Growing up in India, my History education was mostly focused on major world events, revolutions and Indian history. We learned about explorations but the details of Indigenous culture and traditions was not part of the curriculum. When I moved to Canada, there was so much to learn about Canadian history and people, Indigenous people being an important and integral part of that. However, it was a while before I started to engage with this side of the knowledge. I mentioned this in my History Reading Map that living and growing up somewhere does not mean that we know every major event that has shaped our world. I am the only one who can get that knowledge for myself and that is why I want to understand Canadian History.
This conversation on The Creator’s Roulette with Alexander Rousseau is an attempt to learn more. I hope that you will get a lot out of it if you are curious about Indigenous culture and history.
Alex, you study about Indigenous History. Why did you choose to pursue this?
Honestly, I always had a passion for history. Yet as an Indigenous person, I’ve been disconnected from my heritage. I’m a member of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nations in Ontario, but I’ve never been to my nation’s traditional land in my memory. I believe I began to search for strands of my heritage in history and repeatedly came back empty-handed and frustrated. I became committed to pursuing Indigenous History before I understood what that entailed. There is a lot of trauma and pain associated with this field, which directly relates to the disconnect I experienced. I feel now that we need to become more comfortable with acknowledging our past to move forward to a better society, and I wish to be a part of that cohort of new scholarship that aids our society in coming to terms with its past.
Is there a particular era or time or topic that you love to learn about in Indigenous History, and why?
I love all things historical. I always love to read about indigenous history pre-confederation/pre-colonization because we can observe a different outlook on life radically different from our own. Unfortunately, that part of history is tough to research, but reading things such as the Jesuit Relations. Interestingly, I noticed in some of the earliest ones a real sense of fascination and open-mindedness from some of those Jesuit priests. It makes me naively believe western societies’ initial clash with Indigenous peoples wasn’t initially hostile.
For my Master’s, I’m going to be looking at the 20th-century experience. As far as history is concerned, we rely upon written records for the most part, and that’s when we have researchable documentation. There are so many things left unacknowledged by our society or left hidden in plain sight, and all it takes is a little curiosity and willingness to accept lived experiences as fact.
For someone just starting to learn more about Indigenous peoples of Canada, what are some books that give a comprehensive and balanced introduction?
Hmm. I will have to say there is no way to get a ‘comprehensive’ or even ‘balanced’ introduction. There is a lot of expectation from outsiders looking at Indigenous people to produce such work, and the reality is the experience, the people and the cultures are incredibly varied. My learning journey is in the early stages; I will offer some recommendations of books:
I read this class for my INDG100 class, and I think for open-minded outsiders, this book should be eye-opening. This book illustrates the story of violence perpetrated against Indigenous Youth in Thunder Bay, Ontario. I believe Talaga discusses it, but one thing to note is that ‘Northern’ Ontario is considered by most canadians as just north of the St. Lawrence Valley. There are remote northern communities that have a much different experience than what Thunder Bay offers. Without giving any spoilers, I want to say that if there’s any book that illustrates that if we as a society refuse to acknowledge our history, we are bound to repeat the same mistakes. Talaga steeps this book in Indigenous ways of being, and Talaga makes an effort to explore her own coming to understand. I think this really allows outsiders an perspective of walking in the shoes of an Indigenous person who is investigating and witnessing the violence against Indigenous Peoples.
I have to start by saying Rushforth’s book brilliantly written. The prose is incredibly easy to follow and engaging for the reader, that writing might distract readers from how much emphasis Rushforth puts on his thesis. My one problem is that he often only offers the reader extrapolations in place of actual numbers. Rushforth also is a settler-scholar, so while I think it is a great and well-written book, it is built from the settler perspective in reexamining Indigenous slavery in (French) North America. Not to suggest that Rushforth writes to criticize Indigenous cultural practices, but I believe having a direct Indigenous would grant a lot more authority to this already excellent research. Rushforth provides a reader to view an alternate form of slavery, while still slavery, functioned differently than the dominant understanding of slavery. Often the popular understanding of slavery is a subjugation in perpetuity combined with the racialized post-colonial and American slavery systems was a package not typical of most cultures. It is so well written though, that I firmly believe that this book provides an excellent lesson in how we can better understand how the relationship that built Indigenous Peoples societies was warped by forces of colonization.
This is one of many books on my to-read list but, I will recommend it anyway. Sarah Carter is a settler scholar who is a professor at the University of Alberta (I wanted to work under her, but she’s retiring). This book highlights the experience of the poorly handled forced transition of the Prairie First Nations to a sedentary agricultural life. Again I haven’t read this book yet. Still, presumptively this book will explore how the Plains Indigenous people relied upon a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle, in which the Canadian/US Governments interrupted deliberately by driving the Buffalo near to extinction and offering to teach them to farm in return of the destruction of their traditional ways of life. I won’t further presume Dr. Carter’s research, but there were various severe problems with the implementation of that shift to the sedentary agricultural lifestyle.
There are other books, but I recommend watching a couple of movies: Chris Eyre’s (1998) Smoke Signals; and Kevin Costner’s (1990) Dances with Wolves.
- Smoke Signals is legendary among my generation. It’s a movie that tackles the clashing between traditional spirituality and (de)colonization. There are a lot of things to pay attention to in that movie, including Victor’s hair. Braided hair in a lot of Indigenous societies was a symbol of maturity/spirituality. One of the things done at residential school was they cut off children’s hair because they knew it was a symbol of their culture. It’s a funny movie well worth watching and paying attention while watching. I’ve spoken to several elders who all say “If we didn’t have our sense of humour, we would no longer be here,” and that’s something that you need to pay attention to, that no matter how humorous or serious an Indigenous story is humour is a tool of coping with challenging subjects.
- Dances with Wolves is honestly a film I grew up watching with my (settler) mother. Films like this largely shaped my perception of what an ‘Indian’ is. It does come from a settler director (Kevin Costner), but from what I’ve seen, read and heard, is that they did a lot of research trying to give a good representation of the Sioux (Lakota/Dakota) peoples. I really appreciate this film because there is a triangular conflict between colonizer (American Army) and Indigenous peoples, and the introduction of that third power only heightened the conflicts that already existed.
As an immigrant to Canada who is still learning not just the nuances of living in the Western society but the history of the country itself, sometimes I find my lack of experience and knowledge almost paralyzing. In my time, I have heard ‘Aboriginal’ and ‘Native Indian’ terms to refer to Indigenous people. How have these terms evolved in time with their integration in day-to-day language? Which one is the preferred one now and how can one stay on top of best practices?
Don’t feel alone with that fear. I grew up being called an Indian, which is a misidentification originating from Christopher Columbus’ confusion that he maintained throughout his life. He insisted that he arrived in India, but he was off by a few thousand kilometres. Unfortunately, the term stuck, and it’s tough to get rid of as it is the term we’ve used in Canada since confederation (and before confederation).
Up until I was in University, did I see the language begin to shift permanently. There were changes towards ‘First Nations’ and ‘Native Americans,’ but those are more general terms used to identify a broad group of peoples. Indigenous is the most comprehensive term used; First Nations refers to those people defined by the Canadian Government as First Nations, which excludes Metis/Inuit. Native American is the ‘correct’ term used in America, but the trouble is that Indigenous peoples are currently trying to combat pan-Indianism in which popular perception presumes First Peoples as having very cultural origins.
Indigenous
Oxford English Dictionary: “originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native.”
This is the broadest term used, sort of the umbrella in which all peoples. As Oxford defines it, you can have Indigenous peoples to every place. Still, for the most regular purposes, it refers to groups that have been subjugated in their traditional territories by outside peoples.
Aboriginal
Oxford English Dictionary: “inhabiting or existing in a land from the earliest times or from before the arrival of colonists; Indigenous.”
This term is often used interchangeably with Indigenous, but in discourse today, it is often used to refer to collectively the Australian Aboriginal peoples.
First Nations
This should be understood more as a legal term referring to the Canadian First Nations as defined by the Indian Act. As mentioned above, it excludes Metis/Inuit for legal purposes. The Indian Act offers certain protections depending on which category you’ve been given. This term is one step more specific in the Canadian experience and collectively refers to all Indigenous Peoples in Canada who are considered ‘Indians’ (‘Status Indians’ or ‘Non-Status Indians’).
Inuit
To avoid too much on what I do not know, these are Indigenous Peoples in the world’s arctic region, including areas in Canada, Alaska, Russia, and Greenland. They used to be called ‘Eskimos’ which is still used in America to my knowledge, although some quick googling reveals to me that some people still use it because some peoples in Alaska/Russia do not use Inuit, as they aren’t Inuit.
Metis
I am not super up to date with understanding the Metis identity. It is a culture in which mix aspects of various Indigenous groups and French-Canadians. As far as the legal definition goes, it is descendants of the Red River Colonists and the subsequent diasporic peoples that were dispersed after the Canadian Government intervened in the Red River Settlement. Confusion arises as the term is also sometimes used to refer to people of mixed descent which isn’t exclusively the general perception that it is a mix of French-Canadian and Indigenous. Metis is a difficult term to employ as the legal and popular definitions don’t match the cultural definition. Metis organizations are currently attempting to fight for their own rights, including the ability to define their own peoples.
I hope that helps understand the baseline for what I’m about to explain that all those terms fail to recognize the unique cultural identities of the various nations. In Canada, there are many different nations. If I recall correctly, in Canada, there are roughly 50 surviving nations with 30 existing in BC. Some of the more recognizable nations include Cree, Haudenosaunee(Iroquois), Anishinaabe/Anishinabek(Ojibwe), Haida, and Mi’kmaq. Even then, you can go further as Iroquois is a language group which we are most familiar with the Haudenosaunee confederacy consisting of six nations: Kanien’kehá:ka(Mohawk), Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, Onondaga and the Tuscarora.
Thus we get to where it becomes super difficult to ‘keep up’ with the best practices. It’s hard to know all that. You are not wrong to stick to ‘Indigenous’ when in doubt, as it is the broadest term, but when possible and in effort of trying to be more specific, find out which nation they identify with. A lot of the time, it will be included in the mini author bio as it generally provides authority for an author to be writing on an Indigenous story.
I mentioned two Indigenous authors to you and you kindly corrected me to identify the nation they identify with rather than the state they reside in. Tell me more about Indigenous Nations.
I am not the authority for all peoples, but in my opinion, when possible, stick to the most specific term someone identifies with. The creation of modern state’s borders dissected many nations, creating artificial barriers for the traditional territories of peoples. Some places like Oklahoma or North Dakota/South Dakota were territories where Indigenous peoples from various nations were forced to move against their will by the governments. The forced movement is a fairly typical story: The Metis Nation is considered a distinct Indigenous Nation that formed post-colonization, and it centred around the Red River Settlement, which is where Winnipeg is built today. As Canada expanded into the prairies the Metis Nation was scattered across Canada and from northern Montana to Northern Minnesota; Other such events had more deliberate destinations such as the Trail of Tears. After the Cherokee won a legal battle in the United States Supreme Court, the United States Government forced the Cherokee (An Iroquoian nation) to Oklahoma.
Don’t be discouraged. It’s merely a step towards identity-first language and being curious is the best first step. Think of it in the way you wouldn’t be wrong by saying something like an ‘Indigenous Person from Canada,’ but ‘Canadian Indigenous Person’ might misrepresent someone’s identity as their Indigenous identity might cross borders.
When I was training as a teacher, one of the standards teachers have to uphold is integrating foundational knowledge about First Nations, Métis and Inuit into the classroom. From your own time in school, how were Indigenous beliefs and culture integrated into your classroom?
This is something that occurs very infrequently outside Indigenous-centered spaces. I came from a very poorly funded rural highschool in which had a very overworked Indigenous support program. I was invited to do some incredible things because of that program, but that existed outside our classroom. University wasn’t much different, although the Aboriginal Programs and Services [APS] is an incredible Indigenous-centered space, it too existed outside most of my classrooms. That being said, during my time working with APS, I got to sit in on a class in which was a life transition class that helped prepare incoming Aboriginal Access students by incorporating and empowering Indigenous knowledge systems into the University lifestyle.
In my history degree, Indigenous were the subjects in books and less a cultural influence upon the classes. That’s quickly changing fortunately though. Educators at all levels are looking to Indigenous knowledge systems to find ways to improve and adopt Indigenous beliefs and culture into our society.
As far as Indigenous Studies goes, there is a holistic approach in which knowledge comes from a journey with no end. To learn means more than simply to read or to study. One of the things one of my professors insisted was that our class share a meal at least once.
So my answer is, Indigenous beliefs and culture were not included much, but things are changing. Indigenous based learning is done best, not in the traditional classroom’s rows. Even if it’s not done with Indigenous knowledge systems, anytime that rigid system is broken, our society is moving closer to more holistic education.
Do you have a favourite story inspired by or centered on Indigenous culture, and do you think it accurately represents Indigenous peoples?
I hope you found this discussion information. Connect with Alex on Facebook and Instagram.
Banner image on Unsplash
Be First to Comment