Some First Nations peoples and groups were thrown into a tizzy over the outing of Mary Ellen Turpel Lafond as a “pretendian” recently.
As First Nations women, born into our people, we are feeling anger and outrage. We are angry because as First Nations women who are visibly “Native” or Indian, we have been the targets of extreme discrimination and racism for many years in Canada. We are outraged because this pretendian obviously comes from white privilege considering she will not stop trying to convince people of “their errors.”
When people have to ask me who I am or what nation I am from, they usually preface it by saying, “You’re First Nation or Native American right?” They may even guess at what First Nation I am because I am visibly brown. I’ll say that again, I am visibly brown.
From my earliest memories, I have been separate from “regular” people. I have always known I was different as I look down at my brown skin overwhelmed by the white coloured children who were my first playmates. They even made me mad when we played “cowboys and Indians” and didn’t want to “be” Indian. I was mad because I knew I was an Indian and I was taught that to be this kind of person was a special and great gift.
In my elementary years, I had other Natives with me in the public school system but the academic pressures and ongoing trauma situations that my people live in caused these kids to drop out, until only I remained, in my grade nine class. I won the aggregate academic award that year and forty four years later my name is still on the wall of this little public school just west of our reserve.
I had to go off reserve to a high school that was about fifty minutes away and the school had a high number of families who were middle class or above middle class. I came from a family of nine, which consisted of my parents and brothers and sisters in a four bedroom house. I never really had my own bedroom or space, but we were grateful to have a home.
In my high school, I wanted to take all matriculation or higher level courses because I intended to go to university and get a degree then move on to law school. I came into my high school when there was a high number of students. One day I was called to the office. Apparently, there were too many students in English 10 and the principal wanted me to consider taking the second class which would be English 13 but count as English 10.
I knew he was asking me because I was Native. But I also knew my capabilities. Even then, I defended myself. I asked why I was being asked this because my transcript showed that I had maintained a high average in my grade nine English class. He stated that I had come from another school so my actual academic record was not readily known in their school division.
The English teacher ended up giving us an in-class graded assignment to split the class based on our actual academic capabilities. I still remember that we had to read Edgar Allen Poe’s, “The Raven.” Within two days when our class resumed, the teacher announced the cut-off mark to be if you had attained below a seventy percent score. Voices rang out questioning what the highest mark was. “A ninety-three,” the teacher announced, and yes, the test was mine.
How many times did Mary Ellen Turpel face this kind of questioning? How many times was Mary Ellen called upon by older people in institutions to defend herself against overtly racist attacks? This is what I think about.
These encounters of racism or discrimination not to mention trauma have been commonplace for me and many other First Nations women when we try to “succeed” or rise to the tainted definition of “equal” in this society. We have had to face many constructs that white society demands we jump through in order to “be equal.” Then we are constantly reminded of “how lucky we are to have been chosen.” We are given perpetual head pats and extoled as “EXTRA-ordinary” Indians because we are able to function so well in mainstream society.
“Well, thank you oppressors, that’s mighty white of you to recognize my visible differences” is my response.
And no, this treatment did not abate, even, when I finally did get to law school.
If you are raised as a treaty Indian, descended from the original treaty signers and if your ancestral name comes from a place where your people were exterminated with the “gift” of smallpox blankets, then your worldview is going to be very different from non-First Nation people.
As is our custom, in one of my first assignments in law school, I told the truth about my interest in studying law. I said in my assignment that I was well-versed in the laws of my own people, which were sacred laws and that I hoped to see if there was any compatibility or similarity within Canadian law. After this I was targeted in my actual first assignment by the professor as “having been through the native law program,” and therefore would experience problems so I was to see this professor, immediately.
Did Mary Ellen Turpel Lafond deal with this in law school? I do not recall her ever sharing an instance of actual relatable discrimination or trauma with audiences.
As visible First Nations women, we have been marginalized and overlooked. We have been regulated to a place of powerlessness in this whiteman-centric society. Even now, the paternalistic, patriarchal thinking of white society has infected our governance systems and thinking on reserve.
As authentic First Nations women, we are outraged that we have to continue to defend ourselves to our men who are lost and to organizations that are subservient to their white funding dictators. First Nations matriarchs were prophesied to restore the balance — it seems that time is here.
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Nick Seebruch, editor
