Posts By: Xavier Kataquapit

I come from a large family with eight siblings. My mom Susan and my dad Marius certainly had a lot of challenges in caring for such a large group of children. These days as I find myself with some time during this pandemic I drift back to an earlier time when I was a child at home in Attawapiskat and I think about all the work my parents had to do to raise us.

Life for my parents when they were growing up was hard as they lived mostly on the land, with little education that came with the trauma of attending the residential school system and living at home in conditions that were less than perfect. Mom worked for many years in the kitchen of the local hospital and she learned some skills that made her a great cook. Dad was always a hard worker and although he had ventured out from the community for a time here and there working mostly on the railroad and in forestry, his love was doing his own thing. He was always coming up with a new project as part of his work in building, fixing, transportation and construction.

I have enough trouble caring for myself so I can’t imagine what a huge job it was for my parents to provide for such a huge family. I recall mom washing clothes every day. We had a huge home built hamper in the house and it was always full of our dirty laundry. I rarely saw the bottom of that hamper as mom worked every day to do the washing and keep us in clean clothes. She also had to cook all our meals, clean the house, tend to shopping and arranging for supplies and making sure we were all behaving. She was a supermom no doubt about that.

I wonder these days what she and dad would have thought if they had lived long enough to experience this pandemic. It occurs to me that disease, discomfort, critical life challenges and hardship was something they were very accustomed to and they might see this pandemic as just another turn in the trail of life. Somehow, even with all of the hard work and challenges my parents had to face in their lives I know that most of the time they were happy. They felt they had a purpose in life and they went to work every day to provide for their family and to be good friends and neighbours.

These days many of us are complaining about having to deal with the dangers of Covid19 and the challenges we have to live through every day. Many of us are upset we have to wear masks in public, we don’t want to understand that we have to stay two meters from others, we are fed up with washing our hands and not being able to move about freely. However, at the same time our governments are helping us financially, we are mostly in the comfort of our homes, we have all kinds of devices we can use to communicate with others and we can be entertained by all kinds of media 24 hours a day. Most of us in Canada are eating well, staying employed to a great degree and we know that if we do get sick with this virus that we have a health care system that is open to us all.

I think my mom and dad if they were still living would advise us all to just take this pandemic seriously, follow the rules set out by expert virologists and keep our family and friends safe. They would remind us to be thankful for all that we have and for the fact that we are living in a free and democratic country. I am sure they would give anything to be able to come back and enjoy life no matter what the challenges are. They would love to see their children, grandchildren, family and friends and to breath the fresh northern air. To be alive and well and to wake to the sounds of birds, a good breakfast, enjoying family and friends would be just fine with them even with the challenge of dealing with this pandemic.

My parents understood how precious life was and how short it could be and I remember their teachings on being aware of this and to be thankful for every day, even with all the challenges that come along. Soon enough all of us will be gone and this magic we call life will be no more. It is us up us to remember how wonderful life is while we are in this world. Pandemic be damned.

www.underthenorthernsky.com

All Our Relations

We mourn the members of the Black and Indigenous communities who have lost their lives as a result of racist violence by police: Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Atatiana Jefferson, Rodney Levi, Chantel Moore, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Jason Collins, Elshia Husdon, D’Andre Campbell, Randy Cochrane, Sean Thompson, Machuar Madut, Greg Ritchie, Chad Williams.

We stand and act in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and all those who resist racist abuses of power. We stand and act in solidarity with our sisters and brothers who are living with deep-seated colonization and racism, manifested in Canadian society and globally. The lives of the original inhabitants of this continent and the newcomers, whether coming here voluntarily or involuntarily have been and remain connected.

For half a millennium, greed and racial superiority have dominated the relationship between European newcomers, Blacks and Indigenous peoples. Blacks were forcibly removed from their indigenous homelands, transported across the ocean, forced into labour and lives filled with unspeakable cruelty, promised better lives and have not seen the promise fulfilled. Indigenous peoples were dispossessed of their lands, confined to the edges of their former territories, were subject to aggression and violence and then asked to live well with the settlers who came to dominate the continent.

We see the effect of insatiable greed and racism upon our lives, our societies, and our hopes and dreams for the future. The pandemic has rendered visible the structure of power and dominance in North American society. We see systemic racism and its effects clearly even though those in positions of power often do not. We see systemic racism at work in the inequitable treatment of people of colour by the police.

As the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies, mindful of the history of colonialism and racism that sits at the centre of Canada, we continue, as we have done for the last half century, to work for relationships that are just, equitable and enable us to live well with all our relations.

Confronting systemic racism is challenging and dangerous. As academics and university staff, we use our minds and our words to understand the damage and its cause. We use our minds to understand how to repair the damage. We use our classrooms to help our students understand the forces that influence and shape their lives. We help to develop tools that enable our students and our colleagues to confront racism and colonization. Our stories, our teachings, our traditions, our values form the foundation for building strong and resilient societies.

All our relations.
The Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies June 8, 2020

June is National Indigenous History Month. It is a good time for me, from my heart, to share my story in hopes of empowering other Indigenous women.

I come from the Gabriel family of Skownan First Nation. In 1973, I tragically lost my parents and older sister, who attended Brandon University. I have memories of my sister saying that she is going to be a chief. My surviving siblings and I were brought into care with Children’s Aid Society.

My father taught me to work hard. He used the illustration of a pen and book. He would hold it up and say, “This will get you somewhere, my children.” I recall that my grandparents at the Rez were the first ones to get a T.V. We children were allowed to watch it to learn English. In those days, it was instilled in children that they must speak English or they will not amount to anything. Moreover, we couldn’t speak our Native language. It was a life that was extremely difficult then, with poverty.

There was a lack of transportation. Parents walked to the store. Welfare funding was limited for families. I know my dad worked hard for his children. He put food on the table by fishing, trapping, digging Seneca root, hunting, planting gardens, sugar beeting, and picking berries. In the winter months, he would use his dog sled to take us to school.

What helped me was a T.V. commercial with chiefs who identified themselves as Manitoba Indian Brotherhood (MIB). Their message was very straightforward: “If you need help, call MIB.” I will always remember this commercial throughout my life because my sister would have been one of the chiefs in the future.

I remember my grandma’s teachings. She told me, “Don’t let anyone take your Saulteaux language.” Today I am fluent in my language. It came handy at one time when I was being interviewed by the late Chief Raymond Swan. Chief Swam asked every question in his native language, and I answered back in Saulteaux. Chief Swan was grateful for that.

Moreover, I also developed a support network of educated ladies from the University Club. And when I encounter challenges, I pray to God. Though going to school was difficult for me – at times I wasn’t able to concentrate due to emotional trauma of the loss of my parents – I managed to graduate.

I earned a Certificate of Social Work from University of Regina, and from Brandon University, Native Human Services. In 2007, I earned a Bachelor degree of Social Work from University of Manitoba.

For June 2020, National Indigenous History Month, I would like to encourage Indigenous women, from my brief story, that you should never give up. You too can make it. Don’t be ashamed of your history, culture, and language.

Stella J Woodhouse, BSW

Despite decades of strong Indigenous voices demanding that governments honour the Treaties, and numerous court decisions supporting their calls for action, governments across Canada continue to disrespect and ignore their Treaty obligations.

In Fort McKay First Nation v Prosper Petroleum Ltd., the Alberta Court of Appeal has become the most recent Canadian court to highlight the disconnect between governments’ legal obligations to Treaty people and their shameful and continuing disregard for the Treaty relationship.

What it is about

In 1899, predecessors of Fort McKay First Nation entered into Treaty 8 with the Crown. The Treaty was intended to establish a relationship of mutual respect and benefit, and to set the terms by which the Indigenous signatories to Treaty 8 would peacefully share their territory while preserving their own way of life.
In recent decades, lands surrounding Fort McKay have been subject to extensive oil sands development. In 2003, Fort McKay and the Government of Alberta entered into negotiations to develop a plan to address the cumulative effects of industrial activities on Fort McKay’s Treaty rights in the Moose Lake area. The Province promised, as part of the negotiations, to protect lands in the Moose Lake area from further development.
In 2018, before the plan to protect lands in the Moose Lake area was finalized, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) approved an application for a bitumen recovery project near Fort McKay’s reserves.
Fort McKay appealed the AER’s decision on the basis that the AER failed to consider the honour of the Crown and should have delayed approval of the project until Fort McKay’s negotiations with the Province were completed.

What the Court said

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and ordered the AER to reconsider whether the project was in the public interest, taking into account the honour of the Crown and commitments made by Alberta in the course of an ongoing negotiation process with Fort McKay.
The Court held that the honour of the Crown requires governments act in a way that accomplishes the intended purposes of the Treaty, and that this overarching obligation may give rise to duties beyond consultation, including the requirement to keep promises made in negotiations to protect Treaty rights.
The Court acknowledged that the reality of extensive industrial development may make it increasingly difficult for the Province to keep certain Treaty promises, including the right to hunt. However, the Court emphasized that the Province remains under an ongoing obligation to honourably implement the Treaty, including by taking into account the cumulative effects of development on Treaty rights.
The Court further held that where a regulatory agency such as the AER is required to consider whether a project is in the “public interest,” it must ensure that its decision is consistent with section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. In this case, the AER failed to fulfil its responsibility to consider the honour of the Crown and potential impacts of a project on Aboriginal and Treaty rights as part of fulfilling its public interest mandate.

Why it matters

The importance of the numbered Treaties, and the Crown’s corresponding obligations, have been repeatedly and unequivocally confirmed by the Supreme Court for many years. As the Court held in Mikisew (2005), the honour of the Crown is at stake in the performance of every Treaty obligation. The Treaty relationship mandates an ongoing process whereby the Crown, acting honourably, must ensure that Treaty rights remain protected in the face of industrial development.
Too often, however, Indigenous Peoples’ Treaty rights have been sidelined where large-scale resource projects are at stake. This is particularly true in Alberta, where oil sands development has left Fort McKay and other First Nations unable to use large portions of their lands.
The Alberta Court of Appeal’s decision is an important reminder to Alberta, and other provinces, that the Crown’s Treaty promises are to be taken seriously.
The honour of the Crown requires that it take steps to protect a First Nation’s Treaty rights long before those rights are infringed. This includes taking into account the cumulative effects of resource development and promises made in the course of modern-day negotiations.
Government decisions which fail to consider the impacts of a project on a First Nation’s Treaty rights cannot be in the public interest.

Looking ahead

It is a telling comment on the Alberta government’s systemic failure to live up to its Treaty obligations that it was necessary for the Court of Appeal to remind the Province of its Treaty obligations.
Will Alberta, and other provinces, finally begin to take their Treaty obligations seriously? Only time will tell. Importantly, the Fort McKay decision makes clear that courts are prepared to enforce the Crown’s obligations in respect of Treaty implementation.
Alberta needs to accept the fact that disrespecting the Treaties is both contrary to Canadian law and bad policy. The possibility of cancelled projects creates uncertainty for everyone. Certainty, and honour, can only be realized through fulfilling Treaty obligations.

Kate Gunn is a lawyer at First Peoples Law Corporation. Kate completed her Master’s of Law at the University of British Columbia. Her most recent academic essay, “Agreeing to Share: Treaty 3, History & the Courts,” was published in the UBC Law Review.

Bruce McIvor, lawyer and historian, is principal of First Peoples Law Corporation. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Allard School of Law where he teaches the constitutional law of Aboriginal and Treaty rights. Bruce is a proud Métis from the Red River in Manitoba. He holds a Ph.D. in Aboriginal and environmental history and is a Fulbright Scholar. A member of the bar in British Columbia and Ontario, Bruce is recognized nationally and internationally as a leading practitioner of Aboriginal law in Canada.