Identity not defined by skin color

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The term "Indian " was used to describe the Indigenous people that our European discoverers stumbled upon so many years ago. Although incorrect, it was a term that remained as a term of reference for the brown-skinned people who occupied the Americas.

Initially, all "brown-skinned" people were eligible to be included in this designated group. With familiarity and partial acceptance to the occupation of Europeans, the Indian people gradually began mixing with their European counterparts.

Mixing of the races became socially and economically acceptable with the isolation and harsh conditions that the fur traders endured. Indian wives generally insured better trade relations and their survival techniques helped the traders adapt to the diverse weather conditions,.

Three hundred years ago taking an Indian wife was very convenient but the offspring of these unions created a new generation of lighter brown-skinned people.

This new generation became a problem when Indian Affairs had to define Indian within

the Indian Act. Traditionally, English blood lines were traced through the male contribution. This tradition couldn't hold through with the dilution of color with the Indians. Visually, the offspring of mixed marriages were a lighter shade of brown, but were not considered Indian within the parameters of definition.

Problem!

This problem was not isolated to the confines of political policy; it has since filtered through the ranks of the Indian community. Possession of a "band number"

seems to be associated with a certain prestige and marketable presence. Numbers appear to have more clout than attitude. The actual definition is not necessarily in terms of visual representation or accountability to collective identification, rather a false representation of political identification.

The Metis or mixed people have been ousted as being acceptable to numbering. This has had an affect on social relationships and a blatant discrimination in terms of visual Nativeness. My color is inside and I expect to be judged that way.

To achieve recognition as a sovereign nation, we must as brown-skinned and lighter brown-skinned people band together, undiluted and unaccountable to paternalistic identification. The color line was established as a means of slotting us in respective groups. It doesn't mean we have to conform to the idealistic realms of white society, fit into their slots and behave accordingly.

I leave color to the artists. The artist carefully mixes colors to achieve a designed effect. Hasn't the government also used the same principle with assimilation? If we gave the Canadian government a palette and the freedom of mixing our color, I'm sure the white tube would be empty. Have you ever noticed that the tube containing white pigment is bigger!