Posts By: First Nations Drum

by Xavier Kataquapit

In the summer of 1918, two of my grandfathers were taken from my family and sent off to a war they did not understand or wanted to be part of. My grandfather James Kataquapit was one of the lucky ones who went overseas and came back. My great grandfather John Chookomolin succumbed to the Spanish flu during this period and he died and was buried just outside the city of London, England in the United Kingdom. 

    They were taken from their homelands on the James Bay coast with 20  other young men in their prime to take part in this war. The survivors who came back like my grandfather James explained that they had been told that they had to take part in order to help a ‘Kitchi-Okimaw’, a King that represented their land and country. These were young men who had only ever known life in the wilderness and spoke only their traditional Cree language. They had only ever understood the world that our people had known for thousands of years. 

    They left Attawapiskat in the summer of 1918 and paddled south to the Albany River to access the railway network that had recently been built. From there, they moved further south where they joined thousands of other young men in army camps to be readied for war. It must have been a great shock to them to see all the new technology, the trains, the transportation networks, the cities, the towns and the great masses of people that were changing the landscape everywhere. After a few short months of training and teaching, they were moved further away to the east to access the ocean and from there they were boarded onto ships to make the journey to Europe. 

    My grandfather James recounted the story often to my family about that experience. At one point they just followed orders and directions because they couldn’t say or do otherwise. They felt trapped and unable to avoid their circumstances. In any other situation, it would be called kidnapping and abduction and being forced to do the will of others without your consent. When they boarded their ships and went out onto the Atlantic and moved away from the coast, they believed that they were lost forever and would never return home again. 

    In the sadness of that crossing, many of them contracted a new disease that was spreading across the globe. They ended up with the Spanish Flu and my grandfather John was reported to be deathly ill by the time they arrived in Liverpool. John was sent to a field hospital where he lingered for over a week and succumbed to his sickness alone and separated from everyone he knew. Later he was buried at a small cemetery next to a village called Englefield Green, just outside the great city of London. I have knelt at his grave in that place among the rows of headstones.

    My other grandfather James and the rest of his group became part of the Canadian Forestry Corp that were tasked as manual labourers to manufacture lumber and building material for the war effort. Although much of their time was devoted to forestry and lumber, they did see glimpses of the destruction of war when they were assigned to guard duties and other work in cities and towns in northern France that were affected by the fighting. 

    My grandfather was somewhat content with his situation as he was promised that he would be paid and compensated for his time and labour. He understood that he was being paid and he agreed that any money he made would be sent back to his family on the James Bay coast. When he returned back to Canada, it was another shock to discover that he would receive little to no reward or recognition for the time he spent in a war he never agreed to. 

    After being forced away from his homeland and taken overseas, he was simply dropped off at war’s end in a northern rail town in northern Ontario and told to return home on his own. He had to make the two to three week long trip north again on his own along the river system to return to his family. When he arrived, he was greeted with the news that his family had received little to no money from either the church or the Hudson Bay store that handled all communications and payments for the soldiers who left. Again there was little to nothing he could do about it and he and the other veterans of that war returned to their lives as if nothing had ever taken place but of course they were changed forever. 

    In the case of my great-grandfather John Chookomolin, he had left his wife Maggie and their new three month old daughter in the hopes that he would return. Maggie managed on her own for a while but then died unexpectedly a few years later leaving their daughter an orphan during a time when everyone was doing their best to just merely survive. Back then being an orphan with no family that could help meant certain death. The daughter was my grandmother Louise Paulmartin and she was taken in by a church orphanage in Fort Albany who raised her and placed her into an arranged marriage when she was 16. The family never knew what happened to my great-grandfather John until the 1980s when a family member did some research.

    We always look at the surface of war as the battle between good and evil, the fight between the forces of freedom and authoritarianism. Both sides use the same language to their people to justify the fighting. In reality it is only those with the greatest wealth who stand to win in any war and those with no wealth to do the losing, the fighting and the dying. Those who cry out for war are usually the first to point their finger at others to do the fighting. 

    Every year we pass around the phrase Lest We Forget in homage to those who fought and died for a war. Yet we are too quick to forget the reasons why those wars were fought in the first place and we fail to remember who benefited and who lost the most from those conflicts. War is a nasty business and always has been about resources, wealth and power while pretending to be for the cause of freedom and helping others. The only people to gain from war are the very wealthy and of course the multi-billion dollar armament and war industry. Yes, Lest We Forget is a strong reminder to remember that war is no way to advance civilization and these days with nuclear weapons in abundance, conflict poses the risk to end life on this planet. 

    We should take time to remember those veterans like my grandfathers who took part in a war but we should do their memory justice by also remembering why they fought, what they fought for and what was left for them.

This has been a worrisome month. After a year and a half of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, like everyone else I was hoping that things would be getting more back to normal after our world more or less was shut down. In many countries in the world the numbers of deaths and cases have been dropping and just when things were looking good for us here in northern Ontario, the Porcupine Health Unit area had increased cases and in particular my home of Attawapiskat, the remote communities of Kashechewan, Fort Albany, Moosonee and Moose Factory on the James Bay coast all had outbreaks.

We have been fortunate in northern Ontario that our infection numbers have been low until just recently. Most of this has been due to the fact that we are more remote and rural so that protects us to a degree. However, with people moving about, air travel and work places deemed essential still operating this virus took hold. There were not many deaths or severe cases of sickness along the James Bay coast and in other Indigenous communities across Canada because these First Nations had been prioritized for vaccinations. Many people don’t realize that the vaccines won’t stop you from getting the virus but it will in most cases lower the cases of severe disease and deaths. That is why it is necessary to get fully vaccinated as soon as possible. Can you imagine the disaster this virus would have created in sickness and death in remote James Bay communities without vaccines?

As vaccines continue to roll out in Canada we are seeing a decrease in cases and deaths in general. However, things are starting to open up now and there is a fear that we might not be out of the woods with this virus for some time. There are new variants like the Delta Variant that is challenging the vaccines and the experts say there will be more more variants developing. This means we will probably need booster vaccine shots at some point to deal with new variants.

It looks like vaccines will most likely not be able to solve this pandemic globally but they will help us manage it in countries and regions. First world countries that have the most vaccinations will probably manage well in opening up to some form of normal over the next year or so but many parts of the world will not be able to do that. That means we won’t really be safe from this virus because people will move about internationally and this Covid-19 will continue to spread as newly developed variants.

The bottom line is that we are living in a new world. We have learned so much about viruses and disease in general over the past year and a half and that has kept many of us safe. Many people have had to keep working in close quarters in plants, mines, production and distribution centres and essential services. Our governments and public health units have developed many ways to deal with this virus. We now know our best protection has been with the wearing of masks indoors in public places, staying two meters apart from others and washing hands often.

As things open up and new variants arrive we still need to remember that, yes we can have more freedom, we can get together safely and we can even begin to travel again. However, we also have to remember all the things we learned to cope with this virus and the new way we see and understand disease and how it spreads.

Vaccines have been proven to work and although they might not solve this pandemic on a global basis, they will allow us to manage life in many parts of the world. I am very thankful to the Indigenous leadership at the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), Chiefs of Ontario (COO), Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN), our tribal councils and Indigenous political bodies across Canada for doing such a great job to lobby the governments so that our communities were prioritized for vaccines. Right now I can point to the success of that advocacy in the outbreaks that were safely managed on the James Bay coast. Thanks also to the federal government, provincial governments, public health units and all those doctors, nurses, paramedics, personal support workers, teachers, as well as all essential workers for risking their well being to keep us all safe and for propping up our economy. Things are looking better every day and we will manage this nasty Covid-19 virus. We all have to remember what we learned over the past year and a half to stay safe.

www.underthenorthernsky.com

Indigenous Woman making History this month:
Mary Simon for her appointment to Governor General of Canada | Photo courtesy Aljazeera

Chief RoseAnne Archibald, elected Chief of the Assembly of First Nations | Photo courtesy CTV

Grand Chief Kahsennenhawe Sky Deer elected Chief of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake | Photo courtesy APTN

Though Women’s History Month is not until October, three First Nation women made history on three different political fronts in July.

On July 3, Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer became the first female and the first LGBTQ2S+ Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake. On July 6, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Mary Simon as Canada’s Governor General. Two days later, on July 8, RoseAnne Archibald was elected as Grand Chief for the Assembly of First Nations (AFN).

Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer

For the 12 years prior to her election to a four-year term as Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK), Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer, 41, served as a council chief on the Kahnawake Band Council.

Describing the experience as “overwhelming,” Sky-Deer says her priorities are developing an economic strategy that honours treaties to share land and resources and to focus on healing.

“That is what is owed to us,” said Sky-Deer, about her plans for an economic strategy that includes building affordable housing and attracting well-paying jobs to the MCK community of about 8,000 people located outside Montreal.

Sky-Deer said that the trauma, sadness, and grieving over the discovery of unmarked graves at former residential schools are to be addressed by empowering people through community-oriented actions to enhance language and strengthen cultural identity.

“We could start to do activities in our culture, spiritually, ceremonially, to lift the spirits of our people in our minds so that we can be ready for the work in the challenges ahead,” she said.

Many of today’s social challenges are a direct result of the tragedy of the residential-school system, and Sky-Deer, who believes the greatest way to honour the memory of Indigenous children who died there is to build a better today for Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Married with five step-children and two grandchildren, Sky-Deer said her identity as a member of the LGBTQ2S+ and being elected as Grand Chief is a “sign of the times.”

“We need to own who we are. I want to be a positive influence and role model, an inspiration to youth who feel that they are different. I want them to know that they are worthy, can achieve dreams, goals. And that LGBTQ2S+ is not a barrier. The Creator put us here with gifts.”

Sky-Deer continued, “It’s about looking at the person and character, the strengths, the abilities, and what they can do for the community. Does it really matter who they are attracted to or in a relationship with at the end of the day? Live and let live, and let people be who they are.”

Grand Chief, Sky-Deer does not intend to rule from the top but instead receive community input through think tanks staffed by common members of her band. “I think hearing from the people directly, empowering them to be a part of the solution, can help,” she said. “My people want to see more engagement, empowerment, ability to be part of the decision-making. All of these things are elements of our traditional way of governance.”

Sky-Deer won the post of Grand Chief with 573 votes. In second place was another female, Gina Deer, with 368 votes, MCK had been without a Grand Chief since Joseph Tokwiro Norton passed away last summer.

A Florida, USA, resident for eight years in the early 2000s, Sky-Dear played quarterback as a professional football player for the Daytona Beach Barracudas of the Women’s Professional Football League.

While in the States, she earned a Bachelor degree in psychology from the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

“There’s a new age upon us. I feel there’s a turning point in the history of humanity,” she said. “Women in leadership are actually becoming a norm across North America, what we call Turtle Island. It’s just part of the evolution.”

Mary Simon

In another first, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Inuk leader Mary Simon as Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General. Simon, who is from Nunavik, in northern Quebec, is Canada’s 30th Governor General,

Her new role is not the first first for Simon, who previously served as the first Inuk to be a Canadian ambassador when she represented Canada as its ambassador of circumpolar affairs and ambassador to Denmark.

The governor general position is also known as the Viceregal representative of the Monarch – the Queen of Great Britain’s representative in Canada.

Under law, the governor general is the second-highest ranking federal position in Canada, outranking the prime minister. Second-in-command after the Queen, Simon is the Queen’s representative in Canada.

“I believe we can build the hopeful future in a way that is respectful of what has happened in the past. If we embrace our common humanity and shared responsibility for one another, Canada’s greatest days are yet to come,” Simon said.

The power to dissolve Parliament and draw up the writs for a general election, on the advice of the prime minister, is now in Simon’s hands. She is also now the top commander of the Canadian Armed Forces.

“Today after 154 years, our country takes a historic step,” said Mr. Trudeau while announcing the appointment at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec. “I cannot think of a better person to meet the moment.”

Simon, a product of a federal government day school, wants to facilitate a better relationship between Canadians and Indigenous people and promised to play a significant role in getting Canadians to acknowledge their nation’s sins in its historical mistreatment and abuse of First Nations people.

“I can confidently say that my appointment is a historic and inspirational moment for Canada and an important step forward,” said Simon at the press conference announcing her appointment. “We need to stop to fully recognize and memorialize and come to terms with the atrocities of our collective past that we are learning more about each day,”

Born in Nunavik in northern Quebec to an Inuk mother and a non-Indigenous father, Simon reminded the nation that she has deep Indigenous roots when she told how she spent a lot of time as a child living a traditional Inuk lifestyle that included camping, living on the land, hunting, fishing, and gathering food.

“[I will] be a bridge between the different lived realities that together make up the tapestry of Canada,” said Simon.

After her job as a CBC broadcaster in the 1970s, Simon went on to hold many leadership positions in Indigenous organizations.

In 1975, Simon played a role in brokering a landmark land claim settlement between the Cree and Inuit community with the Quebec government, and also served as president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, an organization championing Inuit rights.

In 1982, she participated in the negotiations that led to the change in the Canadian Constitution that formally enshrined Aboriginal and treaty rights in the supreme law of Canada.

As Ambassador to Circumpolar Affairs In 1994, Simon defended Canadian interests in its Arctic territory, which at the time was called home by over 200,000 inhabitants, half of that population being Indigenous.

“I can confidently say that my appointment is a historic and inspirational moment for Canada and an important step forward on the long path towards reconciliation,” said Simon.

RoseAnne Archibald

RoseAnne Archibald has a remarkable history of breaking through the proverbial glass ceiling. A trailblazer, RoseAnne was the first Indigenous woman to serve as Chief for the Taykwa Tagamou Nation, Deputy Grand Chief for Nishnawbe-Aski Nation, Grand Chief for Mushkegowuk Council, and Ontario Regional Chief.

Now she has become the first woman to be elected as National Chief for the Assembly of First Nations (AFN). She defeated Muskowekwan First Nation Chief Reginald Bellerose with 50.5 percent of the vote in the fifth round of voting.

“The AFN has made her-story today,” said RoseAnne after her historic win.

Her main priorities in her new role will be fighting systemic racism, supporting the national action plan on missing and murdered Indigenous women, and addressing unmarked burial sites at former residential schools by working with the federal government to implement the 94 calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“With the recent discovery and recovery of our little ones across this country, we are all awake — and what people need to understand and what people need to come to terms with is how settler Canadians have benefited from these colonial practices and how we, as Indigenous people, have been the target of genocide,” she said. “We are going to stare this straight in the face and kick colonial policies to the curb. Change is happening.”

Prioritizing the effects of climate change on Indigenous communities and working with governments and regional chiefs on a post-pandemic recovery plan for First Nations are two additional issues RoseAnne plans to focus on.

During her campaign, she promised to promote a national agenda to make economic self-sufficiency for First Nations a reality and instituting a new AFN 2SLGBTQQIA+ Council.

“While there are things and differences that divide us, there is much that we share,” she said. “We all want our children to grow up proud and surrounded by love, culture, ceremony, and language, and safe and vibrant communities. We want a Mother Earth for them that is not threatened by wildfires and climate change…. We want to be good ancestors and leave a strong legacy for the seven generations ahead.”

RoseAnne is from the Taykwa Tagamou Nation in Northeastern Ontario, and has been participating in First Nations politics for 31 years. Elected to represent her home nation at 23 years old, she was also the youngest deputy Grand Chief for Nishnawbe-Aski Nation in Ontario.

“This is a critical time for Canada and we need our women to represent us in a traditional matriarchal manner to address the many injustices,” Archibald wrote in a Facebook post.

AFN represents 900,000 members across 634 First Nations. Its mission is to coordinate action between First Nations for their collective benefit.