My letter to Attawapiskat's Chief Theresa Spence

I was going to write about the unusual series of events which have propelled the Attiwapiskat First Nation's situation into the public spotlight, when I received this post:

http://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.com/2011/12/brave-leadership-spreads-hope.html and if that won't work for you, go to: http://tinyurl.com/cs3tyo7.

Either link will take you to the well-written and well-researched blog of Prof. Pam Palmater who has recently come forward as a powerful voice for the First Peoples. Prof. Palmeter offers the history with well-researched background, plus current reviews of the struggle this small First Peoples community has engaged in over the past several weeks.

So I am going to write a public letter to Attawapiskat's Chief Theresa Spence, instead.

Dear Chief Spence and my dear Sister, Neighbour and Fellow-Inhabitant of this part of Turtle Island, your homeland:

Thank you for your courage and fortitude as you stand firm in support of your people and your home territory.

I am following events carefully, as you exert the sovereign power shared by you and your people under the Royal Proclamation of 1763.

Prof. Palmeter has spoken very clearly of the historic stand you are taking, and as a woman born in this territory in 1922 who only came into contact with your people about 40 years ago, I can't tell you how pleased I am to see this happening.

I came upon your people for the first time in 1966 when I went to live in Manitowaning on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. In 1985, I wrote:

He sat silently in my car, his shoulders hunched against the hopelessness which seemed to pervade his fourteen years of life. In a few minutes he would go back into the house to face his alcoholic father, listless mother and six younger brothers and sisters. What sort of future lay ahead for this Odawa teenager? I was certain there could be something better but it had to start with his knowing that he was worthy.

I spoke quietly but with all the conviction I could muster.

“You are Indian, and that’s a beautiful, wonderful thing to be,” I told him. “You have so much to offer the world as an Indian person and your people need you to help them to know how important and vital it is to be Indian. Wherever you go, whatever you do, always hold your head high and be proud of your Indian heritage. It’s what makes you a very special person – to your people, to me, to the Creator.”

He got out of the car and went into the house, still without speaking a word. I didn’t know if he had listened or understood. I didn’t see him again and I don’t know where he is now. But I think I see his face in many of the young Indian leaders who have begun to assert their right to take control of their own lives, so dearly lost over the centuries since the immigrant settlers came to their aboriginal homeland. [From: The Anglican Church of Canada "LIVING MESSAGE", April 1985]

At that time, I was just beginning to learn something of the true history of this place I call "my country - my native land" - Canada. Since then, I have learned so much more as I have been privileged to sit among the First Peoples to listen to the Elders (who are the "history books" of your thousands of years of life in this territory).

In the intervening years, nothing has happened to change my growing awareness of our shared history, much of which is contained in Prof. Palmeter's blog. I have learned so much about the true history of the country I know as Canada - the place of my birth and life for almost 90 years - as I have been allowed to walk in solidarity with your people through many good teachings and sacred circles, in a number of encounters on burial sites and protest marches, and finally to attempt to work in support of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission in my region of southern Ontario. Your people have tried to teach me the Ojibwe language, and have nurtured me through talking circles, sharing deep friendships, and supporting me in many ways throughout my life, and I am eternally grateful.

Now you are asserting your sovereignty, and I want you to know that once again, I stand beside you, so happy that you are giving your people that kind of leadership. And I rejoice that you have the support of so many of your people across the country, from the Assembly of First Nations, and your regional Nishnabe Aski Nation, and your local Mushkegowuk Council, and now I see the United Nations has come in on your side with the attention of James Anaya, UN special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples telling the Federal government that he will be watching what happens in your territory. http://tinyurl.com/7mszwq3

I see also that you have filed for an injunction against the third-party manager, another sign of your acknowledgement of your people's sovereign rights, so good for you on that score too!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/attawapiskat-band-files-injunction-to-end-control-of-third-party-manager/article2272787/ or http://tinyurl.com/6pdcg6q

 

I regret that my leaders have to be called to account in this way, but it is time for us to begin to understand and accept that we must find a way to negotiate a new relationship with the First Peoples of this part of Turtle Island, and so I thank you for leading the way.

As we approach this sacred time of year, may you and your people know something of the warmth and love that comes from contact with people who care about you, and may the coming year guide us into new ways of achieving a relationship of harmony, equality and justice.

Your loving friend and sister in the human family,

Jean Koning.

My call to revolution

How to prevent native uprising - Winnipeg Free Press

This article by Douglas Bland speaks to me of a militaristic view of the relationship between the First Peoples and the Rest of Us, following the theme of his book, “Uprising”. http://koningskomments.blogspot.com/2010/07/uprising-by-douglas-bland.html

As I am sure I have said elsewhere, I believe it is only because of the restraining voices of First Peoples Elders, plus the damage we have inflicted over the years on the self-confidence and self-respect of First Peoples brothers and sisters, that the young people have not become more militant during recent years.

Meanwhile, the past week’s media revelations re the Attawapiskat situation brings before us the appalling conditions faced by First Peoples youth in their homelands, so I ask how you could blame them if they begin to lash out at us. To date, their “lashing out” is lateral – they hit upon themselves with suicide and drug use, and upon one another with the violence we see reported regularly within First Nations communities. These are the actions of people who have no hope. We are the criminals for allowing those situations to continue, year after year, unabated because we think we don’t know what to do, so we simply pretend it isn’t there.

But there are things we can do. We can become aware of fellow human beings whose ancestors have lived in these lands we know as Canada since time immemorial (and please don’t come back with the old saw about “they came across the Bering Sea”. That’s a cop-out and you know it.)

Canada has a history that reaches back into the centuries, and we need to know that history. Canadian history did not start with the arrival of the Vikings, or Columbus, or Champlain. At least by the time we reach Champlain, we can see that he recognized he was in the homeland of people who were resident here before his time.

But I have been saying these things ad nauseum for many years, and I’m still having to say it – so I don’t know why I bother if no one is listening.

But I keep holding onto hope – hope that one day, enough people are going to hear about this reality that they will begin to study, ask questions and find out about the history we share with the First Peoples in whose homeland we now dwell. I have hope that enough of us will begin to sit down with First Peoples and begin to listen to them – their stories, their history, their lives, and I pray they have the guts to ask First Peoples to help us to find a way to bring our relationship back into balance, so that each of us sees the other as fully equal
.

That won’t happen, however, unless we can admit that we don’t know everything, we are not superior to First Peoples, and that we really need to ask them, with respect and true regret for past mistakes, to let us be their friends. That calls for a massive change in our thinking, in our thought processes – such a huge change that it is in effect revolutionary.

We are the ones that have to engage in revolution - a revolutionary change in our thinking about our relationship with the First Peoples of Turtle Island..  I invite you to think about it.

PROS AND CONS OF THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT

An article in the University of Western Ontario's WESTERN NEWS by professor Bernie Hammond in praise of the “eloquence of the Occupy movement” http://tinyurl.com/7tsuqqu prompted psychology emeritus professor Heinz Klatt to compose a response: http://tinyurl.com/86qkw3h.

Professor Klatt, who has taught the study of political correctness at UWO in recent years, but not without controversy, it would seem (http://tinyurl.com/6pv85mf) writes, with a somewhat jaundiced eye, that he does not remember “encountering a political movement as inarticulate and vapid as the one that now stains and soils our central city parks.” He was speaking of OCCUPY London (ON), which lasted until Mayor Joe Fontana ordered them out. http://tinyurl.com/7fnypfq

Klatt admits he is not an economist (neither am I), so he has only a “vague understanding” of what the numbers quoted by Hammond mean, but he offers some numbers of his own. “...the vilified 1 per cent pays 38 per cent of all income taxes and the bottom 50 per cent pay no more than 3 percent of taxes collected, (so the omission of these numbers makes reprehensible propaganda of the analysis of my colleague. I am afraid,” he adds, “this form of political, leftist activism is representative of the thinking in the social justice and peace studies that professor Hammond co-ordinates.”

Personally, I don't want to get caught up in quoting numerical statistics, because I really don't understand any of them.

However, what I do understand is that there have been a number of people over the past two months or so who have come together to say, loud and clear, “we're mad as hell and and we're not going to take it any more”.

That's not very sophisticated language, I'll admit, nor does it seem like the sort of thought-provoking idea that would create reverberations within the ivy walls of academia, but I think it is authentic language in use at this moment by people who have begun to realize that they are being sold a bill of goods by others, and they are determined to find a better way. (Also not clear academic language, but it's a beginning of something worthy of recognition.)

I'm willing to accept that not everyone, including professor Klatt, wants to enter into dialogue with me or others on this somewhat nebulous subject, and perhaps that will change as some of us become more articulate, providing people like the professor are willing to listen with open minds.

However, I must call Klatt on his statement concerning “aboriginals in Caledonia”. “Nobody should be allowed to violate our laws, neither the Tamils in Toronto, nor the aboriginal in Caledonia and elsewhere ... , for whatever cause.”

If we are going to talk about violating laws, then we must consider the Canadian government's neglect of Indigenous treaty rights over the many years of our relationship with the First Peoples of Turtle Island. It is this ignorance of the reality of that relationship which the Truth & Reconciliation Commission was mandated – under Canadian law - to investigate through listening to and recording the truth-telling in which we are currently engaged. I would recommend that Professor Klatt take some time to inform himself of this reality.

I can appreciate that there are many frustrations among many Canadians who do not seem to be able to hear what OCCUPY participants are trying to say at this moment. But I would suggest that it is time for us to take the time to try to listen.

If we are now living in warm houses, able to eat nutritious and delicious food, wear fashionable clothes, pay all our bills at the end of the month, and reflect on our retirement plans with pleasure, then I suggest it wouldn't be too much to ask to try to listen to our neighbours who are not in the same position.

Politically correct or not, it is the neighbourly thing to do.

(end)

OCCUPY and MY PARISH CHURCH

It was my intention to go to Toronto today to visit OCCUPY in St. James Park and the Cathedral, but my plans changed and I attended the regular worship service here at All Saints' Anglican Church, Peterborough, instead.

And I'm glad I did, for a couple of reasons. There was no heat in the church, so we worshipped in the parish hall next door (which was the original church building,) so it was easily converted, but also provided a different feel to the regular Sunday morning worship time – cosier, somehow, and people seemed friendlier. In fact, there was an air of “messy church”, which was fun, but everything went off without a hitch, including a newborn being baptized.

The other reason was Fr. Bill Gray's homily, based on the scripture readings for the day from Ephesians and Matthew, with a strong link made between the words of Matthew 25:31-46 and the OCCUPY Toronto movement.

Nodding of heads around me indicated I have not been alone in following news reports of Dean Douglas Stoute's words quoted last week when asked about the OCCUPY folk camped outside in the Cathedral park. “While some church neighbours are unhappy with the occupation, members of the general public have been 'overwhelmingly' supportive of the Occupy Toronto message, Stoute said. This is not about a tidy park: It's about social and economic dysfunction and injustice."

There are many issues, Fr. Bill said, and the message may be unfocussed, “but someone, somewhere, needs to make a statement that forces (causing the issues) need to be reined in.” We need to understand that we are vulnerable in the face of those forces”.

Today's Gospel tells of Jesus' parable about those who will inherit the kingdom. “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” And when did we do those things? “And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

Today we celebrate the Reign of Christ, so we are reminded that this charge is not only to us as individuals, but also to us as community, and not only the church but all nations, for this is “a universal problem”. Fr. Bill added: “I don't know what to wish for tomorrow. I know that we here at All Saints' want to support all efforts to support other people. We want to assure that Chloe, as she is baptized here today,” will grow up in a world where love and justice are possible for all people.

Fr. Bill also told the congregation that Archbishop Colin Johnson has now given permission for All Saints', Peterborough, to bless same-sex unions. This will be the only Anglican church in the Trent-Durham region authorized to offer such blessing, so we will reach out to all people in our area.

Now we await the judge's announcement tomorrow to know what will happen with OCCUPY Toronto. It is somewhat reassuring to know that some of the Toronto City councillors also support the OCCUPY movement.

And as I write, I have received the following message:

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: MICHAEL POLANYI <michaelpolanyi@rogers.com>
Date: Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 7:10 AM
Subject: Upcoming Faith-related Occupy Toronto Actions - please SHARE
To: "michaelpolanyi@rogers.com" <michaelpolanyi@rogers.com>
[Please note the date so # 1 and 2 are already out of date.]

Dear Friends:

Thirty people from various faith communities met last night at the Church of Holy Trinity with members of Occupy Toronto.

We discussed ways to support Occupy Toronto and its call for justice on the eve of a possible forceful eviction.

Here are five ways we are calling on people of faith to show solidarity in the coming days:

1. Prepare to provide a peaceful witness should the eviction occur by signing up for a 2-hour training in faith-based non-violent action training TOMORROW (Friday) at 4-6 pm at St. James Park

2. Publicly demonstrate our solidarity with Occupy Toronto and opposition to a forced eviction by joining the mass rally and march to City Hall on Saturday at 2 pm. Meet at St. James Park. If you can't make it in person call or email Mayor Rob Ford and your City Councillor urging them not to forcibly evict the protestors but to work towards a peaceful, mutually agreeable way forward.

3. Monitor the news and social media and join our urgent-response phone tree in order to be ready to go to St. James Park should an eviction begin (most like to happen during the night). Send your cell-phone number to Alexa at minister@windermerechurch.ca to receive a call/text should eviction begin.

4. Show solidarity by attending the Faith Outreach Day at St. James Park on Sunday, November 27. Email Bob at bobmce2002@yahoo.com for more information.

5. Donate or volunteer time or money to Occupy Toronto. They now accept donations through Alterna Savings (Danforth Branch, Account # 5025569). They also need donations on-site of hot or non-perishable food, sleeping bags, warm clothing and more (see www.occuptyto.org). They always need volunteers to help cook and serve meals and help in other ways. They appreciate the presence and listening ear of clergy and members of faith communities.

Finally, please join us at the next Faith and Occupy Toronto meeting on Wednesday, December 7 at 7 pm (location TBA).

Peace, and hope to see you soon,

Michael Polanyi

Lyn Adamson

[end]

So I'm thinking that my parish church is not going to be standing alone in the call for support for OCCUPY Toronto. And I'm very happy about that.

(end)

[Please feel free to share this message as you wish.]

THIRD WORLD CANADA, an Andree Cazabon film

THIRD WORLD CANADA, a film by Gemini nominee and inspirational speaker Andree Cazabon, was viewed by a capacity audience at last week's Reframe Film Festival in Peterborough.

The hour-long film is not easy viewing. It tells the story of eight children, orphaned when their parents and step-father all committed suicide, and how their lives continue while the community learns to cope with the tragedy. The Chief and people of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nations (Big Trout Lake) in north-western Ontario, struggle to survive in their homeland against the inroads of mining companies, and the oppressive Indian Act legislation which prevents them from achieving a stable, sustainable life for their children.

This film premiered in both Ottawa and Toronto at the end of last year, with reports that as the lights came up, the large audiences sat in stunned silence, as if unable to comprehend what they had just seen. By contrast, when Andree took the microphone for a question and answer session immediately following the viewing in Peterborough, people were ready to talk. What made the difference?

The Peterborough audience, in fact, had been viewing films during the previous 24 hours that showed children living in poverty and oppressive conditions all around the world. Now they were confronted with children living in the same kind of poverty and devastation in our own country, our own province, so they were ready to ask: “What can we do to help?”

Andree did not offer them easy answers, but challenged them to explore for themselves how they were going to help. “This film was not made for the government,” Andree said,” but for all of us. I'll put it back to you: are you willing to let this continue to happen? Our government is an extension of our values,” she told us. “When we demand changes, our government will respond.”

Although a young woman and single mom, Andree has already achieved notable success with her films seen by over one million viewers on CBC-Newsworld, Radio-Canada, and CBC Television. Now she has committed herself to helping the KI Youth to tell their story across the country, convinced that when people sit face to face to listen to the stories, we will find ways to work together towards healing and reconciliation.

“The voice of the Drum has been re-awakened,” Andree told her listeners. “We would love to see the Youth and the Drum travel across the country to bring awareness to the needs of the northern First Nations communities.” Quoting Mike Hardy, executive director of Tikinagan Child & Family Services, she said they don't need the “great white hope to come in and fix things” for them. We need to let people know what they need, and how they can help, and how we can work together. This will be the purpose of the first leg of a train tour which Andree hopes to launch this spring.

Time was up in the theatre, so people followed Andree into the lobby to offer help. Names and e-mails were exchanged, and as the Train Tour Task Force begins to take shape, there will be further announcements about where you can come to meet with and listen to the Youth of the North – to share their dream for a future of respect, peace and friendship.

Check the web site: http://www.andreecazabon.ca and thanks for listening,

Jean.