Pot calling the kettle black

Page 5

Dear Editor:

I read the article about too many sheep and not enough shepherds. Dan, say BAAA. You can count yourself as one of the sheep. As a group and as individuals, all First Nations know what it is to be discriminated against and we need to be careful about how we use this powerful word.

Is it discrimination that the Prairie societies had patriarchal societies and the coastal societies had matriarchal? The Indian Act provisions of Indian status being passed down through the men was enacted because English and French were patriarchal societies. This was discriminatory, not against women, but against Indian culture as it did not recognize the different ways of organizing and our inherent right to self-identify as Indian.

Our societies had traditional adoption of people from other tribes and non-Indians. This is also not recognized in any versions of the Indian Act that I have read.

People who do not self-identify as Indian eventually will work themselves out of being Indian under C-31 legislation, but many others will not have any choice as that is what C-31 is designed to do-eliminate all Indians.

Is this what we wanted or asked for? Who wants this? You draw your own conclusions on those questions. But don't call people sheep when you don't even know the issue or have the solutions!

-Shirley Gamble