New Indigenous warriors: UBCIC organizes fight for dignity and equality

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Cultural conflicts created by the legacy of colonialism, and the ways Indigenous peoples are seeking to resolve those conflicts without giving up their traditional beliefs, were examined in a series of 19 workshops at the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs' Protecting Knowledge, Traditional Resource Rights in the New Millennium conference from Feb. 24 to 26.

The workshops were hosted at the University of British Columbia's First Nations House of Learning and the UBC's Museum of Anthropology.

Subjects ranging from the fight to convince science and industry that Indigenous medicinal discoveries are not up for grabs - that such knowledge belongs to those who discovered and/or possessed it and not to pharmaceutical companies - to updates on the struggle to repatriate remains and cultural property and the protection of sacred sites, the protection of Indigenous languages and environmental protection of Indigenous homelands were dealt with by frontline experts from within British Columbia and other parts of Canada and the world.

The workshops allowed those who attended to take in the information and experiences of the experts and then share their own experiences. The format meant there was something to satisfy every need and interest.

There was drama when Hereditary Chief Adam Dick performed an approximation of his Kwagiulth peoples' breaking copper ceremony to show his displeasure with the federal and provincial governments and museum officials who continue to impose conditions on returning sacred artifacts that were confiscated under the anti-potlatch laws.

There was humor when UBC fisheries scientist Nigel Haggan dryly noted that he was from Belfast and thus "no stranger to conflict" as he explained why he was advocating among his colleagues in the West Coast scientific establishment that they would do well to listen to, and respect, the knowledge of Indigenous fishermen.

Then there was pure inspirational and delightful entertainment when Nuu-chah-nulth Chief Simon Lucas performed the songs and dances of his Vancouver Island people to say, in effect, 'I told you so' to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans officials and scientists who have presided over the decline of so many West Coast fisheries, despite the dire warnings and urgent objections of Aboriginal leaders in the region.

Kim Recalma-Clutesi is the vice-president of the Nuyumbalees Society, the governing body of the Kwaguilth Museum. The Cape Mudge museum was the first facility in Canada built to house repatriated artifacts that were confiscated under the anti-potlatch laws of 1884 to 1951. She insisted on having her Elders - Daisy Sewid-Smith and Chief Adam Dick - accompany her as she addressed the workshop on repatriation, saying her authority to share her people's story came from the Elders.

Recalma-Clutesi told the audience that her people have been forced to make compromises in order to secure the return of their sacred objects.

"Repatriation today in Canada means: If you keep the temperature right in the building, if your humidification is just and such, then you may handle the artifacts. When those artifacts were confiscated as a result of the potlatch prohibition law, they were not returned to their owners. The people of the Kwakwakawakw Nation were forced into the museum business. We were forced into the Disneyland business in order to keep the museum open, in order to keep the artifacts with us, in order to keep our promise to those who have passed on," she said.

She remembered the people who went to jail rather than give up their banned traditional territories.

"Those people went to jail the way we'd send the queen to jail for observing high mass in the Anglican church," she said.

After her remarks, Chief Dick performed a sample of a sacred copper shield shattering ceremony which his people use to show great displeasure with someone who has attacked the core values of their culture. He said afterwards that he was only giving a demonstration nd no copper was actually broken, but his emotion showed the power and importance of even that gesture.

Chief Ron Ignace, co-chair of the Assembly of First Nations chiefs committee on languages; Alifereti Bogiva, cultural and intellectual property rights officer for the Fijian Affairs Board and President Manari Bartolo Alejandro Ushigua of the Zapara Nation from Ecuador.

"Ninety-nine percent of the Indigenous languages here in BC are endangered or on the verge of extinction," Ignace said. "And yet Canada is allowing that rich heritage, that rich culture to fall within the abyss of extinction. If that would occur, it would rival the greatest economic catastrophe in the world, much like nuclear devastation or the destruction of the Amazon. This country must wake up to that fact.

"Canada spends millions of dollars to save buildings that are 100 years old. Yet we as Native people are trying to save our Native languages," he added. "People like our Elder Mary Thomas over here have to give and give and work from morning till night with very little or no recognition to try to save our culture, language, heritage and our identity. Without our languages, how are we different? The cloak that covers and holds together our values, whether if its about traditional ecological knowledge or knowledge of the animals, plants or land, our values or world views, that is the language that is important or significant to us.

"So what is it that we are trying to do to keep these precious gems, jewels of heritage alive? Our strategy is to call for national legislative recognition of our languages so it will be legally recognized by way of an act of legislation. As well as to call upon the government to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples to establish a national language foundation. The Royal Commission says that the government should put $50 million into this foundation and a further $50 million to be raised from private industry to fund language proects across the country."

Wins, losses and the frustration of impasses caused by cultural differences were revealed at each workshop during the three days, showing that much remains to be done in many areas of contention.