not starving Indians enough.

"No doubt the Indians will bear a great degree of starvation before they will work, and so long as they are certain the Government will come to their aid they will not do much for themselves," said David Mills, who had served as minister of the interior under the Liberal government of Alexander Mackenzie.

"Indian matters ... form so great a portion of the general policy of the Government that I think it necessary for the Prime Minister, whoever he may be, to have that in his own hands." Macdonald wrote in 1881.

In government archives, Daschuk found ample primary evidence showing that Macdonald's Indian agents explicitly withheld food in order to drive bands onto reserve and out of the way of the railroad. A Liberal MP at the time even called it "a policy of submission shaped by a policy of starvation."

But the hunger did not stop under government care. In some cases, it got worse. Reserves were equipped with meagre agricultural equipment and relocated natives were expected to immediately grow enough food to sustain themselves.

The policy was an almost total failure, and when reserves inevitably began to tip back into famine, Indian agents kept rations low enough to ensure constant hunger and discourage the expectation of "gratuitous assistance" from Ottawa.

Even then, food provided was often rancid thanks to corrupt suppliers. In one case mentioned in the House of Commons, "flour" provided to a starving Cree reserve was nothing more than sweepings from a grist mill. In 1883, tainted government flour killed up to 20 people at what is now Alberta's Kainai First Nation.

The squalid conditions ensured that Macdonald spent much of the 1880s overseeing near-constant famines and epidemics on federally controlled reserves. In only five years between 1880 and 1885, the population of Plains First Nations dropped from 32,000 to 20,000, according to analysis by the Cree-Saulteaux academic Blair Stonechild,

"In the (United States) the Indian was the prey of the frontiersman and the cattle driver, in Canada he has been the prey of the government," Liberal MP Malcolm Cameron told the House of Commons in 1886. He charged Macdonald of being "culpably negligent" in his duties to the Indians.

Even fellow Conservative began to turn on Macdonald. In 1886, Northwest Territories politician Thomas Jackson, a self-described "follower of Sir John Macdonald for twenty-five years", told an outraged crowd of seeing starving, half-frozen Cree turned away by government agents at Fort Qu'Appelle.

"In the case of one Indian... within two months seven of his children died because they had not the necessaries of life," he said.

Jackson had particular venom for Macdonald's Indian Commissioner, Edgar Dewdney. "He has raised a bitter feeling that will not be eradicated for generations; he has taught the Indians to fight against the government, " said Jackson.

Regardless, even in a Canada that had just outlawed public hangings, authorities made absolutely sure that their death would be a spectacle.

"The executions of the Indians ... ought to convince the Red Man that the White Man governs," Macdonald wrote to Edgar Dewdney.

Macdonald's staunchest defenders do not deny that he embodied a belief system that would today be called white nationalism. Among white society in the Victoria-era British Empire, it was a mainstream belief that it was a morally righteous thing to supplant Indigenous nations with European civilization. Even the Victorian equivalent of a social justice campaigner would have wanted Christ, assimilation and "uplift" for Indigenous peoples, not a retention of their existing culture.

If a Canadian government was carrying out Macdonald's policies today, there's no question it would instantly become an international pariah. Daschuk uses the term "ethnic cleansing" to refer to Macdonald's intentional removal of Indian bands from southern Saskatchewan. He notes that it's no accident that there are virtually no Saskatchewan native reserves along the route of the Canadian Pacific Railroad.

Of course, all this was happening in an era that was comparatively brutal almost everywhere. It was in this same time period that Belgium's King Leopold II turned the Congo into his own personal slave state, killing up to 10 million Africans in the process.

When Macdonald went to London to negotiate the creation of Canada in 1866, British India was still recovering from a famine - exacerbated by colonial inaction - that had killed more than a million people.

The United States, meanwhile, would forcefully seize their country from Indigenous tribes through decades of wars and massacres. Even the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln, brutally put down a Sioux rebellion with a mass-hanging that still ranks as the largest in U.S. history.

"The leading feature of Sir John's Indian policy was to keep the Indian alive during times of scarcity, and gradually wean him from his wild ways into habits of settled industry," wrote a glowing 1891 biography of Macdonald published soon after his death.

Despite Macdonald's "infinite patience" in the matter, however, the book added that Indians had a "peculiar" penchant to "actually allow themselves to die."

Robert Jefferson was a teacher in the Battleford area at the height of Macdonald's policies in the west, and came away with a much more cynical view of what Ottawa had in store for the plains.

"It was not intended that the Indian should become self-supporting," he wrote. "He was only to be kept quiet till the country filled up when his ill will could be ignored."

Beginning in earnest shortly after Macdonald's death, hundreds of thousands of European settlers poured into the prairies. Aside from the occasional arrowhead turned up under their ploughs, they had little knowledge of what Canada had done to prepare the lands for settlement.

As Jefferson predicted, the plight of Canada's Indigenous virtually disappeared from history books, political discourse and the general Canadian consciousness. "For close to a century, to be an Indian was to be invisible, so far as the government and the majority of Canadians were concerned," wrote Richard Gwyn in Nation Maker.

For Macdonald's contemporaries, it would have been clear that their "Old Chieftain" had definitively solved the "Indian Question."

It's reasonable to assume that almost anybody else in the prime minister's chair at the time would have similarly pursued an assimilationist policy against Canada's First Nations. Tellingly, in 1898 Wilfrid Laurier's Liberals would repeal one of Macdonald's few positive legacies for Canadian Indigenous; a slimmed-down voting rights act that had briefly given the franchise to certain Ontario First Nations.

But it's similarly reasonable to believe that another man in Macdonald's place would not have been so cruel.

"He had a deadline," said Daschuk, "and that's why he put the screws on so tight."

* Twitter: TristinHopper | Email: thopper@nationalpost.com

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Here is what Sir John A. Macdonald did to Indigenous people

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Of course, all this was happening in an era that was comparatively brutal almost everywhere Get the latest from Tristin Hopper straight to your inbox Sign Up Right now, Canada is experiencing another spasm of controversy over the legacy of its first prime minister, John A. Macdonald.