A survey of today's new political correctness

Page 19

NASIVVIK

Canada's Constitution recognizes three collectivities of Aboriginal people by name-Indian, Inuit, and Metis. Each of these names has a history, a fractured regard by others, and a present-day political correctness. Political correctness is not always respected and sometimes even deliberately assaulted, so it seems worthwhile to look at the integrity of these identifications.

Back in time, when outsiders knew Inuit only as Eskimos, many variations of the spelling of this word existed, a common one being Esquimaux. This spelling appeared exotic, but did not credit the origin of the name, a Cree word pronounced Es-CHEE-mau. Many of the first Qullunaat (white men) who came to the Arctic also called Eskimos, Huskies, like the word for the dog breed.

When the term Inuit started being widely used, Qullunaat took a long time to spell it right. It often appeared as Innuit. It's taking even longer for them to straighten out their plurals, the tendency being to simply add an 's', calling us Inuits. This lesson for Qallunaat cannot be given often enough: one Inuk, two Inuuk, three or more Inuit.

The all-time bonehead mistake is calling the Inuit, Innu. Three years ago, the Montreal Gazette featured a full-page article where a reporter spent time in one of the Inuit communities in Nunavik, and wrote about having a great time amongst the Innu. The Innu are Naskapi-Montagnais Indians, or, politically correctly, First Nations, who, I'm sure don't appreciate being called Inuit by mistake.

Politically speaking, Inuit are normally not called the Inuit Nation. The exception is in Quebec, whose government passed legislation in 1985 recognizing the existence of 11 Aboriginal "nations" within its boundaries.

The 9,530 Inuit in Nunavik rate as the eleventh of these. What's notable about this is that a fraction of the 45,000-plus Inuit in Canada have been formally recognized by provincial legislation as a "nation".

This label, created by a separatist government in Quebec to make itself feel better about its treatment of its Indigenous people, is often trotted out as evidence of Quebec's generosity toward its "autochtones". It has no value beyond some vague symbolism. Inuit in Nunavik have nothing to brag about in how this recognition has been of any benefit.

We've bounced from Esquimaux to Eskimo to Husky to Innuit to Inuits to Innu, all the while having our relations with the federal government managed by a department of Indian Affairs! The ultimate in political correctness here would be the formation of a federal department of Inuit and Arctic Affairs!

In a recent TV program, a First Nation Elder said, "I've been an Indian all my life! When we were kids, we played cowboys and Indians, not cowboys and First Nations!" With that, he poked gentle fun at the politically correct term, First Nation, which is now the widely accepted substitute for Indian.

If even some Indians are tentative in transferring their own terminology, the rest of us can be forgiven for being a little wobbly about sliding right into today's politically correct language. If political correctness now has revised this to "ranch hands and First Nations" we wouldn't want to be the only ones using out-of-date terminology out of ignorance about what is current.

In this frame of political correctness, quite a few well-known terms would have to be revised, which raises some questions. Will Indian summer now be First Nation summer? Will non-status Indians now be non-status First Nations? These are not frivolous questions for anybody who recalls the existence of the National Indian Brotherhood, forerunner of today's Assembly of First Nations.

The other constitutionally recognized Aboriginal people, the Metis, were called Half-Breed by many. I discovered that the word Metis could be said in many different ways. The word looks like Meh-TISS, but is pronounced May-TEE, pronounced by some as MAY-tiss. Former justice minister John Crosbie alwys said May-Tay, perhaps because of his Newfoundland accent.

When the Metis people started sharing national profiles along with the Indians and Inuit, Inuit called them Allangajuit, which means those with partial Indian blood. Many call themselves Michif, and even Michiss. This illustrates that what others call you, and what you call yourselves, is often not the same thing!

Many First Nation people are sentimentally attached to the name Indian. Many Inuit, myself included, are sentimentally attached to the name Eskimo. Some, but not all Metis people, have no problem with Half-Breed. So political correctness is not so sacred after all, even among the people so labeled by it!