Intended for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal learners, this course will explore indigenous ways of knowing and how they can benefit all students. Topics include historical, social, and political issues in Aboriginal education; terminology; cultural, spiritual and philosophical themes in Aboriginal worldviews; and how Aboriginal worldviews can inform professional programs and practices, including but not limited to the field of education.
8th Fire episode 2. It's time
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From the course by University of Toronto
Aboriginal Worldviews and Education
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From the lesson
8th Fire: Aboriginal Peoples, Canada & the Way Forward
This television series aired on Canada's CBC in 2013. Short clips used in the course created a demand from students for more and to see the clips in their original context. We received permission to show the series here.
Meet the Instructors
Jean-Paul RestouleAssociate Professor
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
[music]. Good evening.
I'm Wab Kinew. I'm a Nishnawbe from the Ojibways of
Onigaming First Nation in Ontario. Welcome to 8th Fire.
On this show, we're looking at how your people can get along better with my
people. Get over it.
That's something I hear a lot. And I know what some of you are thinking,
oh, great, another boohoo poor little Indian story.
Good news, it's not that. What it is, is an in your face argument
for why we all need to get over it. For the sake of the economy, but more
importantly for the sake of the country. It's been 500 years.
It's time to fix it. So here comes a story stiffened with
straight talk and leavened with laughter. >> So for my white friends in the
audience, uh,[NOISE]. [laugh].
Oh, I, I yeah, I just don't want you to leave and go wow that fat Hawaiian was
hilarious so. [laugh].
>> Certain comedians take the badness that they've grown up with and figure out a
therapeutic way to vent it out. >> I am native, I'm indigenous, I'm First
Nations, I'm Aboriginal. I'm sick and tired of all the political
correct crap. You can just call me Caucasionally
Impaired. Is that better?
Does that? [laugh].
>> My people should be kings and we were never viewed as that way.
We were viewed as a pest. >> [music] At the annual Edmonton Powwow,
Howie Miller and his four sons seem a bit out of place.
They dance on the edge of Canada's most troubled relationship.
>> You should go in there and do your own dancing.
>> Mom, Howie's high school sweetheart Jan Houseman is white, and Howie, adopted, was
essentially brought up white by the Miller family.
>> There is always a part of me that didn't know where I was from.
>> And, you know, who my people were. >> And now his son, Tyson, is asking
similar questions. >> My eldest son, he moves out to
Vancouver, and he graduated, goes, I'm going to move to Vancouver and be an
actor. Right?
So, he moves out there, he's there for like, all of like a months, basically,
right? Phones me up a month later, says, hey, I
didn't audition, just out of the blue and I got a part.
I was like, well, what is it, right, what'd you, like a commercial or something
or is it a theater play? He goes, no, I play Quil Ateara in the
Twilight movies. >> I'm Quil Ateara.
>> Do you guys want to meet him? Huh?
>> Ladies and gentleman, my oldest son, Tyson Houseman.
>> Hello, everybody. Hi How's it going?
>> How big is the role in the four Twilight movies?
Well, if you're a tween somewhere in the universe, you've likely drooled over and
dreamt about the endlessly pouting wolf pack.
All buff, all young and all Aboriginal. >> Yep.
Finally, made the pack. >> Welcome to the Edmonton, home of a
suburban kid made good, made native. >> Growing up I knew absolutely nothing
about my identity. My grandparents were, were white.
I, I heard their stories of, of their lives and whatever Canadian culture that
was, that's really all I had was Canadian culture.
There was no specific vibrance of, of any other culture, there was no Aboriginal
culture when I was growing up, so I didn't like I knew that I was native, but I
didn't really understand what that meant. [music].
This is a huge opportunity for me to be a role model for, for Aboriginal youth.
I don't really know where we need to go right now, but I know that things aren't
right in Canada, with that all of the native issues that we have, and for me,
this is a huge opportunity to do something about that.
>> And there's lots to be done, because things sure ain't right when roadways are
blocked. Histrionics replaced reason.
>> Arguing with some bozo ain't going to accomplish nothing.
>> Fisticuffs are a first resort. Caledonia, Ipperwash, Oka, and countless
other clashes have made this relationship look like a face off.
[music]. So what went wrong?
It wasn't always like this when we started down the path.
When the settlers first arrived the natives welcomed them and helped them up.
It wasn't like they showed up and the natives said oh, there goes the
neighborhood. And the relationship grew stronger,
fashionable even. Remember these?
It's a beaver hat. This was considered cool back in the day.
That's right, our rodents were all the rage in 17th century Europe.
That led to the fur trade, and of course, the fur trade gave us Canada.
For a time, the Aboriginal people had this warm and fuzzy feeling, love and
understanding. We documented that in wampum belts like
this one. That depict two canoes traveling down the
river in parallel paths. Neither one interfering with the other.
It's cute And the English and French, well, for their part, they signed all
sorts of big agreements with great seals. Ever since the Royal Proclamation of 1763,
there's been banner promises, like the natives will not be molested.
Or my personal favorite, the Queen's promise to the Cree of bounty and
benevolence. You know, we Aboriginal people thought we
were getting a seat at the big table. But it turns out, we had a reservation at
a much smaller table, out the back, near the garbage cans.
At the big table, they got Canada and all of its bounty.
At our table, a total lack of benevolence. We got the plague, a plague of whiskey,
and our parents and grandparents were molested in schools designed to kill the
Indian in the child. So where did all of that go wrong?
Well, step into my office, grab a seat on the big couch, and let's talk.
At Wanuskewin Heritage Centre outside of Saskatoon, a random bunch of folk gather
for a little therapy. Among them, a steel worker and a retired
farmer. [music].
>> Aboriginals still feel that society owes them.
>> They hold up their hand for something and, and magically comes to them.
>> We pay for them to live, I mean, what more could they ask for as, as a society,
you know? >> Well, good evening everybody.
Welcome to Wanuskewin. My name is John Lagimodiere and I'm going
to be speaking with you for the next couple hours about First Nations are made
to issue here in Saskatchewan. And my company is called ECS Aboriginal
Consulting Services and it was formed about 14 years ago to go out and work with
companies looking to hire and retain Aboriginal people.
>> It's a daunting task, everyday confronting the misconceptions that mire
this relationship. >> No matter what the crowd is, I'm going
to tell them the same thing. And I'm going to deliver it in the same
way, and I'm going to be as blunt, and honest and truthful as I can whether it's
a pack of priests or a bunch of miners or a bunch of bikers, miners, and priests.
>> Across Canada, 35% of people living on reserve are reliant on welfare.
>> These sessions might work for bikers, miners, and priests, but what about
farmers? >> My mothers' people were dumped on the
shores of Cape Breton in 1799 with nothing.
Eight generations later, and as far as I know, nobody ever took welfare.
>> Different situation, though. >> So there's, what's the situation?
>> [crosstalk] Same over here. We're talking about a isolated group
inside of a community that was put on reserves that were not legally allowed to
even leave the reserve that had administrative people that administrated
their banks, that left them perennially poor.
>> The point John is making is that Robert's ancestors didn't have every
detail of their lives prescribed by a special law.
>> Chapter 32, an act to amend the Indian Act.
>> The Indian Act of 1876, which still governs life on reserves held fast to John
A. Mcdonald's declaration to do away with the
tribal system and assimilate the Indian peoples.
[music]. >> Chapter 27, an act further to amend
the[INAUDIBLE]. >> Dense with detail, and at times, ban
natives from hiring lawyers, ban traditional ceremonies, it even ban
natives from poolhalls. And in all the crowded text, no room for
complaint. >> What do you do?
Go to your member of parliament? No, can't vote till 1960.
Go to your MLA, not my issue. Go to your Indian agent, works for the
government. Also, you had to have a permit to sell
your cow. If you want to go to the neighboring town
and sell your crop, you had to get a permit from the Indian agent.
They controlled your economy. And if you're a leader, stood up to the
government, they could remove the leader. Good God.
And this is all legislated stuff. >> Okay, we're going to let them talk for
a little bit and we'll come back to them. And talking is good.
The Supreme Court has even provided a framework for the discussion.
What am I talking about? Well, remember in '82, when Pierre
repatriated the constitution, section 35, says that Aboriginal and treaty rights are
hereby affirmed. And since then, the Supreme Court has
stated in numerous cases, that if you want to do something on Indian land, Aboriginal
people have to be consulted and accomodated.
It's not a veto, but we have to talk. And here's an example of how that can work
to everyone's advantage. Consider the Lil'wats.
Nobody used to talk to them. Whole resorts we're built on their land
without a single word. Then, BC decided they wanted to invite the
world to Whistler. [music].
Today, the mountains seem untouched by the great feats of the 2010 Olympics.
But on the ground, the change is remarkable.
[music]. The Olympics came to Whistler and the
local bands gained the voice. For generations, they'd been ignored.
>> There was no relationship with anybody, I think, prior to the Olympics.
>> Now, Chief Lucinda Phillips of the Lil'wat sits in the middle of things,
where people celebrated in a spanking new cultural center in town.
[music]. And when the world traveled up the Sea to
Sky Highway to get to Whistler, they were duly informed they were passing through
Aboriginal land, and the recognition has continued.
>> Relationships and negotiations have, I would, 75% improved.
Acknowledgement, recognition, all of that is happening today.
[music]. A relationship lifted by the Olympics
continues to make steady progress. >> The Lil'wat got money, land, and jobs
for playing host. Now a Hydro track is taking Lucinda to
another historic meeting. >> Bc Hydro is the past had no
relationships, they would come in to our reserve or within our territory, they
would build the transmission lines, they would build wooden poles.
They would do what they had to do with the infrastructure they had on the ground, but
they've never, ever talked to us. They've never let us know what they're
doing. We had no relationship.
We had a BC Hydro bill. That was it.
>> From the early 1900s, BC Hydro laced these mountains with wires, flooded the
valleys, and damned the rivers to make the place home.
The self got power, the locals, culture shock.
[music]. But today is a new day and a chance to
celebrate. [music].
Government and Hydro officials have come to sign a deal.
Lyle Vierek speaks for BC Hydro. >> First Nations were very clear that the
governments of British Columbia in Canada I had not negotiated with them, they had
not been defeated in conquest and that these territories remain theirs.
>> I'm still waiting for a Chief Pat and Chief Perry.
>> After a 100 years, this is the first major agreement that they reached with the
crown. It's a huge milestone in this province and
it's huge stepping stone for, for these communities.
>> Lucinda and the other chiefs are granting Hydro permission to build a new
line if required. In return, they are receiving $210 million
dollars, promises about employment and training and contracts.
[music]. Most of the deal is about past wrongs,
but, it's also about embracing a new relationship.
[music]. You can never put a price on land,
language, culture, but, I hope that we can be a part of a growing community.
I hope for economic development, I hope for unity even with regard to First
Nations and non-First Nations. Yeah, I hope for a lot of things[LAUGH].
>> [music] The land has always shaped the relationship between Aboriginals and
settlers. And for too long, it's had a jagged edge.
But the court rulings that give First Nations a say on what happens in their
traditional territory gives reason for hope.
The truth is there are a lot of reasons why we need to solve this relationship.
In this hard economics, there are $300 billion worth of reasons.
That's the estimate of one study on the number of projects in need of
consultation. Here is the equation.
Asia is booming, and they need our stuff, timber, minerals, oil.
And much of that stuff is in Indian country.
For example, the proposal to get Alberta oil to Asia involves a pipeline that
passes through the territory of 50 First Nations.
>> We need to prepare the Quebec of tomorrow.
>> And here is the official declaration of Quebec fastening its future to an economic
blueprint called Plan Nord. Again, much of it on Aboriginal territory.
And if 300 billion doesn't do it for you, well, here is at least one more reason why
we need to sort this out. >> Former Prime Minister, Paul Martin.
>> I think that this is a tremendously important issue.
Many of the First Nations, many Aboriginal Canadians are sitting on a vast storehouse
of resources and we're going to have to consult and deal with them in order to
basically be able to develop them. I think that's a, I think that's an
important argument, but I believe there's a stronger one.
And that is we are 34 million people. We're in competition with countries like
China and India with populations that exceed a billion.
We cannot afford to waste a single talent. And Aboriginal Canadians are not only the
fastest growing, they are the youngest members of our society.
>> The[unknown] kids make the point. .
The Aboriginal growth rate is almost six times that of non-Aboriginals.
They live in Regina, and within their lifetime a third of Saskatchewan's
population will be Aboriginal. >> Get our pictures done.
>> Mom. >> Our family pictures.
>> Mommy do we go get dressed now? >> Wash up first.
>> A lot of talent might have gone to waste just in this house had mom not
dramatically defied her own destiny? >> I was abused.
I learned how to abuse, you know? It's a cycle.
>> Vanessa's story was a sorry stereotype. Pregnant at 16, again at 17, parents
alcoholics, a high school dropout with two kids in an abusive relationship when she
decided it all had to change. >> And I said to myself, what are, what
are you doing? Your kids are going to get to grade 12
before you, in no time like, I said, I can't do that.
I told myself, what kind of role model are you, Vanessa, what kind of role model are
you for your children? >> [music] She shed the abusive partner,
finished high school, entered the University of Regina and is about to
graduate with a business degree. >> Hi dad, how's it going?
[crosstalk]. >> She's been married 12 years to Justin
and there are now six kids. >> Colin, are you dressed?
>> Today is a bit special[MUSIC]. [music] It's picture day for the family.
[music] And it's not going to be your average family photo.
It's going to have the urban edge that distinguishes the work of artist Nadya
Kwandibens. >> If you did see First Nations' people in
the media, it always had a negative vibe and that got me to thinking there's
something I can do as an artist. >> I remember one time, my dad telling me
this nickname for native people moving in to the city, he said they called them
Concrete Indians and I thought, hey, that's, that's the name for the series.
I scouted this little section here. >> Yeah.
>> I think it would be good because of the stairs, right?
>> Yeah. >> Would you like that?
>> Yeah, I like that. >> Finish?
>> Yeah. >> The concepts for each portrait don't
actually come from me they come from the, the people themselves.
>> We're all adapting, living in an urban setting.
Alright, here we go. You guys ready?
>> And for Vanessa, it's a record of the ground she's gained.
>> I really believe that where I came from made me the woman that I am today.
I'm a strong Aboriginal woman, and, I won't let anything stand in my way when
I'm determined. [music].
I'm here and I'm going to do something. >> And here is her chance.
A job fair with a difference. It's called Inclusion Works and it's a
sight unimaginable even just 20 years ago. [music].
Hundreds of Aboriginal graduates flown in to Montreal courtesy of Corporate Canada.
Its called economics in the new demographics at work forcing everyone to
take a new look at this relationship. Urged on by fire-breathing billionaire
Brett Wilson. But what's a former star of the CBC show
Dragons' Den doing here? >> A dragon came today because he had an
opportunity to work with Aboriginal youth. And I see the business world as the
greatest playground to encourage relationships to be built between
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples. >> [music] And for the 32-year old mother
of six, it has been full of surprises. >> I never thought it was going to be like
this, I was actually, oh, you know, it's probably just workshops, you know,
interview skills, and this, and I didn't think the interviews we're going to be
like, when can you start, and what's your salary expectations and.
[music]. By day three, most of the graduates we
talked to had job offers, including Vanessa.
>> Td Canada just said that if I'm interested, part-time hours when I go back
to school in September I can take part-time, because they want to keep me
going in the bank and keep me trained up, ready for the summer.
[music]. .
Increasingly at dinner in Howie's house, Aboriginal issues are part of the menu.
>> They, like I remember when I was younger and you told us about reserves and
like I, I was completely baffled by the ideas like reserves, well, do something
about it. That's completely wrong.
You don't[INAUDIBLE]. >> His son Todd is taking Native Studies
and that has spiced up dinner conversation.
>> But those people didn't go away to the hills, they're still here.
>> All the boys so far, as, as they get older, they're just more interested in, in
learning about their, their history and where they come from.
>> I'm so extremely happy to be born in Canada of all the places in the world, I,
I feel so strongly proud to be Canadian, but at the, at the same time, I, I don't
know what that really means in terms of being native.
>> Tonight's discourse, the lack of knowledge that bedevlis the relationship.
>> History classes and social classes in high school and all grades, they start
when colonialism started, like they start when people.
>> Should be taught in all schools, that way people wouldn't grew up as ignorant as
some do. I make a joke out of it where I say, you
know, we get free cab rides oh, they're cop cars.
[laugh]. There's always somebody, some young person
in the audience says oh, native people get free cab rides?
Oh, they get everything for free. Why don't they just go home?
>> Getting things for free is one of the bugaboos John Lagimodiere takes on in his
Awareness training. [music].
>> But first, I want to just get into who pays, what taxes, and where.
I went to a rent a car or lease a car when I was a younger man at a major dealership
in Saskatoon. The guy came back, showed me the deal.
I says, you're missing two lines there, GST and PST.
He says, you're a Metis guy, you don't pay taxes.
I says, we pay every tax just like everybody else.
Very strictly defined hunting, right? Other than that, I'm a Canadian citizen,
right? I also believe as myself is a Canadian
citizen off the start. Anyways, I happened to have Metis status.
Now, friends, we have to talk about Indians and Status Indians for this and
we're going to give the Saskatchewan example.
But first,[MUSIC] let's list ten taxes. [music] Its fun, come on.
[music]. >> Turns out, it's complicated.
But in Saskatchewan, unless you work for the band, you pay income tax and corporate
tax. You buy stuff off-reserve, you pay tax,
and some things you buy on reserve that are tax-free like tobacco and booze.
Individual bands will levy their own tax. >> In case you're wondering, I do pay
taxes. Property tax, income tax, sales tax, but
if I lived on reserve, I might not have to.
It all goes back to the deal that we made to share the land.
Treaties, remember those? They're an important part of our history
and one of the things that make us different from Americans.
[music]. >> In the US, they had the Indian Wars
that gave us all those Italians[MUSIC] falling off their horses in Hollywood.
In Canada, the situation was dramatically different.
>> Treaties take a different path from that.
>> John Borrows is Anishinaabe and a law professor at the University of Victoria.
>> So there was a big meeting in 1764 in Niagara where representatives of 22
different First Nations came and met with the British Crown.
2,000 people camped at Niagara representing these 22 nations for 2
months. And there, they founded Canada.
>> This, for example is one of the founding documents.
It's a wampum belt that shows the Aboriginal understanding of the Treaty of
Niagara. [music] Chains binding together two strong
and equal partners. >> Canada wasn't just formed through
British law alone. It was an intermingling of British law
with indigenous peoples' law and putting those two sources of law together, with
the wampum belts with the agreement is the foundation of our country founded on
peace, friendship, and respect. It's a story I think we'd love to
celebrate. >> [inaudible] Nice and crisp.
[laugh] Thank you very much. >> Hey.
It still gets celebrated. On Treaty Day, the Mounties come and hand
everyone on the res, five bucks. Why?
Because that was what was negotiated. Shake the officer's hand and you get
yourself a double, double and a donut. Unfortunately, the chiefs in the 1700
didn't demand indexing for inflation, but they did demand other things.
>> Treaties were not just a quick one off, these chiefs had time to get ready.
Some had several years to get ready, right?
According to stories I was told, Chief Ahtahkakoop and Chief Mistawasis each sent
one of their people to Quebec where they walked around universities and they
studied post-secondary education before they negotiated the treaties.
So I'm going to put you folks in a bit of the Indian's moccasins here.
>> Imagine it's 1870, right in this territory here.
What do you think they asked of the crown? And if you can give me ten things, I will
be duly impressed. >> Education.
>> That's right. >> They agreed to share the land in return
for a few things . >> Shelter, right shelter, they asked for
help with shelter. >> Among them housing, healthcare, and
education. >> What they asked for.
And I got to cut right to the chase. The crown said when it, sorry.
>> So that's exactly everything that we took from them.
It's everything they asked for. >> Exactly.
We negotiated a treaty with them and that's often time when the lights go on.
And, when people realize what was agreed on and why and how the process worked,
that starts to flip on the lights. [music].
>> That's because few of the promises have been honored.
Statistics on the underfunding of housing and healthcare are as stark as they are
lamentable. [music].
And on education, well, 30% less will be spent on these kids than on other Canadian
children and it shows. >> We underfund Aboriginal education,
First Nations education on reserve. We underfund healthcare, we under fund
welfare. Compared to what other Canadians get.
Take a look at the facts, and then, all I would really say is, let's give every
single Canadian, whether they be Aboriginal or not Aboriginal, the same
funding with the same quality and let's see what happens.
>> Okay, Canada. Welcome back.
I've been thinking about the occasional bursts of anger, the gnawing in your gut,
the sleepless nights. I think there's something in your past
that we have to deal with. I know you don't want to go there, but it
might help. >> Mr.
Speaker, I stand before you today to offer an apology.
To former students of Indiana Residential Schools.
>> This was a start, a measure of atonement.
>> Is a sad chapter in our history. >> I was watching it at the White Buffalo
Youth Lodge in Saskatoon. >> Stephen Harper comes on, pin drop,
stands up, next thing you hear. Sniffles, people crying, people leaving
because they can't handle it, because of the impact on their families.
>> I don't buy this that we're the whipping boy all the time.
We're not the ones that are at fault here for all of the alleged mistreatment and
misunderstanding of First Nations. >> I wouldn't say alleged.
I would say mistreatment and misunderstanding.
>> Okay. >> And the impact to the Indian
residential schools to this day is still in there, right?
>> We've got to come out of it and we've gotta go forward for the better, the
common good. >> Hear you.
>> We can't be dragged on everything behind us all the time.
>> Gotcha. >> I don't think it'll be very right to
tell a Jewish person to, to get over it, you know?
You know, holocaust? Get over it.
Move on. Time to move on, people, you know?
You can move on but it's still, it's still part of you.
[laugh] Yeah, it's I'm sorry, it's, it's, it's not going to be done with until we
can start again un, until it's fixed. That's why I'm not going to get over it,
because it's not fixed yet. >> What we're going to do today, is, we're
going to talk about, residential school. And we've done, done [inaudible].
>> A high school class in Port Perry, Ontario gets the straight goods from
history teacher, Nancy Hammerstrom. >> Anywhere between thirty five and sixty
[crosstalk]. I think of anything and I teach any topic
that I've ever taught, this one is the most emotionally pact.
This is the one that you'll get tears. >> It can be a jolt to learn that your
government once abducted children from their parent's, and forced them into
special schools. But the official policy was to kill the
Indian in the child. That they were shorn of their culture,
language, and identity. >> Students will, will go home and tell
their parents about this because they didn't know, and their parents probably
didn't know. >> [music] Didn't know that children their
age and much younger were subject to terrible abuse.
Were left hungry and alone, this went on from 1870 for over 100 years for seven
generations. >> [music] It was happening while I was
growing up. I had no idea.
And when you poll a class and ask them, how many people knew about this?
You get two hands up. >> I'm kind of embarrassed to say that it
was in fact in this class that I that I first heard of it.
>> Well, for me, it was last year when we started talking about natives and then Ms.
Hammerstrom introduced us to the residential schools.
>> That you hear about things all over the world that, that are horrible, but it was
so close to us. >> It's weird how we've never heard of it
before even though I've taken Canadian history before.
>> What we're going to do today is I'm going to give you all a set of tiles
[music] for the whole class to complete. And remember, while you're doing this that
these are for children, these is, these, these are a gift that you're giving the
children. Is everybody good with that?
>> In this class, education is mixed with reconciliation.
The students are completing a module called Project of Heart.
It involves painting tiles in commemoration of children who died in
residential schools, died in the wilderness trying to get home, died of
abuse, died of hunger and disease. >> [music] The schools were not given the
resources to fully implement I guess better healthcare for these children.
And not only that, they weren't giving them high quality food, so they were
starving and they died. It's one of these dark secrets in Canadian
history. >> [music] That dark secret is now being
investigated. >> [music] Hard to imagine we're in Canada
and investigators are searching for the graves of children who never came home.
>> I don't think we have a sense of, of how many children went missing.
But, we do have a sense that, that it was an unconscionable number.
It looks as if most of them are wait, 30s, early 40s.
>> Alex Mass and Eldon Yellowhorn are archaeologists.
They're inspecting the residential school cemetery in Mission BC.
>> We've noticed that this is one of the more unusual headstones.
>> Alex has been hired by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Part of its mandate is to unearth what happened to the missing children.
>> It's very unusual to have the marbles, I wonder if those marbles belonged to the
child. >> Or to their friends, yeah.
>> Many lie in unmarked graves in unknown fields.
>> I imagine that there are a number of children here that we don't know about.
>> A haunting presence is all that remains of the school.
>> So, how old were you when you first came to the school?
>> I was 7 years old. >> 7 years old?
>> Yeah. >> I think that part was where the shower
was. >> According to the [unknown] the policy
to kill the Indian in the child, too often just kill the child.
>> When we use to get up at night, you know, looking for which way whom was.
There was four people walking in this way was a little casket and they were they
were bringing it into the graveyard. [music] Because they didn't want anybody
to know what was going on. Because there's a lot of, there's a lot of
babies in here. [music].
>> Back in Port Perry, the students are finishing their tiles.
Its hoped that these and batches from other schools will be put on display by
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The project was devised by another teacher
and the number of tiles she gives to each school is deeply symbolic and reflects
what we know so far about the number of deaths.
>> She wanted at each, each school to take ownership of half the population of the
school that you're in. So we have 1200 students here and so we
got 600 tiles. >> To have a physical representation of
the fac that half the students in the residential school would not have made it
out of that residential school. So they could actually see, well, if this
were my school, half of these people would't be here, so it's pretty powerful.
>> [music] Students need to know about the fact that there, that there are still
things that this country needs to work on, that they have a, they have a role to play
to make things better and that it's not already done.
>> A shroud of silence has long settled over Burns Lake in remote Northern B.C..
The railway track cuts through the town, but the real division has long been drawn
by racial tension. This logging center with two bands in
town, [music] and a half dozen on its outskirts had no trouble harvesting
friction. And as it was dubbed then, brass knuckle
high was off in the arena for settling the score.
Drama teacher Rayanne/g Charlie was fresh up from Victoria.
She was shocked. >> It was almost like apartheid here.
It, it, it felt like apartheid. It felt like First Nations on one side,
non-native on the other side, you walk in to, to an event or to, to even a
restaurant or you go to go out dancing, that was where it was the most obvious.
Nobody wanted to deal with it, nobody. It was a simmering pot.
[music]. >> It was simmering with the silences that
strain any relationship and that begged to be addressed.
For example, for years nobody spoke about the Cheslatta, a local band flooded out
their homes at the last moment in 1953, because [unknown] needed Hydro for their
smelter. A people who live off the land, forced on
to welfare. The contours of their culture flooded out
under 140 feet of water. The spirit houses the Cheslatta built on
top of their graves will forever be emblematic of what went wrong.
These days, they place them on high ground, for good reasons.
The great flood couldn't even leave the dead undisturbed.
It's a story no longer stranded in silence.
>> Some of the facts, at least for instance, about the Cheslatta story.
It's the time now to pull those stories up, to pull the stories up that are all
over Canada that we need to use to enlighten the Canadians.
Because they don't know the stories. They don't know the truths and until we do
that and until everybody hears, then it's too easy not to look.
It's too easy to stay in denial. >> Rayanne and others are challenging that
denial, and tonight, it seems to be working.
The many faces of Burns Lake are strikingly evident in the line up to get
into the school auditorium, and this is a first.
>> Welcome everyone to our first annual Indigenous Festival of the Arts.
>> [music]. It's just too easy to just [unknown],
eventually it'll all balance out, you know?
No way, it's not going to balance out unless we really get together and build
networking and bring in people who can help us.
>> Come on, what are we, in a golf game, how's it going?
>> You guys are the first, you guys are the first to [unknown] I'll admit. ...
>> The young movie star offers a new Aboriginal image to a new generation.
>> I'm going down that road now. I'm doing as much research as I can on the
history of native affairs in Canada, and stuff like that.
I want to be able to do [music] we can do something important with this.
[laugh]. >> We're slowly getting there, you know,
it's tough and some generations have had it harder than others, but I think in the
future, it's, it's, it's looking up it's looking, it's looking better.
>> Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much for having us,
thank you. >> Thanks guys.
>> We all have to acknowledge our history, right?
>> And I don't go out and say, this is your fault, this is none of our faults,
right? This is what we.
>> [crosstalk] But back in Saskatoon at our therapy session, has anything changed
for steel worker Rob Pilone or farmer Robert Gordon?
>> [music] I'd say that my views and opinions have completely changed.
>> There was things there I didn't know. I've done quit a bit of research on this
type of thing and there's things there I didn't know about.
>> We need as society to have more programs like this incorporated in to our
every day living. Think as far as maybe interschools.
>> Okay guys, so now what we have to do, we need put them and pack them in the
boxes, we have to send them. Here we go, it's a pretty one I like.
>> In terms of this idea of guilt, we should know our history and our history
isn't very pretty here, but I can't answer for what happened 50 years ago.
But if my grandchildren ask me what I did in my life, in terms of this issue, and
there hasn't been an improvement, then I certainly should feel guilt and I don't
want to and I don't think any Canadian wants to.
[music].
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