DOCSLIB.ORG

The Politics of Immobility in Leonard Peltier's Prison

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Politics of Immobility in Leonard Peltier's Prison The Politics of Immobility in Leonard Peltier’s Prison Writings and Tomson Highway’s Rose by CAMERON NORMAN PAUL B.A. (Hon.), The University of British Columbia, 2013 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (English) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2016 Ó Cameron Norman Paul, 2016 Abstract My thesis examines themes of immobility in Anishinabe-Lakota activist Leonard Peltier’s Prison Writings and Woods Cree author-playwright Tomson Highway’s musical-drama Rose. I perform a cross-cultural, as well as cross-disciplinary, analysis of how these two texts critique the racial, spatial, and sexual politics that inhere in mobility and, in the case of automobiles, its frequent dependencies on petro-resource extraction. Rarely addressed as a project of ecological intervention, the numerous accounts of broken-down automobiles throughout Prison Writings present an indictment of both the immobilizing socio-economic dispossession of Indigenous communities and petro-dependency’s particularly destructive impact on their traditional lands. By depicting the traumatic effects of intra-tribal gender violence on the women of Wasaychigan Hill Indian Reserve, Rose both highlights and critiques the various regimes of mobility continuing to inhere within both the Canadian reserve system as a settler-colonial project and Canada’s broader adherence to international neoliberal policies, such as the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Instead of appealing to dominant neoliberal narratives of unfettered mobility’s emancipatory potential, I argue Prison Writings and Rose collectively address scenes of apparent immobility and restraint that undermine such fetishizations of the mobile. ii Preface This thesis is original, unpublished, independent work by the author, Cameron Norman Paul. Versions of chapter two have appeared in papers presented at several conferences: “‘I Wanted a Car, and Built One Out of Spare Parts”: ‘Yard Junk’ Activism and Auto/Textual Mobility in Leonard Peltier’s Prison Writings: My Life is My Sundance” at Natures 2014 (February 19, 2014); “‘Junk Cars’ and the Rhetoric of ‘Scrap’: Ecological Criticism in Leonard Peltier’s Prison Writings” at Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) 2014 (May 29, 2014), “Environmental Commentary in Leonard Peltier's Prison Writings: Automobile as Ecological Protest” at the UBC Department of English Graduate Works in Progress Series (Feb. 25, 2015); “Vehicles of Intervention: Automobiles as Ecocritical Protest in Leonard Peltier’s Prison Writings” at Endnotes 2015, the University of British Columbia English Graduate Conference (May 16, 2015). iii Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii Preface ........................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... v Dedication ..................................................................................................................................... vi Chapter One: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 Chapter Two: Automobiles as Ecocritical Protest in Leonard Peltier’s Prison Writings ...... 8 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Activism – Prison Writings as Ecocritical Commentary .................................................... 13 2.3 Activist Engagement with Prison Writings - Peltier as Transnational Icon ....................... 15 2.4 Peltier’s Prison Letters – The American Indian Movement (AIM) in Retrospect .............. 19 2.5 ‘Termination’ – Automobiles, Highways, and Urban Indigeneity ...................................... 24 2.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 44 Chapter Three: Immobility and the Indigenizing of Space in Tomson Highway’s Rose ..... 45 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 45 3.2 Gendered Violence – On ‘Slow Violence’ and ‘Precaritization’ ........................................ 47 3.3 The ‘Solarium’ – Historical Context and Symbolism ......................................................... 54 3.4 The ‘Hilarium’ – A Space for Collective Healing .............................................................. 67 3.5 Humour – Highway and Cross-Cultural Comedy ............................................................... 73 3.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 81 Chapter Four: Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 83 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................. 88 iv Acknowledgements My sincere thanks to Dr. Deena Rymhs and Dr. Vin Nardizzi for their generous guidance and support throughout my academic career. This thesis would not have been possible without a far- reaching community of friends and colleagues, all of whom have contributed in one way or another to the growth of my research. I am particularly indebted to June Scudeler, Lucia Lorenzi, Brendan McCormack, Katherine Meloche, and Jamie Paris. To my family, I am indebted to your unwavering encouragement. Kunying Li, your loving patience and support has been invaluable. Generous funding from both the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and UBC Department of English has made this project possible. v Dedication Dedicated to the water protectors of Standing Rock. vi Chapter One: Introduction My thesis examines themes of immobility in Anishinabe-Lakota activist Leonard Peltier’s Prison Writings and Woods Cree author-playwright Tomson Highway’s musical-drama Rose. I perform a cross-cultural, as well as cross-disciplinary, analysis of how these two texts critique the racial, spatial, and sexual politics that inhere in mobility and, in the case of automobiles, its frequent dependencies on petro-resource extraction. Responding to settler- colonial attempts to invasively “remodel[]” (86) Indigenous identities, Stoh:lo author Lee Maracle remarks how “[o]ur inability to move, to strive, is born of a great reluctance to be debauched slaves in your image. It is the source of our great strength” (86). Salvaging immobility from its often-negative connotations, Maracle underscores here the generative potential immobility can hold as a means of reasserting both Indigenous cultural traditions and communities. Racist pejoratives like “the lazy Indian,” rather than indicative of a defeated, devolved, or immobile Indigenous presence, therefore become instead indicative of a continued, though often-disavowed, Indigenous resiliency, agency, and power to disrupt settler-colonial notions of forward-marching progress. Building from Judith Butler’s provocative claim that “staying in place is precisely an act of resistance” (Butler and Athanasiou 21), my thesis intervenes at two disciplinary levels: first, by bridging Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives space, this cross-cultural approach offers new perspectives on the relationship between land and mobility under conditions of settler-colonialism; second, by foregrounding the experience of immobility, I reorient mobility studies away from its overwhelming focus on movements, flows, and migrations. Instead of appealing to dominant neoliberal narratives of unfettered mobility’s emancipatory potential, I argue both Prison Writings and Rose outline scenes of apparent immobility and restraint that undermine such fetishizations of the mobile. In 1 sum, my thesis examines how, through their various depictions of apparent immobility, both these texts proffer counter-narratives that engage, subvert, and offer alternative geographies to dominant narratives of mobility accompanying settler-colonialism. Though not the focal point of my project, the scene of the roadblock is a lingering presence throughout my various inquiries into the politics and regimes of mobility. Discussing the June 26, 1975 shootout with two FBI agents precipitating his later incarceration, Peltier offers a helpful example of the contradictory role roadblocks played during this pivotal event of the American Indian Movement.1 More particularly, Peltier reminisces how, in the midst of fleeing gunfire at Oglala on the Pine Ridge Reservation, “Indian people from all over had gathered at the police roadblocks and cheered us on, blaring their car horns when we escaped. Shots were fired at random, confusing our pursuers as to our exact location” (133). This “gather[ing] at the police roadblocks” (Prison 133) described by Peltier underlines “roadblocks” (Prison 133) as contentious spaces – simultaneously open to occupation, contestation,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Racial Discrimination Against Indigenous Peoples in Canada: Summary
    REPORT ON RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN CANADA: SUMMARY To: United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Re: Canada’s Violations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) affecting Aboriginal Peoples in Canada Date: July 30, 2002 SUBMITTERS: CONTACT INFORMATION: Turtle Island Support Group CERD Report Ad Hoc National Network Coalition for a Public Inquiry into Ipperwash c/o PO Box 111 Friends of the Lubicon Postal Station C Skwelkwek’welt Protection Centre Toronto, Ontario Sutikalh Camp Canada, M6J 3M7 House of Smayusta, Nuxalk Nation [email protected] This report has been prepared by an ad hoc group of community-based Indigenous Peoples and Canadian human rights organizations that share a common concern about the ongoing racial discrimination experienced by Indigenous Peoples in Canada. It demonstrates that Indigenous Peoples in Canada experience racism in all aspects of their lives, first and foremost as a result of their dispossession from their land and resources. In so doing, this report connects matters already well known to your committee and to other UN treaty bodies—such as the “fourth” world economic, social and cultural realities of Indigenous Peoples within Canada—with the repressive and oppressive treatment of Indigenous persons by state authorities and institutions. Canada’s failure to “recognize and protect the rights of indigenous peoples to own, develop, control, and use their communal lands, territories, and resources” contravenes the Convention’s General Recommendation #23. Overall, the report makes the argument that racial tension and conflict between Indigenous Peoples, governments, and settlers in Canada arise from the state-party’s systemic and institutional discrimination against Indigenous proprietary interests in land and resources.
    [Show full text]
  • Teachers' Professional Practice, Policy Enactment, and Indigenous
    Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 4-15-2019 11:15 AM Teachers’ Professional Practice, Policy Enactment, And Indigenous Education In Ontario: A Case Study Natalie Currie-Patterson The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Coulter, Rebecca The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Education A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Natalie Currie-Patterson 2019 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Indigenous Education Commons, Other Education Commons, Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons, Secondary Education Commons, and the Secondary Education and Teaching Commons Recommended Citation Currie-Patterson, Natalie, "Teachers’ Professional Practice, Policy Enactment, And Indigenous Education In Ontario: A Case Study" (2019). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 6079. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/6079 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i Abstract This qualitative case study investigates the research question: How do educators understand and enact government policies on Indigenous education in Ontario? The case study examines the content of The Ontario First Nation, Métis and Inuit Education Policy Framework, the foundational policy document for Indigenous education in Ontario released by the Ministry of Education in 2007, in conjunction with a series of associated Ministry publications, and explores the responses of secondary school teacher participants to these policy efforts.
    [Show full text]
  • The Decision to Establish the Ipperwash Inquiry
    CHAPTER 2 THE DECISION TO ESTABLISH THE IPPERWASH INQUIRY 2.1 Events Leading to the Inquiry In September 1995, Ipperwash Provincial Park was the site of an occupation and protest by Aboriginal people. One of the occupiers, Dudley George, was shot by an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer and died of his wounds. Some were of the view that Ontario government officials, including Premier Michael Harris and a number of his Cabinet colleagues, had interfered with the OPP response to the protest. The officials repeatedly denied these allegations. Ultimately, this Inquiry was born of widespread anger and frustration arising from the tragedy and the circumstances surrounding it. By the time the Inquiry was called, eight years after the death of Mr. George, a great deal had already been written and said about the events at Ipperwash Provincial Park. The Chief Coroner of Ontario undertook an investigation into the circumstances and events surrounding the death of Mr. George, pursuant to the Coroners Act 21 of Ontario, including an investigation into the emergency medical services response to the shooting.22 Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) also conducted an investigation. The SIU is a civilian agency mandated to investi- gate all cases of death or serious injury resulting from police actions. It com- prises experts in a number of fields (such as forensics) and has the power to lay criminal charges. These investigations deal only with determining whether indi- vidual officers are culpable, and not with questions of policy. At the end of its investigation, the SIU announced that OPP Acting Sergeant Kenneth Deane was to be charged with criminal negligence causing death.23 21 Coroners Act, R.S.O.
    [Show full text]
  • Policing Aboriginal Protests and Confrontations: Some Policy Recommendations Edward J
    The International Indigenous Policy Journal Volume 3 | Issue 2 Article 1 August 2012 Policing Aboriginal Protests and Confrontations: Some Policy Recommendations Edward J. Hedican University of Guelph, [email protected] Recommended Citation Hedican, E. J. (2012). Policing Aboriginal Protests and Confrontations: Some Policy Recommendations. The International Indigenous Policy Journal, 3(2) . DOI: 10.18584/iipj.2012.3.2.1 This Policy is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in The International Indigenous Policy Journal by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Policing Aboriginal Protests and Confrontations: Some Policy Recommendations Abstract This paper discusses the role of police forces in Aboriginal protests and confrontations. It takes as a case study the Report of the Ipperwash Inquiry, which was released on May 31, 2007. In 1995 Dudley George, a member of the Stoney Point First Nation, was shot by an Ontario Provincial Police officer during a protest at Ipperwash Provincial Park. Five recommendations are proposed in this paper to reduce the inherent tensions in such protests, focusing on methods of mediation and conflict resolution. In particular, it is proposed that during such protests a more extensive use be made of Aboriginal persons with training and skills in mediation and negotiations in order to improve communication between police and First Nations protesters. It is also evident that government officials need to become more actively involved in resolving land claims, especially before they become flashpoints for violence, and to remove such disputes from the realm of criminal activity to matters of civil litigation.
    [Show full text]
  • Imagining a National Research Centre: Decolonization, Commemoration, and Institutional Space
    Imagining a National Research Centre: Decolonization, Commemoration, and Institutional Space A Thesis Submitted to the Committee on Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Arts and Science TRENT UNIVERSITY Peterborough, Ontario, Canada (c) Copyright by Megan Kathleen Hull 2015 Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies M.A. Graduate Program May 2015 ABSTRACT Imagining a National Research Centre: Decolonization, Commemoration, and Institutional Space Megan Kathleen Hull The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) convened in 2008 and focused on the impact of the residential school on Indigenous people in Canada. It was intended to initiate healing in Indigenous communities while contributing to new understandings between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians. In 2015, the TRC’s mandate must be completed, and its final task is creating a National Research Centre (NRC) at the University of Manitoba that will hold all of the documentation generated and collected throughout the TRC’s tenure. In this thesis I examine many of the challenges the NRC faces, such as lack of funding, institutional oversight, and the enormity of balancing the needs of Indigenous survivors and their communities against building an accessible archive. At a broader level, questions remain about how successful the TRC has been in achieving reconciliation between Indigenous and non- Indigenous Canadians, and how the NRC can work to fulfill this goal. KEYWORDS Indigenous; Canada; truth and reconciliation; residential schools; museums; archives; memorial centres ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis was a project interrupted by the birth of my daughter, and I would like to thank my supervisor, Julia Harrison, for her patience and support as I dealt with all the challenges of motherhood and writing a thesis part time.
    [Show full text]
  • 20 Years After Ipperwash Crisis, First Nation Accepts $95 M Offer
    9/22/2015 20 years after Ipperwash crisis, First Nation accepts $95M offer ­ Aboriginal ­ CBC 20 years after Ipperwash crisis, First Nation accepts $95M offer Deal includes cleanup and resettlement of lands CBC News Posted: Sep 18, 2015 9:14 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 20, 2015 2:01 PM ET An Ontario First Nation has accepted a settlement from Ottawa 20 years after the dispute over Camp Ipperwash led to the death of aboriginal protester Dudley George. The Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation say members approved the deal with the federal government in a vote held on Friday. They say the more than 90­million dollar financial settlement also includes the return of land appropriated by the federal government in 1942 and the cleanup of Stoney Point lands. The Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation is located along the shores of Lake Huron, 35 kilometres northeast of Sarnia. The anniversary marks the deadly confrontation between unarmed protesters and Ontario Provincial Police, members of the First Nation. The dispute over territory dates back to 1942, when the Canadian government expropriated land belonging to the First Nation to build a military base called Camp Ipperwash. Sixteen families were relocated, including their houses. After the war, some of the land became Ipperwash Provincial Park while the rest remained a military base. The band tried for years to get the land back, saying it contained a sacred burial ground. While that claim was disputed, Camp Ipperwash does contain a cemetery with graves belonging to First Nations people. By 1993, frustrated that the land still hadn't been returned, members of the First Nation began occupying Camp Ipperwash — even though the military was still using the land to train cadets.
    [Show full text]
  • Ipperwash and the Media: Case Study of How an Aboriginal Confrontation Was Covered
    The International JOURNAL ofDIVERSITY in ORGANISATIONS, COMMUNITIES & NATIONS Volume 8, Number 3 Ipperwash and the Media: Case Study of How an Aboriginal Confrontation was Covered John Miller www.diversity-journal.com THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DIVERSITY IN ORGANISATIONS, COMMUNITIES AND NATIONS http://www.Diversity-Journal.com First published in 2008 in Melbourne, Australia by Common Ground Publishing Pty Ltd www.CommonGroundPublishing.com. © 2008 (individual papers), the author(s) © 2008 (selection and editorial matter) Common Ground Authors are responsible for the accuracy of citations, quotations, diagrams, tables and maps. All rights reserved. Apart from fair use for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act (Australia), no part of this work may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. For permissions and other inquiries, please contact <[email protected]>. ISSN: 1447-9532 Publisher Site: http://www.Diversity-Journal.com THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DIVERSITY IN ORGANISATIONS, COMMUNITIES AND NATIONS is a peer refereed journal. Full papers submitted for publication are refereed by Associate Editors through anonymous referee processes. Typeset in Common Ground Markup Language using CGCreator multichannel typesetting system http://www.CommonGroundSoftware.com. Ipperwash and the Media: Case Study of How an Aboriginal Confrontation was Covered John Miller, Ryerson University, Ontario, CANADA Abstract: A confrontation with police at Ipperwash Provincial Park in 1995 resulted in Canada’s first death of a First Nations protester in more than 100 years of land claims disputes. No media were present when police marched on a small band of protesters occupying the park, but nearly 400 newspaper articles appeared in the month after the shooting of Dudley George.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ipperwash Inquiry and the Tragic Death of Dudley George
    The Ipperwash Inquiry 159 THE IPPERWWWASH INQUIRY AND THE TRAGIC DEATH OF DUDLEY GEORGE Edward J. Hedican University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario Canada, N1G 2W1 [email protected] Abstract / Résumé This paper is a discussion of the Report of the Ipperwash Inquiry which was released on May 31, 2007. The mandate of this inquiry was to inves- tigate the event surrounding the death of Dudley George, a member of the Stoney Point First Nation in Ontario, who was shot in 1995 during a protest at Ipperwash Provincial Park. First, an overview is presented which describes the various historical event leading up to the Ipperwash Park protest. Second, several of the more salient recommendations of the Ipperwash Inquiry Report are discussed, especially as these pertain to the proposed establishment of a Treaty Commission and Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs in Ontario. Third, a broader view is taken which views the proposals of the Ipperwash Inquiry in the context of the previous Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples of 1996, especially in terms of RCAP’s recommendation to institute an Aboriginal Parliament, or “House of First Peoples.” L’article examine le rapport de la Commission d’enquête sur Ipperwash, qui a été publié le 31 mai 2007. La Commission avait pour mandat de mener une enquête sur les circonstances du décès de Dudley George, un membre de la Première nation de Stoney Point en Ontario, qui a été tué par balle en 1995 pendant une manifestation au Parc provincial Ipperwash. L’article présente d’abord un aperçu des événements historiques qui ont mené à la manifestation.
    [Show full text]
  • Policing Aboriginal Protests and Confrontations: Some Policy Recommendations Edward J
    ARCHIVED - Archiving Content ARCHIVÉE - Contenu archivé Archived Content Contenu archivé Information identified as archived is provided for L’information dont il est indiqué qu’elle est archivée reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It est fournie à des fins de référence, de recherche is not subject to the Government of Canada Web ou de tenue de documents. Elle n’est pas Standards and has not been altered or updated assujettie aux normes Web du gouvernement du since it was archived. Please contact us to request Canada et elle n’a pas été modifiée ou mise à jour a format other than those available. depuis son archivage. Pour obtenir cette information dans un autre format, veuillez communiquer avec nous. This document is archival in nature and is intended Le présent document a une valeur archivistique et for those who wish to consult archival documents fait partie des documents d’archives rendus made available from the collection of Public Safety disponibles par Sécurité publique Canada à ceux Canada. qui souhaitent consulter ces documents issus de sa collection. Some of these documents are available in only one official language. Translation, to be provided Certains de ces documents ne sont disponibles by Public Safety Canada, is available upon que dans une langue officielle. Sécurité publique request. Canada fournira une traduction sur demande. The International Indigenous Policy Journal Volume 3 | Issue 2 Article 1 8-9-2012 Policing Aboriginal Protests and Confrontations: Some Policy Recommendations Edward J. Hedican University of Guelph, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/iipj Part of the Social Policy Commons Recommended Citation Hedican, E.
    [Show full text]
  • Redalyc. a Historical and Situational Summary of Relations Between
    Revista Mexicana de Estudios Canadienses (nueva época) Asociación Mexicana de Estudios sobre Canadá, A.C. [email protected] ISSN (Versión impresa): 1405-8251 MÉXICO 2007 Jorge Virchez / Ronald Brisbois A HISTORICAL AND SITUATIONAL SUMMARY OF RELATIONS BETWEEN CANADA AND THE FIRST NATIONS: THE CASE OF THE COMMUNITY OF KASHECHEWAN IN NORTHERN ONTARIO Revista Mexicana de Estudios Canadienses (nueva época), otoño-invierno, número 014 Asociación Mexicana de Estudios sobre Canadá, A.C. Culiacán, México pp. 87-100 Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina y el Caribe, España y Portugal Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México http://redalyc.uaemex.mx A HISTORICAL AND SITUATIONAL SUMMARY OF RELATIONS BETWEEN CANADA AND THE FIRST NATIONS: THE CASE OF THE COMMUNITY OF KASHECHEWAN IN NORTHERN ONTARIO JORGE VIRCHEZ Y RONALD BRISBOIS Abstract It is very difficult to imagine that in Canada, which is a distinguished member of the G-8, G-10, a country that was considered by the United Nations for several years as having the best quality of living in the world, there are some aboriginal communities that have the conditions of the poorest countries in the planet. The lack of running water in the community and the presence of constant flooding is the reality of an aboriginal community in Northern Ontario - Kashechewan. The objective of this article is to discuss the conditions that prompt such a contradictory situation for First Nations in Canada. Key Words: First Nations, running water, flooding, Northern Ontario. INTRODUCTION - HISTORICAL anada’s first inhabitants, the First Nations, represent the Amerindians, the CInuit and the Métis. Five hundred years ago, a mass migration mainly from Europe would change the face of this country forever.
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond the Gate at Aazhoodena: Connecting the Past to the Future by Trina Krantz a Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate
    Beyond the Gate at Aazhoodena: Connecting the Past to the Future by Trina Krantz A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Post Doctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Sociology) Faculty of Arts Graduate Studies Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario May 2019 © 2019 Trina Krantz KRANTZ, TRINA BEYOND THE GATE AT AAZHOODENA: CONNECTING THE PAST TO THE FUTURE Abstract This thesis will examine the life of a First Nation family living in the community of Stony Point (Aazhoodena) 1– the site of several major confrontations between the members of Stony Point and the Canadian and Provincial governments. In the case of Stony Point, little has been written beyond the chronicles of the standoff of Ipperwash Provincial Park in 1995. However, the story of Stony Point began long before the standoff and continues to present day. Building from practices relating to culture, identity and tradition used throughout the community’s history, my thesis will examine how the practices of the Kewageshig family at Stony Point has led to a resurgence in the community. Throughout this examination, I will consider some of the possible reasons why this community has survived the relentless legal and environmental pressure2 applied by both governments and non-Indigenous communities to remove the members of Stony Point from their land. My intent is to explore how the crises experienced by this community were pivotal in the creation of the community as it exists today and have allowed a space for members of Stony Point to redefine - on their own terms - what is possible for the future of the community.
    [Show full text]
  • Value-For-Money Audit: Indigenous Affairs in Ontario (2020)
    Office of the Auditor General of Ontario Value‑for‑Money Audit Indigenous Affairs in Ontario December 2020 Ministry of Indigenous Affairs Indigenous Affairs in Ontario Indigenous people living on reserve and off reserve. 1.0 Summary Although First Nations, Métis and Inuit social and economic indicators have shown improvement from 2001 to 2016, there is still a significant gap Indigenous Peoples were the first to have inhabited when compared to other Ontarians. For example, the lands now known as Canada. In Canada, Indigenous Peoples in Ontario do fare better than Indigenous Peoples are First Nations, Métis and those in other Canadian provinces in attaining Inuit. According to the last census in 2016, 22% of university degrees. However, in 2016 (latest avail- Canada’s Indigenous population lived in Ontario. able information), approximately 13% of Indigen- The nearly 375,000 Indigenous Peoples in Ontario ous Peoples aged 25 to 64 had university degrees accounted for 3% of Ontario’s population. About compared to 32% for non-Indigenous people. For 15% of Indigenous Peoples live on reserves (lands Indigenous Peoples living off reserve in 2019, 42% set aside by the Crown for the exclusive use of had at least one chronic health condition, com- Indigenous communities). pared to 33% for non-Indigenous people. According to the Truth and Reconciliation Indigenous Peoples continue to advocate for Commission, reconciliation between Indigenous their right to self-determination, the elimination and non-Indigenous people “requires constructive of systemic racism, and having a primary role in action on addressing the ongoing legacies of the development and implementation of programs colonialism that have had destructive impacts on and services.
    [Show full text]