Haisla Totem Pole Returning Home

In 1929 a Haisla totem was taken from B.C. The circumstances under which it was removed from not only it's native owners, but Canada, is questionable. It ended up in a museum in Sweden. There it was found in 1991 by a Haisla delegation that had come looking for it. It was displayed with a large metal device to hold it up. The symbolism of this 'shackle' was not lost on the people that first saw the totem.

The totem was originally carved to tell the story of Chief G'psgolox and Tsooda. Long ago, G'psgolox the chief of the Eagle clan of the Kitlope suffered a great loss. All of his children had died. This enormous loss filled him with great sorrow. One day when he was particularly filled with grief, he set off into the forest where he encountered the Spirit "Tsooda". Tsooda asked the chief why he was so sad. G'psgolox told of his misfortune and how he buried his family on a tree top. Tsooda showed great compassion for the chief and gave him a rock crystal and instructed G'psgolox to go back to the burial tree of his family. There he was to bite a piece out of the rock and call on his family to come down from the tree. G'psgolox went to the burial tree and did as Tsooda instructed. His family then return to him alive and well. He saw the good Spirit Tsooda among them and realized that it was Tsooda who had brought his family back to life. After this time, Chief G'psgolox was a great medicine man. Each time he healed someone he would first take a bite of the rock that the Tsooda had given him.

After much negotiating the Swedish agreed to return the totem. The natives had to not only create a replica to replace it but agree to the conditions under which the original would be preserved. I find that offensive in a way. I am trying to just be happy that an important piece of history is returning home, but I find it offensive that the Haisla had to jump through hoops to get back what is rightfully theirs.

Far to often the native history and culture has been misappropriated by those that do not have an emotional and historical bond with these items. Let alone a legal or moral right to them.

Caledonia has a bigot for a mayor...

That's right Haldimand County Mayor, Marie Trainer .

Now when I began writing this entry yesterday I was very angry. The comments I wanted to publish yesterday were harsh. I have since calmed down and deleted that draft. At the time I was feeling hurt, victimized and unheard by the majority of Canadians and the government. Why? Because it seems sometimes that the last acceptable racism in this country is against Natives. Marie Trainer's inference that the natives near Caledonia sit on their butts and collect government cheques every month was appalling. Her lack of remorse directly after making those comments, in two different interviews, was is even more vexing.

Alas there was some redemption for the town of Caledonia yesterday. The County Council denounced Trainer's comments, apologized face to face to the Natives (props for doing it properly) AND passed an emergency resolution barring Trainer from officially commenting publicly on the blockade or the protest. They also appointed the Deputy Mayor, Tom Patterson, as the council's spokesperson for such matters. Trainer was again back in interviews afterwards. She offered up a half assed apology. I don't buy it. She only made a half assed (and attempted to downplay/explain away) attempt and it was only after her own council firmly put her in check.
Thank you County Council.

Hmm it seems Trainer will be seeking re-election in the fall. I think I will find out who she is running against and go work for his/her campaign....

A personal note

I wrote a previous entry about the stand off and it seems things are escalating there now with the town's people.

Last night there was a "town meeting" after which an angry mob of up to 500 marched to within a few hundred feet of the Native barricade. The yelled at police that stood between them and the natives. The yelled racial slurs at the 100 or so natives at the barricade. They demanded that the police remove the barricade. You know what this reminds me of. The lynchings of natives and black people in American history. Angry mobs then too had *insert red neck accent here* "meetins" and then marched in to jails and forceabley removed minority prisoners. Beating and dragging them to the nearest tall trees. Then they were strung up. Left to struggle and die. This was done without reason and with little proof of guilt. Only the mob mentality of "we are more deserving then them".

I challenge the media to interview the town's people. Ask them the pointed questions: Do you know what the natives are protesting? Do you know what the natives are fighting for? Are you racist?

I have been a victim of and an observer of the racism that is directed at native people. It has happened in Alberta and it has happened here. This is a nation wide problem and it is ignored by the masses. It needs to be addressed. No mob such as the one last night would stand infront of a synagogue, temple or a black people's parish and yell such racist remarks. That obvious racial attack would be forbidden....but go after the red skins. It's okay, they don't count. It's not a hate crime if it's a drunkin indian is it?

I blame this on the media too. They're very much putting the spin on this that the natives are wrong. They did not print that women and children were pepper sprayed when the OPP went in, they did not print that a lone female was taken to the ground by 5 OPP officers (all men), they did not print that the occupiers of the land were mostly elder females, and they did not print the racial comments that that mob used last night. What they did print is ONLY pictures of young virile native warriors with masks on their faces. Afterall isn't that more dramatic, who cares if it doesn't show the WHOLE picture.

Can you tell I am PISSED OFF? If you couldn't, I'm sure you can now. I am angry and I am scared. Scared for the indians down there fighting for and protecting their rights. Because even after those barricades are gone...the racism and ignorance lives on. Those 500 rednecks will still live next door and will still control most of the amentities and shopping venues that the natives may NEED to use.

This ripple effect has indeed come as far as toronto. My dad received a Native Pride hat for Christmas last year. I bought it at pow wow and figured he'd like it. It was a beautiful piece of work for a baseball hat. Well before the last few weeks no one pretty much paid attention to his hat. Now in the last week people have begun to stare and give dirty looks when they see it on him. The negativity grows on.....and it makes me sad. Very sad.


*Disclaimer: I am not a drunk. I do not do drugs. I am not on welfare. I work full time and am raising my own children.*

The highway of tears...

Highway 16 West between Prince Rupert and Prince George has garnered the new name "Highway of Tears". It is a stretch that can be desolate and lonely, especially during the cold season.

Amnesty International estimates that 30 people have gone missing or were murdered along this stretch of road. All, except for one, were aboriginal. Amnesty will not provide a list of the missing and dead as it is considered a "soft statistic", says Shelby Raymond. "Much of it was anecdotal, gathered during the Stolen Sisters report." (Amnesty released the Stolen Sisters: Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canada in October 2004) That report cited 1996 federal government statistics that showed native women between 25 and 44 are five times more likely to die as the result of violence, than other women in the same age group. This same report included information gather by Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), which estimates that 500 Native Women in Canada have gone missing since 1984.

The names that I have been able to garner from www.highwayoftears.ca are:

Missing

Nicole Hoar
Tamara Chipman
Lana Derrick
Delphine Anne Nikal

Murdered

Monica Ignas
Alberta Williams
Ramona Wilson
Roxanne Thiara
Leah Alishia Germaine
Aielah Saric-Auger

Although I know that they are not the only ones, this is more then enough. One child's name on this list is enough.

My thoughts are many on The Highway of Tears...I will write more when I am done with present Native crisis that is here in Ontario and so close to home.

Talks set to resume in bid to end native standoff

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060420/police_ontario_060421/20060421?hub=TopStories

What a headline. Not a completely truthful one though. You see the natives in this particular situation have been stepped on and ignored for a very long time. By the government, by the courts and by the media even. The media didn't even take a real interest until things were set ablaze and police moved in to "raid" the protestors camp.

Now the police pat themselves on the back and repeat often how restrained they were. Restrained?? Pepper spraying women and children is restrained? 5 police officers jumping on a lone female is retrained?? Ask yourself this readers...if this protest group was black or muslim or jewish, would the police have even raided in the first place? I think not.

The complacency and disregard for the aboriginal people of this country is well know and well documented....issues from recent memory: tainted water issue on numerous reserves, Ipperwash - Dudley George, unarmed and murdered by the police, The Highway of Tears - the murder of several native girls/women was only cared about once a white girl turned up dead in the same area. It is this complacency and disregard that has raised the ire of the native community. Talking doesn't work. The courts don't work. Only physical stands and loud riotous fighting for our rights seem to work. And if one of us should be murdered by the police under governement order...heh atleast then the media will care enough to high light our plights.

Warren Goulding, a journalist said it best when covering the trial of John Martin Crawford (convicted of murder in the killings of three Indigenous women): "I don't get the sense the general public cares much about missing or murdered aboriginal women. It's all part of this indifference to the lives of aboriginal people. They don't seem to matter as much as white people."

Native Canadians living in third world conditions....

I am ashamed. Ashamed of my country. Ashamed of my politicians. As a Native Woman I am appalled at the living conditions, the Canadian government has left the First Nations people to deal with.

The emergency evacuation of 1,900 Aboriginals from the Ontario reserve, Kashechewan, has highlighted the issue of inadequate water treatment on First Nations reserves in Canada. It also is shedding light on the appalling living conditions in other reserves across the country. Two days after the evacuation of the entire reserve, near James Bay, due to the high level of E. Coli bacteria in water. Among the many conditions attributed to the over chlorinated water and the inability to use the water, safely, are: Hepititas A, Impetigo, Scabies, Rashes, Blisters, Diarrhea (both acute and chronic) and as a result also dehydration in some small children.

The statistics are ridicules for a country such as Canada. There are 858 First Nations here. Of those 95 are currently under a Health Canada "boil water" advisory, 51 have been under the advisory for over a year. Seven have been under the advisory for over five years.Specifically 37 of the 123 Ontario reserves are under similar advisories. The Six Nations reserve has been under a "boil water" advisory since the late 90s.

It is unimaginable that Canadians are living in these conditions, while tens of millions of CANADIAN dollars are being donated to other countries around the world for the exact same reason, SAFE DRINKING WATER.The majority of First Nations reserves in Canada are under a "boil water" advisory because of high levels of bacteria in their water supply, most of which are located in Ontario. Health Canada spokesperson Chris Williams said there are an additional 44 reserves outside of Ontario that are also under the advisory. "We can't make the list of communities available until we have the permission from those communities," said Williams. The Government is hiding behind the reasoning that the reserves are independant and that they can not go in, or release information, without first being invited to do so by any specific reserve. And how, you ask, has this gone on so long? And how did it finally come to light? Kashechewan reserve decided to go public, to the media. It was only after much attention from the media, that the government responded. It was this media campaign that not only embarassed provincial and federal government, but pressed authorities to take action and pledge funding for evacuations and military clean up of the reserve.

A reserve with it's origin dating back to the 1950s, created by Anglican Cree. They had seperated from a larger Cree group, after differences arose regarding religion. Religion (Catholic and Anglican) introduced by the White missionaries.In 1957 the government began building a settlement for the Kashechewan First Nation.

According to the band elders, the government ignored advice that the houses should be further upstream to avoid the flood planes and to prevent water damage. They say government officials argued that if the settlement were further upstream, supplies would not be able to reach it. So the government ignored the long term effects for immediate practicality. It's been downhill from there. Every spring the reserve has flooding and this in turn has caused much structural damage and created a great enviroment for mold to grow.

The band made requests on several occassions to be relocated. The government refused to spend the moneys that such an undertaking would require. The remote location of the reserve made it easy for the government to ignore it. Ahh well they have learned haven't they? The first nations people will be ignored no longer.

To the Canadian Provincial and Federal Governments I say, "The world is watching. Do right by these people!!"