Columbus "celebrations" unite indigenous peoples

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While European and American governments celebrate the "discovery" of the Americas some 500 years ago, indigenous peoples in North and South America are celebrating five centuries of resistance.

The Edmonton 1992 Coalition is a group of people and organizers working together to organize activities highlighting those centuries of resistance.

"The objective is to educate people about the indigenous issues and the fact it wasn't any discovery of the Americas - there were people here already," said Ramon Antipan, one of the organizers and a Napuche Indian from southern Chile.

The coalition is planning seminars, workshops and group discussions to educate people about "the other side of colonization," said Don Smith, a Metis coalition member.

"We call it the other side of history. The events are the same but the interpretation and the effects are quite different.

"The process of colonization that started with the Natives in 1492 is still continuing and is still having a negative impact on people across the Americas. One of the questions we have is what are the next 500 years going to be like?" Smith said.

Coalition member Marcelle Gareau, a Metis from Grand Remous in Quebec, likens the treatment of the Indians to that of the Jews in Nazi Germany.

"The fact that people don't see it that way shows what an enormous amount of education needs to happen," she said.

The coalition has worked with other groups doing workshops at the University

of Alberta, the Global Visions Festival and the recent Healing Our Spirit Worldwide conference in Edmonton. The Alberta Federation of Labour passed a resolution in support of 500 years of Native resistance following a recent convention workshop.

The group's work won't stop at the end of the year, said Antipan.

"Our objectives is to go beyond 1992 - this is just the start of uniting Native

people across the Americas."