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 4. At the Crossroads
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From the course by University of Toronto
Aboriginal Worldviews and Education
45 ratings
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
I'm Wab Kinew. I'm Anishinaabe from the Ojibways of
Onigaming First Nation in Ontario. My first language is Ojibwe.
Now, I live in Winnipeg. I'm a TV journalist and I make hip-hop
music. I know that some people might be thinking,
where's his rezed-out accent? And native people make hip-hop music?
Look, we all have stereotypes in our head. But don't you think it's time to move past
them? As one First Nations prophecy says, it's
time for the 8th fire, time to build a new relationship.
In this, the last episode of our series, we're going to look at some people who are
doing just that. Believe it or not, some of them are even
having fun trying. Don't worry, this show won't be violent.
What you just saw was art, a performance. The artist is[UNKNOWN] Michel Savard.
He's a Wendat Huron from Wendake, and his target is this.
It's a 64 page document. It's the Indian Act.
It was passed in 1876. [music] It's avowed goal was to assimilate
us, to turn us into white people. It regulates every aspect of our lives, it
treats us like minors. It treats us like children.
It's a stifling law. It's a paternalistic law, and it's a major
roadblock on the path to the future. Michel Savard got more and more angry, and
then he pulled out his gun. >> By taking a shot at the act, the idea
was to create something there to expose the wound that we suffered, all of us, the
native peoples. In fact, across the world, every
indigenous nation has suffered some prejudice and been traumatized.
[foreign] It's not the wound left by the law that's important, it's the shells and
wampum beads that emerge from the wound. Our traditions, our voice, our way of
doing things flow directly from the limitations imposed by the Indian Act.
Michel Savard shot echoed loudly. It lead to a traveling exhibition called
the Indian Act Revisited. Eight aboriginal artists created works
inspired by different aspects of the law. Some irritating, some repressive, and
some, well, just absurd. In one of the works you watch, Wendake
artist Frans[UNKNOWN] filling bags with soil and then hauling them off the
reserve. This is illegal under the Indian Act.
At the same time, she displays photos of quarries where outsiders pillage the
resources on the traditional lands of the Indians.
This, though, is perfectly legal. [music] Another work echos a more dramatic
consequence of the Indian Act. From the 1960s to the '80s, thousands of
native children were torn from their families and placed in foster homes, or
given up for adoption to white families. It was a shameful chapter of our history,
and it inspired a work by Angela Sterritt, a Gitxsan from British Columbia.
>> It's called Wars of the Crown, and it's about a woman having the ability to keep
her child because in, in Canada, if you're an aboriginal woman and you have a child
and you make one little mistake. I mean, it could be a, you could just
live, be living in a level of poverty and you'll be looked at with a lot more
scrutiny than any other race. Speaker:[foreign] When a woman married a
non-native person or an Indian without status, or Canadian.
She was losing her status and was automatically expelled kicked out from her
community. >> That article of the Indian Act was
ammended in 1985. A native woman who marries a white man no
longer loses her Indian status. But the law still discriminates by putting
up other obstacles which make it difficult for a First Nations woman to hand on her
Indian status to her children. [music] >> For example, if I were to have
a child with a white man and my son had a baby with a white woman, that would mean
he would lose his status. So, we see residual sex discrimination in
the Indian Act. Okay.
See you. Bye Nami/g.
>> The Indian Act regulates a multitude of activity.
Article 30 prevents anyone from entering the reserve without permission of the
Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. Michel Savard can't help wondering if that
has something to do with the cycle of poverty and dependence the reserves have
helped create. [foreign] >> In the work I did, I asked,
why can't you enter an Indian reserve any time you wish?
Maybe at some point there was something to hide.
The poverty of the people living there, or the social problems.
You can see, it doesn't make any sense. [foreign] >> The Indian Act created
reserves and the reserve system created problems, lots of them.
Take Black Stone, for example. You won't find Black Stone on any map.
It's the name of a series produced by an aboriginal team, airing on the aboriginal
people's television network. Though it's the name of an imaginary
reserve, the problems are real. Corruption, violence, drug addiction.
The series is controversial. It paints a tough picture.
It doesn't pull any punches, and it's been renewed for a second season.
>> Previously on Blackstone. >> Holy shit.
>> I don't want you hanging around with that girl.
As a matter of fact, I want you to stay away from that whole fucking family, you
hear me? >> This ain't a family business.
I built this club on my own. And I didn't need to suck on the tit of
Blackstone to get it. >> Ew.
Maybe I just don't want to do drugs every minute of everyday.
Have you ever thought of that? >> What we wanted to do is just show a new
generation kind of questioning and coming up and presenting challenges to the old
guard, if you will. And just looking for new ways and new ways
to promote accountability and transparency within the communities.
[music] That's your cue to come in. >> So I don't say, come here.
>> No, let's lose those last two lines. [music] >> The things that have happened
in the show have happened to real people, like myself.
I have lived through those struggles and I think that's important for people to know
that these things are going on and we're having a voice through the show, speaking
about these issues. >> Daddy, daddy.
>> I'm frustrated, too. My ex-wife is living in a city with some
guy that's looking after my daughter. Maybe this was a lost cause.
>> One of the things that non-native people see in Blackstone is that there's
universal themes in the show. You know, corruption, addiction sexual
assault. Any, any of those challenges exist in a
non-native community. It's everywhere.
I think, too, we need to beat when you realize that Andy has a piece of bread in
there. I think that's a big point.
I think that kind of interest in the show creates a dialog within the community and
it becomes a, a discussion piece. [music] And I do think that, that
awareness that, you know, these kind of challenges exist in the communities is,
is, is a healthy thing for the communities because it does promote dialog.
>> Action. [music] >> Blackstone sets off storms of
discussion according to Ron Scott. For a long time, one of the hottest topics
for First Nations has been the Indian Act. And more to the point, what do you do with
the Indian Act. [music] >> If I had a magic stick with two
powerful power on attached to my magic stick, I would say, yes, no more Indian
Act. Because for me it's, that legislation
doesn't recognize me as a human being. I'm just a member.
I'm not even an adult under the Indian Act.
Let's go, Alicia/g. >> Wee.
>> It doesn't recognize my culture, my territory, my history, my language, my
values, etc. It's just telling me what to do and how I
should be. We have to abolish this Indian Act.
>> The word is out. The Indian Act has to be scrapped,
otherwise reconciliation is a dead letter. The future is bleak.
I know it's easier said than done. My status card, for example.
Will I still have one of these? Reserves, band councils.
What happens to all of that? >> And perhaps, most importantly, what
happens to the $5 a year I'm promised under treaty number three?
I know. It won't be easy.
>> So my other power that I have in my magic stick would be, I'm entitled to this
site for my present and my future. And also, I have a land where I can be
feed with it or, you know self-government. I have something in place, a charter, a
constitution where my rights are protected.
[foreign] >> Give us what we're owed and we'll get on with it.
I think we're capable of running our affairs.
No problem. We did it for thousands of years and we
can do it today. [music] >> I've been walking for the last
15 days. About 400 kilometers, and still 280
kilometers to go. [music] I have been treated four times,
especially the, the first weekend when I had water to my ankle.
And sometimes, I was able to see holes through the ice so it was dangerous to
fall in those holes. [music] >> Doctor Stanley Vollant is an
Indian, and the first aboriginal surgeon in Quebec.
Now he's given himself another challenge, to walk 4,000 kilometers across Labrador,
Quebec, and Ontario in five years. One of his goals, he wants young people to
challenge themselves. [music] >> Three years ago, when I visit
Compostela in Spain, I had a dream, that I was walking in my land, seeking for youth.
Speaking with them about important of dreaming pursue our dreams.
I think there is an emergency. It's midnight minus 1.
75 to 80% of the Aboriginal youth kind of drop out from school.
If we lose this youth, I, we're going to have a big problem.
[music] >> Stanley Vollant is right. The aboriginal drop out rate is a
disaster. But not just for us, for you, too.
Think about it, Canada overall is an aging society.
But among aboriginal people, there's a demographic explosion.
That's a huge reserve, no pun intended. A huge reserve of talent.
But right now, it's talent lost and wasted when it's needed in the workplace.
When you talk about a path to the future, there's one already laid out, the path of
education. So, how do you get our young people to
stay in school? Stanley Vollant has an answer.
They need role models. Role models they can identify with.
[music] >> In the past, I thought that I was not accessible because people thought
I have a perfect hold on my life and I never had the difficulty.
[music] Today, what I want to do is to, to be humble, to be simple and to come
walking or come in snow showing the community and tell the people, I am like
you. I was like you when I was young.
And I'm coming with a very simple message that is, you, you have to have a dream and
you have to pursue your dreams, and to work to pursue your dreams.
>> Our young people actually face the challenge they are facing in education is
to persevere. What am I going to do after school?
Is there any future for me? Is there anything that I can do within my
community? It's really hard for them to aspire to
something. When they going to be older, it seems that
they have no esteem also, and it's really hard for them to leave their community and
to face the Canadian society. [foreign] >> Our message for them is to
know who they are, who are their ancestors to help them to project into their future.
I live with my grandparents. My cultural roots are very strong.
Help me to get along to my life because I was well-grounded.
[foreign] I see the lights, the flame in their eyes when I'm telling my story, what
I'm doing with my journey. And I just would like to see those lights
continuing in the future. What I realize, it's important for me to
come back to those communities in one year just to make sure the message is getting
through. >> Vollant is back on the road again.
He has thousands of kilometers to cover this year, next year, and the year after.
He delivered his message in Natashquan, but were the young people really
listening? [foreign] Will the kids walking with him
today be willing to go the extra mile tomorrow?
[music] >> I know that they want all become surgeons and physicians, but at
least they can have a dream to, to pursue. They can have the sense they can do
everything in their life. [music] >> What makes it easier to be here
at, at First Nations University is the fact that you're not just a number, you
know. It's like a family, I guess.
>> Penny Smoke is a Cree from Saskatchewan.
She doesn't know Stanley Vollant, but in a way, she's responding to his call.
She's studying at the First Nations University in Regina.
This is a unique institution. All the courses flow directly from native
reality. Today, the university is holding it's
annual Pow Wow. >> Culture was a large part of our life
when I lived on the reserve. We smudged, we prayed, we went to sweats,
we, you know, rain dances, stuff like that.
And I, you know, that's something that are always held high.
That's a major part of what attracted me to this school, in the first place.
And that, it offered first nations, culture in it.
And it made me feel like I was at home. >> Pow Wow is used to have to be hidden,
or we would be punished for them. Our ancestors weren't even allowed to, to
practice those cultures and traditions. I think the Pow Wow of our youth really
represents that we're taking ownership of our culture.
It brings back to mind that First Nations University is not some academic
institution that's meant to be off in a corner.
It was something that was built from a grass-roots effort by aboriginal people in
this country to control our own education. >> Shoulders up.
[music] >> And I chose First Nations University because it's institution where
my people are represented. And it's, I'm surrounded by my own culture
and my own people are, we're surrounded by our languages.
Even the structure of the building is based on First Nations culture.
[music] Rather than something that's kind of unfamiliar to us we use things that we
have seen and we come up with, and that helps us come up with, you know, positive
solutions that would benefit our communities.
[music] >> 70 percent of the students at the university are women.
And like Penny Smoke, many of them are single mothers, single mothers who live
right on the edge. Both my parents are dealing with
addiction, either drugs or alcohol. And for myself, I did in the past deal
with, like, drugs and alcohol. When I was about 17 years old, my mom, you
know, kicked me out and I had nowhere to go.
I decided this is it, you know, got to do something.
I can't live like this and I don't want to live like this.
I'm coming. >> Penny Smoke pulled herself out of that
life. She's now 28, with three children.
She's doing communications and media studies.
Her dream is to become a journalist. >> My own kids, I want them to know that
it's normal for kids to go to school every day.
I want my kids to know that throughout all this, throughout all the negativity that's
happened to our family, that there is positive and that we can move forward with
that. >> In First Nations culture, the women
are, are generally considered the, the backbone of the nation.
>> See what you've retained, from the last class.
What's this story about? >> The women are the real leaders.
They're the ones that are demonstrating, you know, what needs to be done by going
to a post secondary. >> For students, the First Nations
University is a success. But success costs.
Studying costs. And the money is drying up.
The funding programs that actually fund First Nation students to go to school,
like the Post Secondary Student Support Program, haven't kept pace with rising
tuition, living costs inflation, even just basic things like that.
So actually, right now, every year, we're getting less and less money for First
Nations education. >> We're not just talking about some
students with money problems. The entire aboriginal school system is
underfunded. On average, unreserved schools get 2 to
$3,000 less per student per year compared to what non-aboriginal schools in Canada
receive. You can figure out the rest.
First Nation schools have a huge problem recruiting and holding teachers.
There's a big turnover from one year to the next, and that's just one problem.
>> Education is an, is an investment. I think it's so easy to understand.
>> You're going to choose to spend this money in one way or the other.
They're going to choose to spend it on jails, and institutions, and medical
facilities, and child welfare, or they can choose to invest in education and see way
greater returns at the end. >> We see ourselves definitely taking our
place in the Canadian economic system and making a big change in, in the Canadian
society. >> Education is everything, you know?
My grandmother once told me that education is the new buffalo.
The buffalo used to sustain people when we lived off the plains, and now education is
our sustainment into the future. [music] >> I'll let you in on a little
secret. Native people don't want to be dependent.
Shocking. I know.
Economic development is the way forward. We need commerce, companies, trade, we
need jobs. In British Columbia, there's an enormous
economic development project on the horizon, $5 billion.
And First Nations people are being offered a slice of the profits and maybe hundreds
of jobs during the construction phase. And they're saying, no.
No to this mouth-watering prospect. They don't want to go down this road.
Why not? [music] >> The last time I came to this
place, it was with my great grandmother when I was a child.
And, just coming back here brings so much, so much memories.
[music] My last memories with her in this water setting net for the fish.
[music] >> Jasmine Thomas is a young Dene Cree leader in British Columbia.
For months, she's been leading the fight against the Northern Gateway, a huge
project of the Enbridge Company. It's a 1200 kilometer pipeline that would
take crude oil from the Alberta tar sands to the northern coast of British Columbia.
>> We have never given our consent for this project and we never will.
>> Enbridge says it has signed agreements with a dozen communities, but there's
still ferocious opposition to the project. Notably, from at least 50 First Nation
communities would sit along the pipeline route, like Jasmine Thomas's home
community, the Saikuz First Nation. [music] >> This pipeline is going to be
costing some of the, you know, environmentally sensitive areas.
It's not going to go over these, these major river systems.
They're planning to, to go underneath. There's no way that they can do that and
say that it's safe. >> The proposed pipeline cuts across B.C.
To end at a terminal on the northwest coast.
The economy here is based on fishing. Along the coast, First Nations fear
another ecological catastrophe, a repeat of the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.
>> We still harvest a lot from the sea and the land.
We still gather cockles clams, mussels, and we still trade the crab and everything
else. We, we still trade with moose and deer.
How important a job is from Enbridge for me and my family?
Next to nil. If Enbridge comes through with the super
tankers, and the super tanker hits the beach somewhere and oil is all over, we
lose our, our food. Everyone is against it.
>> Get off my land. >> No pipeline.
[laugh] No[UNKNOWN]. >> Jasmine Thomas and other militants have
organized a training course. >> Well, what about a lot of eye contact?
>> About 60 people are learning the basics of non-violent protest.
>> Well, one really quickly thing before we do that, this is a non-physical
activity. >> Enbridge must pass through an
environmental assessment process, and a committee is in the midst of determining
acceptable risks. The federal government will, in the end,
have the final say. Until that moment, the fight against the
pipeline will carry on. The protesters are determined, they do not
want this project. [music] >> Because the work that we do
isn't easy. We go out and we tried to explain what's
going on, but the general public isn't aware, you know.
They're not aware that, you know, where the pipeline's going to cross these waters
that feed our people. [music] >> The First Nations people of
British Columbia don't want development that falls from the sky, and above all,
that they didn't choose for themselves. [music] On the opposite coast of Canada,
let's take a look at a reserve with limited economic choices.
Natural resources, none. Land to develop, none.
The reserve in question Membertou sits in the middle of the city of Sidney on Cape
Breton. But the Mi'kmaq have turned Membertou into
a success. Young people don't flee this reserve, they
flock back to it. So, what's its secret?
[music] >> This building that we're constructing here is Hampton Inn Suites.
It's a Hilton hotel. It's going to help the rest of our
businesses become more sustainable bringing more tourists and people into
stay in Membertou. >> Mary Beth Duset has a degree in
Business Administration and works at the Membertou Bank Council.
She's one of the young people drawn back to Membertou to help develop the
community. >> I was living in Toronto about 10 years
ago and that's when Membertou was starting to make the news.
And I thought, you know, like this would be a phenomenal opportunity to move home.
>> The '90s were a time of crisis for Membertou.
It had just two sources of revenue, federal subsidies and cigarette sales.
Its social problems were huge and not surprising.
Unemployment, alcoholism, and violence. >> About 20 years ago, the taxi drivers,
the pizza deliverer, the police officers themselves wouldn't come up to Membertou
because if, they felt very unsafe. [music] >> Terry Paul is the band chief
and the man who turned Membertou around. His idea was to run Membertou like a
business, but a business belonging to the community.
To relaunch itself economically, Membertou started with a tried and true.
A money earner used by native communities around North America, games of chance.
>> These building over here are, they're gaming buildings.
It's our main revenue source for Membertou, and we make a couple of million
dollars a year. All that money is reinvested into the
community. It's reinvested into our businesses, as
well as to distributed to, to the community.
[music] >> Good morning, everybody. >> But Membertou didn't just depend on
casino money. It sent out a message.
And the message was this, we're a well-run business.
A transparent enterprise. You can take a look at our books, they're
open. The transparent approach has reaped
profits. [music] >> We got a phone call from a, a
major defense company, you know, and that was Lockheed Martin.
They called us and wanted to do business with us.
>> Lockheed Martin was a big deal. A computer programming contract with the
Canadian forces. The band council went looking for other
multinationals. It opened an office in a prestigious
building in downtown Halifax. [music] In 2010, the band signed a deal
with a Spanish firm to set up a new business developing solar energy
production parts in the US and the Maritimes.
And now, off the Cape Breton Coast, Mi'kmaq boats are catching crab and
shrimp. In Membertou today, unemployment has
almost vanished. The community is hoping that will
encourage more of their young people to return to the reserve.
>> That's always our goal, and I would hope that that's what our economic success
will mean is that people will have jobs. They'll feel like they have opportunities
in the community to be something more than, than what they are.
The future of Membertou is promising. There's lots of opportunity, there's lots
of potential and I think it's, the future is bright.
I definitely want to play a part. >> 20 years ago, Membertou was the
backwoods, today it's uptown. [music] >> The North, there's a huge
feeling of immensity. The Inuit feel love for their land,
because this land is very harsh very harsh environment, but very giving at the same
time. [music] >> In the land, the Inuit call the
south, Elisapie Isaac is a star, a pop princess from the north.
But she once did social service work in Kuujjuaq schools.
Now she's here to help run creative workshops for the local young people.
This weekend, we were invited to be big brothers, big sisters for this youth in
Kuujjuaq and sort of help them and guide them to express themselves.
>> I'm really excited. >> Yeah.
>> The youth are going to have so much fun.
>> Giving resources and giving these great programs, our cultural programs for the
kids. That's the way to go now.
I think that's how we're going to solve problems.
>> Picture a young Inuk, he's maybe 15 or 20 years old, with his friends and his
music, the internet and Facebook, he feels as though he's connected to the world.
But its community is isolated and it's often not a happy place.
The Indian Act doesn't effect the Inuit, but still they've been impacted by
assimilation. Children were taken away from their
families and sent to residential schools. They still have the scars, and for a young
Inuk, the way forward may seem bleak. But in Kuujjuaq, they're gambling that
they will defy that expectation. That given the chance people will express
themselves, take control of their lives, and create a new path for the future.
[music] >> There's a lot of suicide and a lot of drug and alcohol abuse.
But, I think the youth now, if we think about it, are a little bit fed up to talk
about the problems. I think they're ready to move on.
So I, I have a tendency not to talk about the problems anymore because we need to
find solutions more than anything. >> A really good aspect about youth and
culture is that they're very open to everything and anything, and they'll just
take this, take this project advantage of them.
It's going to take off like crazy. [music] [foreign] So I'll sing you a song,
okay? [laugh] [music] >> This weekend is about
having fun. But this weekend is also about, we want to
know from you guys what you think is going on in this community that we need to talk
about. >> Jessica Yee is a Mohawk from Akwesasne
First Nation in Ontario. She makes things happen around North
America. The Inuit are a regular stop for her.
This time, like Elisapie, she's come to help young Inuit find the words to express
their lives. >> If we can't be honest about those
pains, that history, the truth about where we're coming from, it's really hard to say
we can heal for the future. We have to know what happened in order to
move forward in a good way. What are some of the things that are going
on in this community that you don't like? We're saying litter and trash.
Dogs and alcohol? Violence?
What about drinking and driving? What are some of the things that you like?
Hunting. Having a job.
Being unique. Language.
How we can use our culture to deal with all of these things that we don't like.
The throat singing and the drum part at the beginning and at the end is fun, but
that part has to be as strong. [music] They have a lot of questions about
how I became a singer. But at the same time, really curious about
their tradition outside, means the throat singing part.
So, I really felt like they're going to, they have a very strong foundation that
way, yeah. I'm really excited to be part of this
transition where we feel completely free and that we want to reinvent and use our
culture. [music] The positive things that are going
on in aboriginal communities far outweigh the negative, if you take the time to
count them out. But nobody's ever doing that, particularly
around issues of violence and hurt and pain.
Nobody's looking to see the resiliency, the survival, the, and the fact that we're
still here. >> Yo man, here I am, just trying to live
my life, but something inside, it doesn't feel right.
It's like I'm going out of my mind. I don't know when this thing is going to
end. >> Either we have families who have
committed suicide, have been faced with sexual abuse, or alcohol and drugs.
So, making music is not just something easy and something light, it's also about
releasing your emotions. The more you believe, the more we believe
you, okay? That's what you want.
You want us to make us hear what you have to say.
It's very powerful. I think that's the biggest thing we can
give to those young people is to make them realize that we, we care for them.
[music] I think what has changed is the young people are now very modern, more and
more educated and trying to open to the world.
The young people just want to make things better and are much more confident, also,
which is very new. [music], [music] [foreign] [music]
[foreign] [music] [foreign] [music] >> To the things that blocked my walk, and the
dialogs and meetings that I had with non-aboriginal communities.
I think I will be able to build bridges and re-establish the links that have been
broken in years ago. [music] >> We're people, first and
foremost. We're nations, we're, we're communities,
we're cultures, and we're so much more than even the English or French language
can describe. >> The relationship between the white
people and the Inuit I think, it's only going to get better because we feel
confident. When I was younger, I always felt like I
was lower than the white people. And now, I really feel there's much more
confidence in the young people, so that makes a big difference.
>> We all live in one country, all want to live peaceful and prosperous lives.
We all have the same dreams, so we need to figure out a way to get along.
[music] >> I have that strong feeling that it's going to change.
I'm sure the knowledge of the non-native people about us will be better.
Maybe not all of them, but more and more will be aware of who we were, who we are,
and who we want to be tomorrow. [music] >> So you see, we aboriginal
people don't want to be just like you, but we want closer links.
We want reconciliation, and you probably do, too.
It's a long, rough road ahead and there are many potholes, both sides will have to
learn from each other, respect each other. And let's face it, make the odd
compromise, or 2, okay, maybe 3. But we don't really have a choice.
We're all here and none of us are leaving. We need to, well, paddle together, a bit
like it was a few centuries ago. Natives and non-natives.
Each in their own canoes, all moving forward in the same direction.
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