Spending the last few days arguing and responding to people who do not understand that all First Nation Indigenous are not the same has been energy sapping. One non-native person wrote on my social media platform that “Could all the matriarchs, patriarchs, elders and whoever just get together and have one definitive stance?”
There can only be one stance if the mainstream believes in the outdated textbook definition of the Indians. They then believe the Indians roamed all over North America savagely fighting one another and not knowing the worth of the land. Can we move on from this doctrine of discovery definition? Apparently not.
The doctrine of discovery is a racist enabling document that allowed European nations to claim land if the inhabitants were not “Christianized” populations.
Canada, through the federal Liberal government, has only become more politically correct in the way they describe Indians, but they still treat the original peoples as Indians. The federal government continues to be duplicitous in their actions using words like aboriginal, and now Indigenous to try to put labels that will hopefully stick to the Indians.
All distinct fifty plus Nations of original peoples are linguistically separate. They speak different languages and are located on six hundred plus reserves throughout Canada. We are not all just one big group of brown and red people. We are distinct Nations with distinct languages, customs and traditions.
Fast forward to the Indians who went to see the Pope in April. A group of Indians, sanctioned by nobody knows who, went to see the Pope at the Vatican. They asked for an apology for the residential school abuses made by the Roman Catholic churches against thousands of First Nation children.
Please do not start telling me there were white children in these schools, or some First Nation parents put their kids there or that it was not such a bad experience. Since the finding of the two hundred plus graves adjacent to Kamloops Residential School, First Nation Indigenous across Canada have heard every take on how our truths are false narratives.
Even in furthering our education, we have to explain this to the different professors. It is true even in law schools. First of all, Indigenous law is not being taught. It is mainstream law with First Nations as plaintiffs. True Indigenous laws are not found in Canada’s made-up legal system. They are the immutable laws, the laws of the universe where the sun rises, the waters flow and the grass grows.
Giving cogent explanations does not seem to be settling with the settlers. They want the one-size fits all cookie cutter Indians to come out of the cupboards. This understanding fits with the Canadian narrative, and if it ain’t broken, why fix it?
Take for example the Indians who wandered to the Vatican, then came running out duped into believing the Pope had apologized. Maybe he tripped over his skirt or accidently jostled someone, so he in fact did mutter an apology, who knows? But the explanation that was finally given was that the words of the Pope were not adequate. Therefore the Pope had to come to Canada to formally apologize for the abuses in residential schools.
What the world witnessed on Monday July 25, 2022 in Maskwacis, Alberta was the Pope saying he was sorry and then he threw the blame for the residential schools back at the Canadian government.
Devout, Christianized Indians believe these words suffice. But First Nation traditionalists or the non-denominational Indians are questioning the veracity and meaning of the Pope’s so-called apology.
The Pope made no mention of sexual abuses when he talked about the atrocities of the “Christians” that were inflicted on the Indians. The Pope said that it was terrible of the Catholic Church to follow the residential school policies made by Canada.
With that, he stated some kind of investigation would be done and with healing dollars to follow. In fact, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is already posting how the money still owed to the residential school survivors will be distributed.
More troubling were the actions of the Indians present at the Maskwacis gathering in the gifting or transfer of a headdress to the Pope.
The headdress is sacred because it comes from the Eagle. Moreover, there is a specific origin story to wiyage tesnaga from the Sioux people. It has been gifted for use to other tribes on the plains but there are strict stipulations that come with this ability to “give away” or honour someone with a sacred object.
Not all First Nations went to Catholic residential schools though the worst crimes against humanity happened at some of these schools. The use of the electric chair, the nutrition experiments and the sterilization of First Nation women were all by-products of the Catholic Residential school experience. Many of these residential school survivors are still seeking acknowledgement, documents and closure for their harms.
The Roman Catholic church is also responsible for issuing historic papal bulls with the doctrine of discovery.
There are a multitude of wrongs that have caused harm to the First peoples of this land. The federal government was responsible for the taking of land without adequate compensation. The taking of children which broke First Nation families and clan systems was a joint church and state operation.
Aside from asking, who speaks for all Indigenous, the other question is solution oriented. What are the necessary steps to make reparations?
How can there be one approach or one solution when there are a multitude of First Nations, and a multitude of actions taken that were meant to destroy the original peoples?
The time it has taken to break a civilization is probably the time that it will take to resurrect this civilization. In the Canadian world that is time oriented with the attention span of a TikTok video, this seems unreasonable. It did not take one or ten years to break the original peoples; it will take generations to resolve the harms of residential schools. It will also take generations to resolve the harms that were intentionally inflicted on all First Nation Indigenous. Can a three to four day tour and one man’s apology fix this genocide? No. We the First Nations are saying that if you cannot differentiate that we are many nations with many harms, then how can there be resolution, let alone reconciliation?
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