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"First American Dream" by Rick Kennedy under Creative Commons. Click on the photo to learn about the symbolism of the frog and eagle.
In Yu’pik the word ellangellemni is translated “when I became aware.” It’s usually in reference to children, when they first become aware of their surroundings or can begin to retain memories. In the Yu’pik orratories I’ve read, it’s often used to indicate the start of a story from the speaker’s early childhood.
I love this word. After learning it my personal definition has become a bit embellished.* To me, “to become aware” means the moment you come across a new piece of information, experience, or history that changes your perspective. It means to move from childlike naivete to understanding. When I created this blog ellangellemni came to mind. I wanted this blog to bring awareness to others- using short articles in an attempt to spark passion- not to deliver soapbox speeches.
When I went to Alaska and worked at Presbyterian Hospitality House with emotionally disturbed teenage boys, many of them Alaska Native, I became aware. Their files revealed not only a lifetime of suffering, but generations, largely due to cruel actions by the US government. Suddenly the horrors of policies like “Termination and Relocation,” “Boarding School,” and “Assimilation” became very tangible and real.
Awareness weeks have become trite, and a bit overused, but I feel they have value. They provide an opportunity to consider issues that may ordinarily receive little attention.
May 19-22 is Aboriginal Awareness Week in Canada. The event was started in 1992 and “was designed to increase awareness of Aboriginal peoples among [Canadian] federal public service employees.” To celebrate the week I’m including some of the resources I’ve come across in my studies. They are not intended to be representative or complete. Please email me at elpisandjustice@gmail.com if you would like to see additions made!
- According to the 2006 Census, the Aboriginal population is over 1,172,790
- There are over 60 Aboriginal languages spoken in Canada
- The history of Aboriginal art in Canada is over 80,000 years old! The oldest remaining examples are around 5,000 years old.
Residential Schools
Starting in the 1870s, similar to the Americans, the Canadian government set up a system of residential schools, run by religious groups, to forcibly assimilate over 150,000 Aboriginal children. Children were deprived of their cultures, isolated from their families, and endured severe emotional, physical and sexual abuse. In 1996 the last federally funded residential school, the Gordon Indian Residential School, closed in Saskatchewan. In June, 1998, the Canadian government gave an official (but controversial) apology for the residential school era.
- Learn more about the residential schools through the online exhibit “Where Are the Children“
- Watch Prime Minister Harper’s apology here or you can read it here.
History and Culture
- Check out the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s online exhibit on the First People of Canada
- Gateway to Aboriginal Heritage, again by the Museum of Civilization
Government
- The Assembly of First Nations is the “national organization representing the First Nations of Canada”
- For a list of tribal government websites, please go here
Art
- My favorite book on arctic art, Arctic Spirit, includes photos as well as interviews with the artists
- Online gallery of Canadian Aboriginal art, produced by the Department of Canadian Heritage
Some of the blogs I follow (not exclusive to Canada)
Have you had an experience of ellangellemni, when you suddenly became aware of an issue and experienced a change in perspective? Post it in the comments section!
Have a blog or website you would like to recommend? I’m especially interested in promoting sites run and maintained by American Indians/Alaska Natives/First Nations. Email me at elpisandjustice@gmail.com
*I do not take ownership of the word “ellangellemni,” but am just using poetic license. This word is solely the product of Yu’pik linguistic genius and not my own!
Photo Courtesy of the Indigenous Environmental Network
Today’s BBC headline highlights the human, as well as environmental cost of energy production.
In Fort Chipewyan, a remote town in northern Alberta is home primarily to Athtabasca Chipewyan, 3 people have died of a rare form of cancer. Cholangiocarcinoma, or cancer of the bile ducts, typically only affects 2 out of every 100,000 people. The town of Fort Chipewyan has just 1,000 residents. Those from Fort Chipewyan are also hospitalized three time more often than expected. Many residents have lost loved ones to other forms of cancer. Many fear the water is to blame.
Community members are concerned that chemicals released from the process of oil extraction from nearby tar sands are causing the increased cancer incidence. Rises in the price of oil have led to extraction doubling since 2000, and are estimated to triple by 2020. The process uses the nearby Athabasca River in the extraction process. Over the years local Athabasca Chipewyan have noticed an abnormal number of cancer ridden fish in their catches. Fishing is an essential part of the community’s economy as well as the traditional lifestyle of the Athabasca Chipewyan.
There is currently debate as to whether or not the extraction facility is poisoning the community.
Uninhabited?
The market is pushing companies to extract gas, coal, and hydroelectric power from more exotic locations, especially now when enormous profits are to be made. Many times the public is led to believe the new sources are conveniently located in desolate regions, devoid of life. This is rarely the case.
- Indigenous people have been poisoned as a result of hydroelectric projects in northern Quebec, Canada. In 1971 Hydro-Quebec flooded 176,000 square kilometers of Cree land, an area about two thirds the size of former West Germany, without informing (let alone consulting) the tribe. Subsequent methyl mercury build up in the reservoirs and fish stock water resulted in 14% of the population with dangerous blood mercury levels.
- “Clean Coal” (low-sulfur coal) is putting Northern Cheyenne communities in danger. While highway billboards may lead you to believe that most of the nation’s low sulfur is in the east, a 1971 Department of the Interior study reported that strippable reserves in the West were ten times more abundant than the East. What is more important to know is one third of the strippable low-sulfur coal is located on reservation lands. Due to reasons beyond the scope of this entry, this does not mean that the Northern Cheyenne will be consulted with or compensated for mining that occurs on their reservation land.
What to do?
Reduce your own energy consumption. Currently every source of available energy comes at some degree of environmental and human cost.
Clean coal, ethanol, wind; politicians and special interest groups are throwing out a variety of ways to deal with the energy crisis. Pay attention and be critical! Indigenous people are often targeted by corporations due to their relatively small amounts of power and influence. The media does not typically cover issues indigenous people face. Raising awareness is crucial in supporting their fight for justice. A place to start:
Indigenous Environmental Network
EPA Definition of Environmental Justice: “No Population, due to policy or economic disempowerment, should bear a disproportionate burden of the negative human health or environmental impacts of pollution or other environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local and tribal programs and policies”
Support Native struggles for justice. We must all work together for a more equitable world.
Sources: Laduke, W. 1999, All Our Relations- Native Struggles for Land and Life, First edn, South End Press, Cambridge, MA.
Dumont, C., Girard, M., Bellavance, F. & Noël, F. 1998, “Mercury levels in the Cree population of James Bay, Quebec, from 1988 to 1993/94″, Canadian Medical Association Journal, vol. 158, no. 11, pp. 1439-1445.
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