Our Own Mandela

Let me start by offering you a quote from Ghandi: Be the Change you Wish to See in the World. In other words, if you want to see something different, make it happen. Even if you don't have the resources to do it, don't wait for someone else to do it, the least you can do is get the ball rolling on your vision and other people can build on your foundation. The source of this blog has come from my many ponderings about Aboriginal people in Canada. And by Aboriginal (notice the capital A?) I mean First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people. The Aboriginal people are, for the most part, seperated. There has been no united uprising to assert our rights over the land that took care of us so many decades ago. We're just letting things happen as if we have no say in the matter. Let me tell you: We Do. There has been no united uprising to abolish the Indian Act or the need for status cards. Canada is the only country that has these types of documents for their Indigenous people. Side note: Did you know that the word Indigenous means "naturally occurring"?

As much as I'd like to see such documents gone, such an event would mean that our treaty rights would also be lost. No more medicine chest, no more education, no more five dollars a year, no more reservations. Essentially, the Government of Canada would no longer be holding our hand. As a person who is accessing these rights, it would be difficult to adjust to living a life without these freedoms. Having to pay for antibiotics alone would be hard to do as a student living on a student income. My education would also be paid out of my own pocket but these past couple years I did not meet the criteria for funding from my band and had to take out a student loan anyway. Let me tell you that it's not such a bad thing to have to pay  for your own education! It feels better, actually.

Abolishing the Indian Act and our Status Cards means that the Government of Canada is no longer looking down at us as an inferior people. John A. Macdonald, the dude on our ten dollar bill, was a wannabe lawyer and our very first Prime Minister. In a redirection, I'll tell you that I am the product of the British Columbia government. At an early age I had become a ward of the court and it was the responsibility of the BC Government to see that all my needs were met. I was placed in foster care. Well, my needs were not met, being in foster care was the worst thing that could have been done to me. I grew up not knowing my family, my people's language, xaad kil, not really having any long term friends, and having issues against Religion. Going back to J.A Macdonald, he was a key player in introducing the Indian Act back in 1876. The Indian Act's service was to direct the government on how to deal with Indians. Basically it put us as wards of the court.

A Summary of the Indian Act of 1876
Articles 1-2 states the name of the Article as the Indian Act and which Minister is responsible for Indian Affairs.
Article 3 defines the label "Indian" as "any male person of Indian blood reputed to belong to a particular band, any child of such person, and any woman who is or was lawfully married to such person".
Articles 4-10 deals with administration of reserve land.
Articles 11-20 deals with how reserve lands are protected from outsiders, as well the government's right to natural resources on reserve land. That being, the Indians own anything under the surface down one spade's length deep.
Articles 21-2 determines what to do in the event of any reserve splitting up.
Articles 23-4 has the Indians responsible for the roads on reserve land.
Articles 25-30 are consequences for illegal attainment of reserve land, the sale of Alcohol, and the removal of resources.
Articles 31-69 deals with the sale of Indian lands.
Articles 74-8 deals with the swearing in of non-Christian Indians in Court matters.
Articles 79-85 deals with substance abuse on reserve land. And the final articles deal with legal clauses regarding the use of affidavits and other documentary evidence used under the Act.

Which brings me to the title of this blog: "Our Own Mandela"
We need our own, Aboriginal, Nelson Mandela. If you don't know who Mr. Mandela is you've been living under a rock. Mr. Mandela was responsible for abolishing Apartheid in South Africa. South Africans fell under Apartheid which was like our Indian Act: a way of dealing with Indigenous South Africans introduced by the National Party Government of South Africa in the 40's and was upheld until the mid-90's. Basically, Apartheid asserted White rule over non-white people. In 1994 the African National Congress won the first democratic election held in South Africa in decades. Their leader was Nelson Mandela. Mr. Mandela's sacrifices for his people were many and started at an early age. He was punished for treason and jailed on Robben's Island for several decades. For all of his sacrifices, his people were united on voting day. 20'000'000 people voted on April 27th 1994. Twenty Million. 12'510'000 people voted for Nelson Mandela. Mr. Mandela is a great man who did more than his share for his people, he is one of my true hero's and I would love the opportunity to meet him. Even imagining me meeting him right now is bringing tears to my eyes. The Jungle Book song comes to mind and I wonder if I would sing it to him if I ever get to meet him: You see it's true! I wanna be just like you!

Aboriginal people do not have a Nelson Mandela. Mr. Mandela used politics to unites his people but we have not been primed to appreciate politics as it has been used to assimilate our people where we had to forfeit our status cards and treaty rights if we wanted to vote. So I am left with wondering what it will take to unite our people all across Canada, can we put our indifference on politics aside and really take it to hand in the political arena? Can we cast aside our crabs in the bucket policy and let some of our strong, Aboriginal leaders lead us? Can we really put down the bottles and pipes and our dependency on government handouts to take our lives into our own hands? I should think so!