THE TIME HAS COME -

Yes, the time has come for me to shift gears in my blogging career.

I began this effort as a continuation of my "work", as I have thought of it, to try to tell my fellow settler/newcomer, fellow Canadian citizens that "The First Peoples have some very important things to say to us, and we must learn to listen to them."

For about 50 years, I have been trying to put out this message to anyone who would listen, not trying to "speak for" First Peoples, for that is not necessary; there are many First Peoples who are extremely capable of speaking for themselves, but to say to my people that we must learn to listen..

Over the years, I began to realize that speaking out doesn't have any meaning unless you have hearers who will listen to your words, receive and think about the message so received, and then begin to act on what has been heard - even if "action" means simply trying to comprehend what was said. 

But two years ago, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report, containing 94 Calls to Action.  Since then I have observed a change in my fellow Canadians, as we begin to become aware of the fact that there seems to be a history of a relationship between First Peoples and The Rest of Us (that's you and me), about which we know nothing - or whatever we thought we knew is not the way the First Peoples viewed our co-habitation in this part of Turtle Island we call "Canada".

The result of that new, growing, awareness is causing many of us to begin to think about what we seemed not to know, and there are varying degrees of desire on the part of many of us to begin to think that maybe we should try to find out more.

Thus I see my "work" changing.

Now, I am beginning to have individual persons approach me to say:  Jean, I've never really known anything about "Indians" (or whatever other word they use to describe the people that I call "First Peoples", by which I mean anyone who identifies him/herself to me as "First Peoples" or "Indigenous" or First Nations, Inuit, or Metis, living either on an "Indian Reserve" (as designated by the Indian Act) or "off-reserve", often as our neighbours in towns and cities and in rural areas.


And what I have just written here can be challenged by the same First Peoples I am trying to identify, so I simply emphasize the point I am making for myself; i.e., any person who identifies him or herself to me as one of the original inhabitants of the land in which I have been living for most of my life, I accept as a First Peoples person.

But I digress.  You are saying to me that you think I may have information to share with you.

And I hasten to add that I am more than happy to receive such requests for information, especially as some come from people who have been near and dear to me for many years, or have recently become dear friends, so that is both an honour and a privilege for me to be so approached.

But, as you know, I am getting old, and my energy level is falling - it's not yet gone totally, but I find I do have to conserve energy (which I've never been good at doing, since I love being involved with people), so... but I hope you get the idea.

Thus I am thinking of a new way forward, and I do not yet know what that will be.

Perhaps a new blog, with a new theme to reflect this new reality.  Or perhaps the decision will be made for me, in ways that I do not yet know.

Meanwhile, please know that I have enjoyed writing this blogging effort, amateurish as it is - but more importantly, I have appreciated your interest in reading, and sometimes commenting, on this same effort.

My wish for you is that, if you have now begun to learn about the First Peoples, you will not stop your learning, but that you will benefit, as I have through this past half-century, through the relationships you may be able to enter into with the First Peoples, sharing respect, justice, peace, and friendship, unto the Seventh Generation.  And, if it is possible, I am glad to help with that.

Kaa waab min, farewell, and every blessing,
Jean.
P.S.  There is no word for "goodbye" in Anishinabemowin (Ojibway) - only for "till we meet again". 

The Cree Nation of Eeyou Istchee - The Journey to Self-Governance

The jubilant sense of accomplishment among the people of the IIyuusche Cree Nation of northern Quebec is shared by many of us who have followed this struggle for self-determination for the past 40 years.  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/quebec-cree-governance-funding-agreement-1.4211388

This media story caught my eye for another reason as well.

I happened to be a delegate to the Anglican Church's Algoma Diocesan Synod of 1973 when then Bishop James Watton, of Moosonee Diocese, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James Watton, one of the special guests, spoke to us about the "James Bay Project" as part of the work of the Church in the North.  His notes, found in the Algoma Synod Journal, point out that in that diocese, 98% of "Swampy Cree Indians are Anglican; 80% of these people live in the Province of Quebec".

Watton said the "James Bay Development Company was set up as a Crown company by the Province of Quebec" and eventually Quebec Hydro took over management of the Project.  "Four dams will be built and they are on their second one now".  But there was an "ecological argument", he said.  "The Peoples in the area were never consulted about their feelings toward the project."  A temporary injunction resulted in the province challenging "the Indian people to prove their lineage to before Confederation".

Bishop Watton's notes continue:

Actually, the land was  given to the Crown by the Hudson Bay Company to be part of the new Dominion of Canada at Confederation, 1867.  The year 1870 is the key.  The reason the Province challenged the Indian People to trace their lineage was because the Indian Affairs records went back only to 1934 and the Roman Catholic Church had no record of them.  Quebec didn't realize the Indians were Anglicans.

An urgent call was received from one of the chief men of the Indian settlers telling of this situation.  As a result, clergy and records took off by plane for Quebec City along with myself.  The Indians could trace their lineage.  Over 3,000 Indians were traced back before 1870.  As a result, a court case is pending.

Watton also speaks of the impending Quebec election, and Premier Robert  Bourassa's involvement, including a book in which Bourassa wrote:  "... I have always believed that to develop these resources (hydro power) would require conquering and taming the North".

My thanks to Algoma's archivist, Krista McCracken for these notes from Bishop Watton, but I have not found any further comments from the Anglican Church on this situation.

However, I did discover Roy MacGregor's book: "Chief: The Fearless Vision of Billy Diamond", which fills in this 40-year span from the Northern Quebec Cree Nation's point of view, although there is no mention of Bishop Watton's account of the Anglican Church connection.  Perhaps, some time in the future, that information will come to light.

Meanwhile, I heartily recommend reading MacGregor's book, which recounts the life of Chief Billy Diamond, who paved the way to the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Settlement Agreement, from which Chief Matthew Cooncome was able to lead his people onward to the current signing of the self-governance agreement in 2017.

It  seems to me, as a long-time observer of (and participant in) the relationship between the First Peoples of Turtle Island and The Rest of Us, that this history of the Cree Nation of Eeyou Istchee holds a significant place in the renaissance of the First Peoples.  It is not my place,  however, to tell First Peoples what to do.  My people have been trying to do that for hundreds of years, and we have been wrong most of the time.  The First Peoples are entirely capable of figuring this out for themselves.

But I think it is important that we "newcomer/settler/immigrant people" read, learn, study and inwardly digest the knowledge contained in these aforementioned sources so that we can find our proper place within this new relationship with the First Peoples, of respect, justice, peace and friendship we so badly need, if Canada is to  become the nation we claim to be.
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