Membership criteria changes with the times

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Dear Editor:

I am writing in reference to Gerald Alfred's Windspeaker column of February 2000, and other quotes attributed to him in an article of the same edition, "Membership issues illustrates cultural differences".

In constructing an effective and appropriate response to alleged injustices arising from past federal policies relative to the determination of Indian status and band membership, Alfred describes the implementation of community-based policies and membership criteria which to many are inconsistent with universally accepted human rights standards which hold the principle of individual rights paramount over all else.

On the other hand, there are those who argue that such standards are by no means "universal", in that they originate from within the paradigm of Western liberal rights philosophy, something totally alien to, and incompatible with, Indigenous notions of collective rights and communal responsibility.

Conversely, there are those who would argue that such principles and ideals of individual liberty are to be found in perhaps a majority of Indigenous societies worldwide. Indeed, an argument may be made that the initial adoption and subsequent elaboration of such ideals by the European West from the time of the enlightenment onward may be traced back to prototypes originating from within the Indigenous cultures of the western hemisphere, to whom early liberal rights philosophers such as Locke and Rousseau looked for inspiration.

Alfred's references to his own community are compelling, for its circumstances are by no means unique. Issues of identity and membership have been central to the concerns of many communities from an early date indeed. However, allegations of the arbitrary imposition of alien criteria for the determination of Indian status and band membership, and methods of governance for that matter, do not bear close scrutiny.

At Kahnawake, for example, the first band council elections as per the Indian Act of the day took place in 1889 following prolonged agitation by small, but vocal, elements within the community itself that Indian Act elections be applied. Prior to that time, from its original founding in 1668 by French Jesuit missionaries at the seigneury of La Prairie, community leadership had been selected on a basis of ascription and consensus more closely akin to a generic democratic-elective process than by "traditional" methods. The selection of hereditary leadership designated by clanmothers based upon clan affiliation was unknown at Kahnawake from the time of its founding onward.

In view of ongoing debates regarding memberships and self-identification, it is perhaps appropriate to pause and reflect upon the activities early last century at Kahnawake of the self-proclaimed Oghema Niagara or "Chief Thunderwater".

Thunderwater was a fraudulent nativistic revivalist of African-American descent who from 1915 through 1920 successfully lead a hoax political and revitalization movement, "The Council of the Tribes" (complete with blood-quantum membership criteria, a written constitution, and extensive by-laws) with enthusiastic community support. In 1920, having solicited upward of $50,000 in donations from band members, he disappeared, spiraling the community into a crisis of identity confusion which some suggest persists to this day.

Thus issues of identification, membership and belonging, whether originating at the level of federal governments, communities or individual persons, are constantly under revisions and negotiation. They have never been static, but represent transient points along a shifting continuum. They will continue to adapt, contract, or expand to meet the challenges and opportunities of particular times and places.

Sincerely,

William Noah

Ottawa, Ont.