Movement in the right direction from our Anishnaabe brothers and sisters… I could not have said this better myself!, so I won’t. - Taiaiake.
WHITEFISH RIVER FIRST NATION, ON, June 25 - Chiefs of the 42 member communities of the Anishinabek Nation have launched a campaign to eliminate the inappropriate use of the term “aboriginal”.
During the annual Grand Council Assembly in this Manitoulin Island community, Chiefs endorsed a resolution that characterized the word as “another means of assimilation through the displacement of our First Nation-specific inherent and treaty rights.”
“It’s actually offensive to hear that term used in reference to First Nations citizens,” said Grand Council Chief John Beaucage. “Our Chiefs are giving us direction to inform government agencies, NGOs, educators and media organizations that they should discontinue using inappropriate terminology when they are referring to the Anishinabek. We respect the cultures and traditions of our Metis and Inuit brothers and sisters, but their issues are different from ours.”
The resolution notes that “there are no aboriginal bands, aboriginal reserves, or aboriginal chiefs” and that the reference to “aboriginal rights” referred to in Section 35 of the Constitution Act of Canada “was never meant to assimilate First Nations, Metis and Inuit into a homogeneous group.”
Chief Patrick Madahbee of Aundeck Omni Kaning said: “Referring to ourselves as Anishinabek is the natural thing to do because that is who we are. We are not Indians, natives, or aboriginal. We are, always have been and always will be Anishinabek.”
Beaucage said that the resolution’s goal of encouraging the use of respectful terminology could lead to changes in organizational names.
“We have lived with The Indian Act since 1876, but the legislation’s provisions are as archaic as its name - and we hope it won’t be around for too much longer.” Beaucage said the resolution could result in re-naming the Anishinabek Nation’s corporate arm, which has been known as the Union of Ontario Indians since 1949. “Those terms were acceptable then, but today we recognize them as confusing and inappropriate.”
The Anishinabek Nation incorporated the Union of Ontario Indians as its secretariat in 1949. The UOI is a political advocate for 42 member First Nations across Ontario. The Union of Ontario Indians is the oldest political organization in Ontario and can trace its roots back to the Confederacy of Three Fires, which existed long before European contact.
For further information: http://www.anishinabek.ca/uoi
July 7th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Tansi Taiaiake
This news story is awesome! It conveyed a sense of gratification, pride and the upheaval of the terminology that has led to the confusion of many of our identities as part of what you have identified as cultural blanks is something to be celebrated. A few Elders and leaders in Pimicikamak have been vocalizing what the Anishinabek leaders have recently publicized to the world. I think it is crucially important that we start to abolish/outlaw terminology that is not our own. I hope the Anishinabek continues to document this important process.
kinanâskomitin ( I thank you sincerely)for posting this on your website.
Wendy
July 7th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Kwe Wendy
Niawen, and from what you’ve said here, I think it’s even better than was reported. Elders and leaders from other parts of the country are moving in this direction too… This is motivating.
Skennen, GTA
July 9th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I have always detested the use of foreign terms to identify our people,and I am encouraged by what has transpired at WhiteFish River.I have always wondered why we have tolerated these labels imposed upon us by the settler societies. We have many labels and names, and categorizations designed to undermine our nationhood, and our identities. I think one of the reasons for that is that we have allowed them to call us “Aboriginal” “First Nation”,and Indian..so it is high time we tell them we are more than that. We are the Muskego Ininiwak, the Anishnabek, and the Onkwehonwe..and we have always been, and will remain who we are..its time that Canada knows that we are not your “Indians”.
Garrison
July 18th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Miigwech for your posting. I am forwarding it to more Anishinaabeg in Manitoba to get the word out.
Truly, language shapes our understanding. I recently encountered a settler professional who does work in the field of “restorative justice.” While it seems that much of her work has been beneficial in many ways, her language was guised in the words of “the natives.” I take issue more with the word “the” than with “natives” (because I understand her to be using a term that is used by the people she works with, even though that in itself can have it’s problems), because it’s so objectifying. I am certain that her approach to the work she does is guided by her impression of indigenous people as a homogeneous group of others. While changing language is not in and of itself a complete solution, if the only step she ever took towards decolonization was getting rid of the word “the,” I believe her whole outlook on indigenous/settler relations would change dramatically.
I am proud to say I am an Anishinaabekwe/Nehayowak everyday, but especially when I see our wisdom showing.
“Referring to ourselves as Anishinabek is the natural thing to do because that is who we are. We are not Indians, natives, or aboriginal. We are, always have been and always will be Anishinabek.”
August 12th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
John Trudell said: “When Columbus got off the boat, he asked us who we were. We said, “We’re the Human Beings, we’re the People.” Conceptually, the Europeans didn’t understand that, it was beyond their conceptual reality. They didn’t see us. They couldn’t see who we were. Historically, we went from being Indians to pagans to savages to hostiles to militants to activists to Native Americans. It’s 500 years later and they still can’t see us. We still invisible….They can’t deal with the reality of who we are because then they’d have to deal the reality of what they have done…So they have to fear us, not recognize us, not like us…The very fact of calling us Indians creates a new identity for us, an identity than began with their arrival. Changing identity, creating a new perceptual reality, is another form of genocide. It’s like severing a spiritual umbilical cord that reaches into the ancestral past. The history of the Indians begins with the arrival of Europeans. The history of the People begins with the beginning of the history of the People…The history of the People under attack is not very long, in an evolutionary context not very long, it’s only 500 years. The object of civilizing us is to make Indian history become our permanent reality. The necessary objective of Native People is to outlast this attack, however long it takes, to keep our identity alive.”
[INDIAN COUNTRY, by Gwendolen Cates, Grove Press Books, 2001]
I thought this was pertinent to this discussion…