A Heathen’s Perspective on Cultural Genocide in Canada
*** Okay so I better start this off with a trigger warning and maybe a parental advisory notice. This has to do with the murder of children so use your discretion. ***
Like many of my fellow Canadians, I am still processing the news of the 215 children found in the mass grave at the residential school in Kamloops. I wish that I could say I expressed shock at this number, but I did not. Perhaps that is the mark that I have some understanding of this topic though. I think the people expressing shock are largely those who just don't know a lot about the treatment of indigenous peoples in Canada. (And to be honest, this is very applicable to the treatment of indigenous peoples around the world, so if you aren’t Canadian, stick around.)
There are so many layers to this politically and also personally for me. I am sure there are a lot of people who can relate to that feeling in some way or another. I have been very privileged in my life to be friends with and learn from a number of people who are indigenous to the land now referred to as Canada. (I am using indigenous here, because I am talking about First Nations, as well as Métis and Inuit peoples.) Indigenous issues are very near and dear to my heart. When I look at political platforms at election time one of the things I look for is what they say they will do for indigenous peoples, but it hits a lot closer to home for me as well that just being a decent human being who wants everyone to have equal rights and their needs met.
As a child I grew up with a family story that we were Métis. And at the time I had no reason to question this story. Now, we are talking about a small percentage Métis, enough that my future child would really have no claim to anything with the Métis Federation. Even as a child I didn't want anything to do with the free hand outs because I knew that I was very lucky with my life and that other people needed them more. Mostly I was just interested in learning about Métis culture and I was lucky enough to have some wonderful lessons from Métis and First Nations elders over the years.
As a young adult I wanted to know more about this part of my heritage and I sought to learn more about this story I had been told, (either to prove it true or disprove it,) but it seemed like I kept hitting dead ends with it and that I would never know the truth.
I finished university, in which I learned a lot more about indigenous cultures, and then ended up working up north on a reserve. This was the most eye-opening experience of my young adult life. It was devastating to see just how awful life can be on a reserve. The residential school had closed in 1989. The people were trying to take back education, but the community was isolated and this was very difficult to achieve. In addition to this the water was not really very safe to drink and in the winter the pipes would freeze because it was difficult to dig them deep enough since the reserve was on a marsh. Health care was also not up to Canadian standards. There was just a nurse's station and it was ill-equipped. People would get seriously hurt and just get sent home all too often. Other times they would get med-evaced out, assuming planes could fly in and out. And when planes couldn't fly in and out we'd also go days without milk to drink or bread. Sometimes when new groceries arrived at the store they would be rancid from being incorrectly stored in warehouses until they could get flown in. Life was difficult. For us, but even more so for the locals. We melted snow when the pipes froze to flush the toilet. I bought $25 Tropicana orange juice when my fiancé had a fever because we also had no running water at the time. I made food out of nothing. I learned to cook caribou which we traded for. We made lifelong friends with some of the people we met up there.
After leaving the reserve I ended up taking care of foster children on another reserve for a while. I loved those children so much I cannot describe. But foster care is complicated and being a foster parent cross-culturally is extra complicated. Love transcends cultures, but I don't know if I was the foster mom they really needed. I hope they are safe and happy and with a family that loves them and does what is best for them. That is all I can hope for.
It was sometime after this that I took a DNA test. I have no indigenous blood if those tests are accurate. I don't know if they are. However, I am also not sure I believe that story my family has either. There are pieces which don't fit with things I have uncovered while doing genealogy, at least in my opinion. I may be 99% European like my DNA test claims, but even if I am not, I know my life has been blessed and that I need to check my privilege. It is kind of funny that in some ways my search for potential indigenous roots drove me towards heathenry, and not for the reasons you’d think. I know a lot of people tend to go to heathenry to recover heritage instead of appropriating indigenous culture, but that wasn’t it for me. However, my search for indigenous roots had me move halfway across the country and as a result I was exposed to a lot of new experiences. At some point heathenry just clicked. As usual though, I am getting sidetracked…
For the sake of this blog entry, I needed to tie heathenry to this news story and the link is personal experience. We as heathens need to be allies for indigenous peoples in the countries that we call home. We need to be humble and check our privilege when it matters. We need to listen to understand. And we need to use our voices to help improve the laws to protect indigenous populations. We need to advocate. We need to educate ourselves. We need to work towards Reconciliation. There is so much that we can do. As heathens we know a bit about cultural genocide. We know about cultural erasure and loss of traditions. However, there are generations that separate most of us from any heathen ancestors. The pain of that erasure is nothing compared to what the indigenous people in Canada are feeling. It does, however, offer a small window into their world. A place of connection. A place to build upon.
So no, my experience has taught me that it is not shocking that 215 children were found in a mass grave. I wish it were shocking. It should be shocking, but cultural genocide against indigenous populations in Canada still goes on to this day. They will find more bodies before this is over at residential school sites across the country. And the survivors have their own scars. The survivors have to fight every day against the damage of cultural erasure that was forced upon them. We have parents that don't know how to parent because their own childhood was stripped from them. As a nation we have to take responsibility for this. And as heathens we are very much tied to the lands that we live on, and that seems as good a reason as any to protect the lands’ stewards, the indigenous peoples.
One thing that I heard from a First Nations person once was that European colonists are like white ghosts on the Canadian landscape, because the bones of their ancestors are not under their feet, so they are disconnected from the land. I spent a long time finding those bones. Now the indigenous peoples have their own bones that they have found. They have so many bones. And too many bones is just as big of a burden as not enough bones. And children that die before parents are not the kind of bones that we ever want underfoot. Canadians of European descent have been here long enough now that we have many bones of our own, but those bones mostly rest peacefully as the dead should. It is time to help facilitate that same rest for the indigenous people. We need to expose the dark truth of our shared history. We need to listen to the dead and the stories they tell. But equally important we need to allow indigenous people, and all Canadians, to grieve. Then we need to help those bones finally rest.
I walked downtown today to see the grassroots memorial that sprouted up for the 215. Everyone who came across it while I was there gave pause. Many people had left things for the 215 such as orange ribbons, toys, shoes, and flowers. As a nation we grieve. It is time to reconcile. It is time to ensure it ends here.
And this absolutely applies to other indigenous cultures in places around the world where you might be living. The aborigines of Australia or the Sámi also need people to be allies, to give a couple of examples.
If you are Canadian and have been living under a rock for the last couple weeks (hey, I get it… pandemic times) or if you are from elsewhere and haven’t heard about the news story I am referring to I will link it below. It seems to have travelled quite well internationally though from what I can tell. I will also link a few things about reconciliation and being an ally, so check them out.
Further Reading:
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf
Being an Informed Indigenous Ally
https://www.womenwarriors.club/being-an-informed-indigenous-ally/
Every Child Matters Movement
https://www.orangeshirtday.org/about-us.html
How to be an Ally (Laurentian University) https://laurentian.ca/indigenous-programs/how-to-be-an-ally
How to Be an Ally of Indigenous-led Conservation
https://landneedsguardians.ca/how-to-be-an-ally
Indigenous Ally Toolkit https://physiotherapy.ca/sites/default/files/indigenous_ally_toolkit_en.pdf
Photo Source:
Picture is my own.
