The Original Nations Building Nations… Aboriginal Peoples at WORK On Turtle Island The Study Guide A resource guide to support THE TRIPLE TRUTH! Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble Michelle St. John Stage/Production Manager: Jacquie Carpenter Jani Lauzon Monique Mojica Dramaturg/ Director: Kate Lushington Asst. Dramaturg/ Study Guide Creator: Jill Carter Fragment from Dedication Poem for Oche Watt Te Ou / Reflection Dennis Jennings: Performed at Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco, Oct. 17, 1993 INDIANS all around you now, Some, right beside you in the spirit world. Some, right beside you on the bus. Some tending your gardens, some growing your food some cleaning your houses, some – with really good jobs working at middle-management. All crying for expression – wanting you to see them, hear them – listen! 1 Table of Contents PART ONE -- It’s a RED World After All : Readdressing the Myths 2 PART TWO -- The Fur-Trade 9 PART THREE -- The Residential School 15 PART FOUR -- Skywalkers: The Iroquois Ironworkers 24 PART FIVE -- Enforced Servitude: Native Enslavement 28 RECOMMENDED RESOURCES & SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES PART ONE – Readdressing the Myths 35 PART TWO – The Fur –Trade 39 PART THREE – The Residential School 41 PART FOUR – Skywalkers 43 PART FIVE – Native Enslavement 45 Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble wishes to acknowledge the generous sponsorship of: Mayworks Festival (Florencia Berinstein, staff and board members), Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Laidlaw Foundation, Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation, Harbinger Foundation, Aboriginal Voices Radio 106.5 FM and The Native Canadian Centre. Chi Miig’wetch Christine Plunkett for your assistance on our set AND Madison Photo and Murals for the wonderful billboards AND Moira Wong of the Toronto School Board AND Joseph Desjarlais AND Jonathan Hamilton –Diabo, Jackie Esquimaux –Hamlin of First Nations House (University of Toronto) AND Dr. Daniel Heath Justice (University of Toronto) AND Anita Benedict. Thank you for your great spirits, good words, and invaluable support. And Thank YOU, to those who have walked before us, those who will come after us, and those who remain – who stand with us today. Miig’wetch, Miig’wetch, Miig’wetch, Miig’wetch ALL OUR RELATIONS 2 It’s a RED World After All! RE-ADDRESSING THE MYTHS From long-houses to towers in the skies, from popcorn to Polaris, from concrete to constitutional reforms, the influence of the Aboriginal peoples in the areas of trade, agriculture, diplomacy, architecture, art, music, science, technology, food, and medicines has been so profound as to impact upon and TRANSFORM European culture. Welcome to a General Introduction to the Creative Genius, Ingenuity and Achievements of the Aboriginal peoples who built America. “Great warriors do not always fight, but with wisdom, are peacemakers” (Tribal Law, 103, Eastern Algonquin) Complex methods of agriculture included irrigation, fertilization, terracing, and hybridization. Architectural designs from the ancient Americas are not only still standing but also still inhabited today. Sustainable development of resources was not only a necessity but a way of life. The artists celebrated and honored the beauty of life before all creation. The hunters and trappers and fishers and growers provided. The healers healed. The diplomats formed alliances with other nations to ensure trade and commerce. All of this is WORK. Aboriginal peoples have been very good at adapting traditional skills into salable skills as our economies were disrupted and our land base eroded. Indian cowboys work and ride the rodeo circuit on the plains, where remarkable horsemanship has always been a way of life. Coastal peoples, for whom the Ocean is mother, developed fisheries. Forest people continue to defend their right to log and the Haudenosaunee (‘they build longhouses’) have transferred their architectural and construction skills to the high steel. 3 Persistent Myths vs. Enduring Realities Myth: Aboriginal people are all alike. Reality: Within Canada there are three distinct Aboriginal groups – Inuit, Metis and First Nations. There are many First Nations throughout Canada; and among these there are more than 50 distinctive linguistic groups. There are, also, several dialects within Inuktitut; and the Metis peoples speak a variety of First Nations languages such as Cree, Ojibwa, Chipewyan or Michif (a “nation language”, which has evolved out of their mixed ancestry). Each of these groups/nations follows a distinct lifeway, in which Creation Stories, Song, Dance, Works of Art, tradition, medicines, and modes of governance (along with language) reflect distinct tribal histories and identities. Myth: The Aboriginal peoples of North America were conquered because they were inferior. Reality: The First Nations Peoples of Canada were NEVER “conquered”. We were never engaged in WAR with the colonizers; rather, we were engaged in partnerships, without which the newcomers would never have survived. We facilitated the survival of the Europeans; we facilitated their economic development within the fur trade, the fishing industry, and in the development of labor (and life) – saving devices to facilitate the transportation of men, goods, and supplies across seemingly impassable land and waterways. The Native peoples of this land welcomed the newcomers as guests and treated them as equal partners. The newcomers, however, brought diseases (such as smallpox), against which our peoples had no immunity, guns, with which they decimated the buffalo, and dishonest negotiators, who entered into fraudulent treaties with our peoples, which were not honored. Myth: The Native Americans arrived in this hemisphere via the Siberian land bridge. Reality: The Creation Stories of every First Nation across the United States and Canada attest to the fact that our peoples were created from the very earth of the traditional tribal lands. Myth: The Original peoples of North America had no civilization until the Europeans brought it to them. Reality: Our Original Nations were highly civilized, boasting sophisticated forms of governance and democratic principles, from which the Constitution of the United States borrowed heavily; intricate systems of irrigation (in the South west) rivaling those of classical Greece and Rome; structurally and aesthetically complex forms of architecture, art, music, agriculture, medicine, philosophy, and spiritual dogma and practice. Myth: Native Americans were warlike and treacherous. Reality: American Indians fought fiercely against the atrocities of European Invaders. They fought to defend their lands, lives, sovereignty, freedom, and lifeways from these invaders. Alternatively, some nations joined forces with their European partners with whom strong ties in trade and/or marriage had been forged; and they fought against the European foes of their European allies with courage and loyalty. Myth: Native Americans have contributed nothing to Europeans or to the growth of North America. Reality: The contributions of American Indians have changed and enriched the world. The Constitution of the United States of America has been influenced not only by European thinkers and writers but also by the powerful, well-organized Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), who had lived by their own Constitution – the Kaianerekow (Great Law of Peace) – for centuries. Certain aspects of the Iroquois Confederacy were adopted in the construction of the American Federal system. These aspects include impeachment, equal representation of nations, checks and balances, and the concepts of freedom, peace, and democracy. Myth: Tribal Nations did not value or empower women. Reality: Native American women often wielded considerable power within their tribes. They chose and advised tribal leaders; in agricultural societies, they retained ownership over homes and properties, and this ownership was passed from mother to daughter; and both genders bore 4 separate but equally vital responsibilities for the maintenance and survival of their communities. Western literature, narrative, and media has imaged the Indigenous female as either a “squaw” (dirty, slovenly, promiscuous, and ugly) or as an exotic “princess”, the beautiful daughter of a Chief, who was generally willing to abandon her people to marry a dashing European. Myth: The Aboriginal people of North America are a vanished (or rapidly vanishing) race. Reality: There are 2.1 million United States Indians today; and in 1996 The Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples cited the total population of Inuit, Metis, and First Nations peoples as 811,400. The Commission has projected that by 2006 our numbers will reach 959,000 (RCAP, Vol. 1, 21). Myth: Most Aboriginal peoples in North America are confined to reservations; they live in tipis, wear braids, and ride horses. Reality: Aboriginal peoples are not restricted to their reservations; many live in urban areas, attend post-secondary institutions, and work in all areas of professional endeavor from law to medicine to entertainment, politics, engineering, teaching, etc. Few wear braids and ride horses. Fewer still own tipis. Myth: First Nations peoples get a “free ride” from the Government. Reality: The benefits that First Nations peoples receive from the Government constitute the repayment of a considerable debt owed to the Original peoples to compensate us for the surrender of some or all of our invaluable lands. Myth: Native Americans have a genetic predisposition towards alcoholism. Reality: Native Americans