Recently, the Pine Tree speakers at the Peterborough
Library told us of the importance of “Mnoomin”, wild rice growing in the
traditional waters of their homeland, known as the Mississauga Territory of the
Ojibwe Nation. This is also the area
that we think of as our home, Peterborough and the Kawarthas.
When someone asked, “what can we do to help you?” - I
thought I heard Elder Doug Williams say that it was time for us to start
figuring that out for ourselves. He said
it much more diplomatically, but I think that was his challenge to us.
The background:
For generations past, most Canadians have lived
contentedly in the country we call Canada with no thought of the price we have
demanded of the First Peoples, as our governments, in our name, followed
policies that tried to assimilate them into our society, committing horrendous
acts named “genocidal” by the Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and
pushing them onto small parcels of land to eke out a meagre existence while we
flourished through the resource development on their lands.
As the work of the TRC comes to an end, we have suddenly
begun to realize that the relationship between the First Peoples and The Rest
of us is badly out of kilter, and we are now beginning to wonder what we can to
do to make changes.
How to make changes:
The first thing to understand is that changes have
already been happening. The First
Peoples, in particular, have been making tremendous changes; they have begun to
reclaim their own languages, histories, traditions and spiritual teachings, and
are taking charge of their own lives and their own territories. Locally, that is what the Anishinabe speakers
were telling us about “wild rice”.
And they don’t really need our help to make that happen,
because the mechanisms are already in place – have, in fact, always been in
place from the time of first contact, when we began to come to this land and
were received by the First Peoples who lived here and were prepared to share
their homeland with us.
But we came with the belief that we were superior, and
had the right to subjugate the First Peoples, which we did over several hundred
years of colonization policies, with tragic results.
But we have not been able to conquer the First Peoples,
as they are now showing us. In those
intervening years, there were times when, as some of us began to understand the
horror of the past, we tried to help, and friendships were established, and
church teachings were accepted, but now we are entering a new era. The First Peoples are reclaiming their
sovereign nationhood; however they understand that in their particular
territory and within their own tribal affiliation.
So it’s time for us to recognize that, and to find new
ways of working together with First Peoples, in a nation-to-nation relationship
in accordance with the Two-Row Wampum teachings http://www.anishinabek.ca/treaty-research.asp
Back to the wild rice issue:
With regard to mnoomin, the chief players are, on one
side of the Two-Row Wampum, the Williams Treaties First Nations:
Alderville First Nation
Beausoleil First Nation
Curve Lake First Nation
Georgina Island First Nnation
Hiawatha First Nation
Rama First Nation
Scugog First Nation
with Karry Sandy McKenzie as Process Co-ordinator.
On the other side is The Crown, which includes:
For the Federal government:
Parks Canada and the
Trent-Severn Waterway
For the Provincial government:
Ministry of Natural Resources
and Kawartha Conservation
For the Municipal government (re part of Pigeon Lake)
Selwyn, and possibly
Peterborough County.
What is “The Crown”?
Check your history:
The First Peoples know that their treaties were made, and
negotiations took place, between the sovereign nation of whichever First
Peoples were engaged, and the representatives of the British Crown, which in
1763 was King George III. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/royal-proclamation-of-1763/
Over the years, the country we call Canada has evolved
into a national entity through subsequent legislation: The British North
America Act 1867, the Indian Act 1876, various amendments to Indian Act
legislation in intervening years, and the Canada Constitution Act 1982, which
includes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as Part II, 35
(1) and (2). http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/constitution-act-1982-document/
More recently, the Canadian government has signed the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, whereby we
agree to uphold the principle of the “duty to consult” for the “free, prior and
informed consent” of the First Peoples, although Canada, in its agreement to
sign, referred to the “aspirational” nature of the right, (meaning, I presume,
we understand the First Peoples “hopes” but do not yet recognize the First
Peoples “right” in this regard. This did
not impress the First Peoples.)
As our Canadian governance has evolved, many of the
federal government’s fiduciary and other legal responsibilities under all that
legislation has been devolved to the provincial governments, and then to
municipal governments, so that today, we must see THE CROWN as composed of
federal, provincial and municipal legislative leaders; hence, the listing above.
And all those government entities together represent us,
the citizens of Canada.
Thus, we have a
responsibility:
Our responsibility, as Canadians citizens, is to monitor
the actions of our federal, provincial and municipal elected leaders to ensure
that they, as ministers of The Crown, meet the requirements of negotiating with
the First Peoples, on a nation-to-nation basis.
Back to the Mnoomin issue:
During this past summer, an error was made when one
segment of The Crown (Trent-Severn Waterway and Parks Canada) issued a permit
to allow non-First Peoples to destroy the wild rice in Pigeon Lake, without
undertaking the “duty to consult” for “free, prior and informed consent”. In other words, we acted without consulting
the First Peoples, and that is now a “no-no” in our current relationship with
First Peoples.
It took some spirited action on the part of First Peoples
to point out this fact, but when The Crown component of Parks Canada realized
what had happened, it agreed with the request of Karry Sandy McKenzie to attend
a meeting with the Williams Treaties First Nations representatives to begin the
correct negotiating process.
So far, one meeting has been held, but I understand a
second meeting is to take place very soon.
So where does that leave us – the local cottager-owners
and the local First Peoples supporters in this area?
It leaves us waiting – perhaps praying if one is so
inclined – that those representing us in those negotiations (representatives of
The Crown) will accept the necessity of honouring the “duty to consult” for
“free, prior and informed consent” by listening to the representatives of the
First Nations as they sit together around a table.
That means careful listening, compassionate comprehension
and respectful dialogue while the two sides try to think of ways to move
forward in partnership to a reasonable conclusion.
My humble conclusion:
Perhaps one role we can play in this situation at this
time is to keep trying to educate our fellow Canadian citizens about these
historic facts as listed here.
And I make no claim to any special knowledge about all
this. I am just sharing with you the
sort of understanding I have reached in my own heart and mind as I have
listened to the First Peoples over the past half-century. And I humbly ask that you begin to learn the
true history of our country and of our relationship with the First Peoples as
it has been evolving since the time of first contact.
This is not an easy path to take, but it is the journey I
believe the First Peoples are now asking us to undertake. And I would further suggest that the time has
come for us to ask of the First Peoples not “how can we help you?” but “how can
you help us?”
The First Peoples may reply in different ways: some are
already very busy working at various levels of this part of our journey
together, and won’t have time to talk with us; but others will be willing to
undertake that role. That’s what I think
the Pine Tree Lecture of Trent’s Indigenous Studies Dept. was offering us
earlier this week.
I would dare to think that the Pine Tree lecturers would
feel well supported if we could show them that we are indeed beginning to learn
the truth of our shared history.
And as we engage one another in that journey, I believe
we will become better human beings, and we all know how badly our world needs
that.
