[music]. Hi, I'm Wab Kinew.
I'm an Anishinaabe from the Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation in Ontario.
Welcome to 8th Fire. Its been about 500 years since your people
first met my people, and things look a little bit different.
Let's face it though, our relationship still needs a lot of work.
Some people call it reconciliation, some people call it the 8th Fire.
A first nation's prophecy that says now is the time for all people to come together
and build. A new relationship.
If not, things could get a little awkward. After all, aboriginal peoples are Canada's
fastest growing population, and more than half of us now live in the cities.
So come meet the neighbors. And I promise, honest injun, no guilt
trips. Maybe even a few surprises.
[music]. >> We're kind of invisible, almost.
The only time when we really notice is when something's going wrong.
>> Death rate, poverty and alcoholism, I don't see myself as an aboriginal being
any of those statistics. >> When I hear from other Canadians that
we, as aboriginal people should just get over it.
I often think that they probably haven't heard enough.
>> The biggest opportunity right now is young people in the city.
>> Nobody's going to go nowhere. Everybody's here to stay.
Now, how do we work it out together? >> It's true.
We're not all hidden away on reserves anymore.
Here in Winnipeg, one in ten people is either First Nation, Inuit or Metis.
That's the largest aboriginal population per capita of any Canadian city.
But how do we form a new relationship if we don't know each other?
Almost half of urban Canadians say they have little or no contact with aboriginal
peoples. And when they do it's often negative.
Yet if you look past the streets, you'll find the cities are buzzing with our
culture, creativity and energy. [music].
>> What stereotypes do you have, as a Canadian, about indigenous people?
I really, really ask you to examine those stereotypes that you carry.
You may not have ever met an indigenous person in Canada before.
And I, I meet many people who haven't, but they do know we're stereotypes.
>> The biggest stereotypes? >> You meet people who say well, you're
not native are you? There's still native in Canada?
>> Non educated. >> Alcoholics and drug addicts.
>> Lazy. >> Very negative, very put down.
>> Taxes. That's a big one.
>> I'm sorry, I pay a lot of taxes. >> Wow, and that's just for starters.
But we all know that those are just comic book caricatures.
[music]. >> [laugh] I tell people I'm an Aboriginal
artist. They're like, oh, so you carve totem
poles? No.
Oh, so you paint buffaloes. No, I draw comic books.
They're like, Indians draw comic books? And it's like, yes, it's not an, a
ridiculous notion to think that, you know. >> Steve Sanderson, who is a Plains Cree
from Saskatchewan, isn't drawing buffaloes.
>> Ed, Edd, n Eddy! >> But he has drawn for a popular animated
series in the states and worked on computer games.
His early influences were big. >> Growing up as the Incredible Hulk, and
I was just fascinated with the Hulk. I mean, there was just so, there was a
million photos of me growing up wearing my Incredible Hulk swim trunks or my
Incredible Hulk T-shirt. You know, like, I was just fascinated by
the Incredible Hulk. >> Okay.
You can see his super hero influences. But these days he's drawn to telling
stories that affect aboriginal kids in Canada.
Like suicide, adoption, diabetes and the different ways stereotypes work.
>> The most classic idea of, of, of a positive stereotype of aboriginal people
is that noble savage. You know, the really cool, really
handsome, you know, rugged Indian. And as much as it is appealing, it is
limiting. Cause it's an idea that keeps us stuck in
a certain time. And we're no more or no less than that.
[music] And it's from 200 year ago. Meanwhile, me, I, you know, work on a
computer. >> I'm doing comic books 100% digital you
know what I am saying? Like, I'm, I'm not using flint here, you
know? >> In the modern Metropolis of Toronto, a
managing partner in a law firm finds it's not that she's a woman, but that she is
Malisi that surprises people. [music].
>> I have tended to notice that when I first identify as an aboriginal person,
and then someone finds out that I'm also a lawyer, I tend to get a very strong
reaction. People are very impressed, and like, oh,
wow. That's amazing, and good for you.
And I can't help but feel like if they just thought I was a white person, that it
wouldn't be that big of a deal. >> More of us are joining the middle
class, even though a lot of people think we're all poor and living on the street
and think young. Half of aboriginal people living in the
cities are under 25, the fastest growing population in Canada.
>> They could be the future workforce. Problem is, too many Canadians think
they're all gang members. [music].
Let's check out the story of some young guys that seem to fit that stereotype.
Gangsters, rappers. Three guys Jon-C, Brooklyn and Charlie
Fettah. They call themselves Winnipeg's Most.
In a few short years they've gained a lot of attention.
[music]. >> It's crazy when you get kids singing
our stuff. It's like I think that's means more than
the money to me. It's like, you know, I'm actually changing
the way people think. And changing the way, you know, and
hitting people's hearts. [music].
It was Jon-C and Fettah who first met and started making music together.
Brooklyn joined them a year later, and recorded an album that took off.
[music]. Now they're winning awards.
Had a spread in Maclean's magazine. They even opened their own store.
>> We got the gear. We're going to get into our own jeans, all
sorts of stuff. >> And are swarmed by fans.
>> We were stopped at Calgary, to hop on the next plane and, and two middle-aged
white men, like in their, like, I would say, early 50's, like look at me and Jon-C
,and says, are you The Most? He's like, my kids love you.
It's like, I need a picture right now, pull us aside, take a picture of me and
Billy were like, this is crazy. >> Between these guys, race isn't a
factor. >> Grade 6, I started playing guitar,
started being into hip-hop. >> Charlie Fettah isn't even aboriginal.
>> Yeah, Fettah's like pink. He's, he's not even white, he's pink.
[laugh]. [music].
Our relationship is, like we said, we've never tried to ever be racist.
Or ever, you know, look at that sort of aspect.
>> I'm with two aboriginal guys. I know both their families.
Their families treat me the same way so it's like I'm really color blind when it
comes to things like that. You see it, but I don't.
[music]. >> Brooklyn who is Metis and Jon-C, whose
mother is Anishinaabe from Saugeen First Nation, grew up in the inner city.
Like one out of three aboriginal kids, they didn't finished high school.
>> The north end of Winnipeg is basically the lower end of Winnipeg.
There's a lot of space for underachievers, so to speak.
>> Some in the community say it's more than just underachievement.
They say it's not that aboriginal kids are dropping out of school.
Rather, that they are being pushed out, because they don't feel included.
>> If our kids continue to be taunted on the playing fields and pushed out of
schools. And experience racism, and all kinds of
other things. They're not going to think that they
deserve better, and they're not going to trust that they can go to a certain
program, or go to a certain place. And make positive changes in their lives
because of what other people are still imposing upon them.
>> Let's just say you're a normal person. Race isn't a factor.
Sex isn't a factor. Looks aren't even a factor.
And you've just grown up in a negative environment.
Everybody tells you you're stupid. Everyone tells you you're nothing.
Everyone who looks at you, even if they don't even say anything, they just give
you that look. I don't think you can behave to your full
potential. >> Aboriginal kids are five times more
likely than non aboriginal than aboriginal kids to be in trouble with the law.
And let's come clean on Winnipeg's Most. They wrestle with demons of a recent past.
Fettah and Brooklyn spent time in prison. [music].
>> I was horrible guy back then. I just had no emotion, no nothing.
I was a monster. >> It's estimated aboriginal gangs could
double in membership in the next ten years.
So why do a higher percentage of our kids join gangs?
Well, it's partly because of racism and the effects of colonization.
And aboriginal kids are twice as likely as non-aboriginal kids to live below the
poverty line. >> I grew up where it was hard every turn,
it was never easy for me. I went out, and I did certain things to
get myself nice clothes. You know what I mean?
I clothed myself. There's a lot of influences out there and,
and when I was young, the influences out there was crime.
It wasn't music, it wasn't this, it was crime.
You seen your mom get beat up your whole life, and seen your dad sell drugs, and
all that. You're probably going to do the same
thing. And if I didn't find music when I did, I'd
be, those two options, dead or in jail for life.
[music]. >> Indigenous youth are caught between two
worlds, and they're suffering. The results of this alienation and this
ignorance and all of the kinds of violences and abuses and pathologies and
diseases and all these things that are happening to a much higher degree to our
youth then in to other people. [music] ...
>> So what is it that was lost that leaves aboriginal peoples caught between two
worlds. That leaves more in poverty, out of
school, and in trouble with the law. The source can be directly traced to our
colonial history. Way back in 1876, the new government of
Canada passed the Indian Act, which made Indians wards of the crown.
The Indian Act controlled our lives/g. We were forbidden to practice our
traditions or speak our language. Our ceremonial items were collected and
burned. We weren't allowed to leave the reserve
without a pass and we couldn't go to university unless we gave up our Indian
status. Indians were forced from their land, and
given tiny little spaces called reserves, which were controlled by government
agents. We were supposed to live out of the way of
the settlers, who took our land. >> This country is founded on, I think,
Daniel Francis write, writes about it, but it's founded on the negation.
Of aboriginal people, to justify the theft,[LAUGH].
You know, it's just, you know someone comes into your house and you welcome them
and then they pretty soon they take over your house.
You have to have a reason for it, well it's because they're not really human.
>> And because we were cleared away from cities, most people don't even know whose
land their suburban dream home has been built on.
>> You're driving around, you're walking around and well, these people have a nice
life here. It'd be nice if they acknowledge that
they're on our territory, much less give it back.
But, you know, that ain't going to happen tomorrow but at least they could
acknowledge it. And not just try to wipe us out
psychologically and say we're just like everybody else.
[music] ... >> Much of the reserve land we were stuck
with was not exactly prime land, you couldn't really make a living from it.
So some people started to move out of reserves.
Seeking a better life in the cities, but were treated like strangers on their own
land. >> So people were just like okay, we have
native people, we have Indian people. They come out of the bush, they dress
funny, they look funny, they smell funny. But then, it's okay because they come in
and they go back in the bush. [music].
But more and more in the 70's native people started to come in the city and
town, but settled in town. So now, it was starting to be a little bit
more awkward for the non-native population.
So leaving the community, for many, is leaving behind struggles and problems and
difficulties and crisis. Thinking that the city is the El Dorado of
a new life. But more than often, you find yourself
isolated. You find yourself alone.
And you find yourself marginalized. [music].
>> > What do Elton John and Belinda Stronach have in common?
Well, they both own paintings by Cree artist Kent Monkman.
His work can sell for $150,000. Monkman questions the colonizers view of
history and their view of where Indians belong in the world.
>> Why are aboriginal people living in the cities?
And then I started thinking, well why are people living on reserves?
Reserves are in many places arbitrary, artificial places established by the
Canadian government. I think there's a perception that
Aboriginal people all come from a reserve. Well, I don't know if anyone in my family
actually lived on that reserve. If they did, it wasn't for very long
because it wasn't really a place where we wanted to call home.
I think a lot of Aboriginal people at some point, you know, want to live in the
cities, and I think That was certainly the case in my family.
It was a very deliberate choice to create opportunities for us to get a good
education, to have opportunities to get music lessons and go to the art galleries
and basically participate in the world. [music] ...
>> And boy does Kent participate. He is a multimedia artist who is breaking
stereotypes, and tearing down boundaries with his videos and paintings of his
alter-ego, Mischief Eagle Testicle. His subversive work is shaking up the
relationship with the colonizers from Montreal to Paris.
[music]. >> One of the main themes that I deal with
in my work is sexuality and colonized sexuality.
Coming out as a gay man and, gee, you know, realizing that in our own cultures.
We had an openness to diverse sexuality that somehow got stamped out by the
Europeans, who didn't understand it. >> With Miss Chief as the subject, Kent's
art appropriates the work of 19th century artists like George Catlin, who idealized
Native Americans in his paintings. Kent stands those romanticized ideas on
their heads. So I created Miss Chief.
So she's really, you know, this flamboyant, kind of egomaniac artist who's
in all of her own paintings. She's kind of reversing the gaze, where
it's the aboriginal artist who's looking at the Europeans.
I'm dealing with an art history tradition of making art in North America that really
was about obliterating Aboriginal narratives.
There was such a strong will to disappear us, to disappear us from the places where
we lived. The places where we were born.
Our present is informed by our histories and we have to engage with these histories
to understand why we are where we are right now.
>> Then I thought about it one day and I realized, okay, so my father went to
residential school. His father went to residential school.
His father didn't go to residential school because he was still an Indian.
That was like living off the land, that wasn't starting to get grouped up at the
time that reservations were being made. My great, great grandfather was a full on
buffalo hunting Indian. You know what I'm saying?
That's only four generations. That is not a lot of time.
>> Residential schools. That screwed-up government idea to take
children away from their families, in order to kill the Indian in the child.
That attempt to assimilate us by destroying our languages and cultures
didn't work. But by the time the last school closed in
1996, it did managed to devastate our families.
>> [music] I think the state has done a lot to make sure that we implode.
And all the forces that were set to work, residential schools one of them, but there
were a lot of different ways of ensuring that we didn't come out of this unscathed.
And they can say, well, look, they're all drunk.
>> Once you sanction theft, once you sanction the alienation of an entire
people, once you illegalize and render illegitimate everything about it.
Once you paint the face of the person with negative stereotypes and you say that,
that's okay. Once you've done that everything else
becomes that you do that's destructive becomes okay.
>> And so the, the social pathology as they say are going to it's going to keep
getting worse. Because native people see a vision of
Canada which they just cannot accommodate. >> The effect is huge.
The tsunami of generational effects are occurring now.
My mother certainly never talked about it. If we tried to raise it with her, she
would get extremely angry. >> As a result of her own mother's
experience attending residential school, Leslie Varley has dedicated her life to
breaking down barriers that prevent aboriginal people from accessing good
healthcare. That way, they can heal from the trauma.
>> There's a lot of internalized oppression in aboriginal people.
And that's part of the challenge, having to heal ourselves.
I don't think I would do this, you know, if we were all a really healthy,
aboriginal community. We were all thriving and, you know.
I, I wouldn't be doing this. I'd be a gardener.
[laugh] ... >> The land that our school is located on
right here. This is traditional aboriginal homeland.
The education of Canadians I think is by far the most important thing.
They really need to know and understand what we've been through.
And then they need to engage with us about what we need to do to make things better
for ourselves. The irony of this all is that It's far
more expensive to keep us contained in the downtown east side of Vancouver than it is
to work with us to become integrated into Canadian Society.
>> The largest concentration of homeless aboriginal people in Canada live in
Vancouver's downtown east side. Leslie's brother is one of them.
>> We're just lazy, you know, good for nothing downtown east-siders.
Kind of get thick skin after a while. You just ignore it.
>> Herb Dixon worked most of his life on fishing boats around the world.
But when the work dried up. He returned to Vancouver and couldn't find
a job. >> As I said, it's not the Taj Mahal but
it's, it's a roof over my head for now. >> Like his father before him, he fell
into a world of alcohol and drug addiction.
>> I got tied up in my addictions and I lost it.
You know, it's my own fault. I don't blame anybody for it except
myself. >> One of the things I know about my
brother is that he's always making a plan to get out of there, to get a job, to find
somewhere else to live. Gotta get out of here.
Once you're there, it's very difficult to get out of the downtown east side.
