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Kinesis
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3*«^&fecticmaSMfal i*s issuer, i's issuerwrtv. l"S IJ5SUI5rv\TIV/t5 . i's issuewTive morn en's issuerwrtve worn jisrvs issLusrwrtve morn wr-tve luornerYs issuerwrive ujorn "rive ujornervs issu^wnve ujony -> rive luornen's issuevaive morn jerwrive ujornen's issuerwm/e luorn R<vnve ujornen's issuerwnve uiorn <«vnve ujarneh's issuErwnve laom issutarwrive ujomen's issuetwtivis ujcjm erwrive iuc»rnerYs issuewnve ujom erwrtve ujomervs issuerwrtve ujom. ownve mcirrjBh's issuowrive ujcunen's swrive lucjrnen's issuewriv/^ issue-»^TivB ujornen's isssuerwrt issuen^Ti\/e ujornerY issuen^Tive ujornisrY S1VIH3S 8ZI9I1 8ZI 19l\ ; ^ M3AP03NVA ■ Dan "nw isw mz - mo 9NISS3D0dd I " Intside kine$ »« Celebrating 25 Years 19 7 4-1999 #309-877 E. Hastings St Vancouver, BC V6A 3Y1 Tel: (604)255-5499 Fax: (604)255-7508 Email: kinesis@web.net Kinesis welcomes volunteers to work on all aspects of the paper. Our next Story Meeting is Tues Jan 4 at our office, 309-877 E. Hastings St. Production for the February 2000 issue is from Jan 18-25. All women welcome even if you don't have experience. Kinesis is published 10 times a year by the Vancouver Status of Women. Its objectives are to be a non- sectarian feminist voice for women and to work actively for social change, specifically combatting sexism, racism.classism, homophobia, ableism, anti-jewish oppression, and imperialism. Views expressed in Kinesis are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect VSW policy. All unsigned material is the responsibility of the Kinesis Editorial Board. Lissa Geller (on leave), Agnes Huang, Fatima Jaffer, Jenn Lo Bernadette Phan, Amal Rana Helen Haig-Brown, Jennifer Dysart Fatima Jaffer, Katie Gray, Lynda Gray, Sandra Gray, Pam Greenstock Lizabeth Hall, Michelle McGeough Robyn Kelly, Nancy Pang, Bernadette Phan, Amal Rana, Monica K. Rasi Colleen Sheridan Marketing: Jenn Lo Circulation: Jennifer Hatol Design: Jenn Lo Production Coordinator: Amal Rana designed by Audrey Huntley, Jenn Lo and Bernadette Phan December 2, 1999 Individual: $20 per year (+$1.40 GST) or what you can afford Institutions/Groups: $45 per year (+$3.15 GST) VSW Membership (includes 1 year Kinesis subscription): $30 per year (+$1.40 GST) Women and girls are welcome to make submissions. We reserve the right to edit and submission does not guarantee publication. If possible, submissions should be typed, double spaced and must be signed and include an address, telephone number and SASE. Kinesis does not accept poetry or fiction. Editorial guidelines are available upon request. All submissions must be received the month preceding publication. Note: Jul/Aug and Dec/Jan are double issues. Features and reviews: 10th News: 15th Letters and Bulletin Board: 18th Display advertising (camera ready): 18th (design required): 16th Printed by Horizon Publications Kinesis is indexed in the Canadian Women's Periodicals Index, the Alternative Press Index, and is a member of the Canadian Magazine Publishers Association. ISSN 0317-9095 Publications mail registration #6426 Corbiere Decision Affirms Off-Reserve Voting Rights 3 by Anna Hunter An Interview with NWAC President Marilyn Buffalo 3 by Anna Hunter A "First" for Native Women's Rights in BC 4 by Vivian Stogan Biopiracy: Colonization into the New Millennium 5 by Jeannette Armstrong by Fay Blaney Excerpt! Chapter II of AWAN's Final Report by A udrey Hun tley Stories that Feed us: An Interview with Christine Welsh by Andrea Walsh Understanding the Impact of the Indian Act by Lizabeth Hall, as told to Sandra Gray Halfbreed,1-' original,rirstNano -.Off-Reser c. Queer Thanksgiving and Poetry for Dessert 13 by Susan Beaver Regulating Native Identities 15 by Bonita Lawrence Surviving a Legacy of Genocide 16 by Bonita Lawrence About that Question 19 by Anna M. Sewell Discovering the Inner Indian 19 by Anna M. Sewell and Crystal Lee Clark New Journal from Native Women in the Arts: a Ri byAbbyCote Working for Safety in the Sex Trade by Sarah Hunt Confronting Racism in Anti-Violence Structures. by Valerie and Wendy, as toid to Han dan Pembroke & Douglas: a Coyote Poem by Vera Wabegijig A Portrait of Filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin by Abby Cote Sneak Preview: New Book on Native Womanhooi by Kim Anderson Cleo Reece and other Red Power Women by Dian LeClair and Audrey Huntley T'Lina: an Award-winning Film by Barb Cranmer a review by Lynda Gray regulars As Kinesis Goes to Press 2 Inside Kinesis 2 Movement Matters 6 by Fay Blaney and Alanaise Ferguson Bulletin Board 29 compiled by Bernadette Phan Native, Treaty, Non-Status, Metis, Indian, Inuit, Status, Indigenous, Halfbreed, On-Reserve, Aboriginal, First Nations, Off-Reserve, Bill C-31 13-19 Cruz- i - FIC Kinesis wishes to acknowledge the funding support received from Status of Women Canada—BC Region to assist in the production of this Native Women's Issue, and in the distribution of this issue to Native women, Native organizations and communities, and band councils across the country. V<S rQe Uo.lt l'9 € V- Dead Men Don't Rape 22 DEC/JAN 2000 update from the downtown eastside: shawna turned 16 last week, she's from prince george and has been working the streets in the downtown eastside for about a year, last week, John doe, a white, middleclass lawyer in his fifties 'got ugly with her', she wouldn't elaborate, just kept repeating those words to herself, sitting in a doorway, tweaking on crack, out there, flying, somewhere far away from the Johns who pick her up off the corner of jackson and cordova, across the street from my house, i hate John doe. everyday, countless times, i watch the cars stop, sex workers, predominantly native, many of whom are very young like shawna, get in, are driven off. i try not to think about what happens next, but i always wonder if they will be safe, ii they will be back, or if another poster will go up instead, i hate John doe but shawna is of legal age to have 'consensual' sex with him. mr. John doe/lawyer knows this too. when shawna got her hiv test back and found out she was positive—a gift from her pimp/dealer/boyfriend—i was horrified, now i hope mr. John doe/lawyer didn't use a condom, i don't even worry too much about his wife, kids, right now i just hate John doe. shawna and i both live in the downtown eastside. we are both native and many of the experiences which led her to the street parallel mine and yet i have not had to go there, nor do i live in poverty or face the dimension of violence she does, i have much to be grateful for and i need to thank the creator for this everyday. native women's lives and experiences cannot be homogenized, to paraphrase one of the contributors to this issue: we are too different, to generalize would be disrespectful, this is not to say that we have no common concerns and immediate needs or that there is no reason for us—as native women —to organize together, on the contrary, it is crucial at this time where native women's voices still do not resonate to the extent that they should. this paper represents an attempt to gather and give space to a sampling of the many initiatives put forth by native women in 'canada' today, in a kaleidoscope of articles authored by native women, important points are made which need to be discussed on a broader level in our communities, sara hunt, for example, addresses the situation of native sex workers and problematizes the lack of responsibility, in particular on the part of the male leadership towards these women, it is time to break through the stig- matization and shame which prevents us from supporting native prostitutes who face a life threatening situation everyday. it is also vital that we begin to speak openly about the conditions of violence in our communities, that many native women use the streets to escape from, too many perpetrators go about their business unchallenged, too many women and children suffering sexualized violence at their hands are silenced. We need to create conditions in which native and all women/lesbians... are able to take control of their bodies and how they use them. the task of guest-editing this special issue has been both exciting and frightening, now, close to press- time, it is good to see 32 pages of 'feministnewspaper' filled with native women's words, this should not stop here, many of the pieces invite response and discussion, discussion which is badly need. my thanks to the contributors for your stories and inspiration and to all the other women/lesbians who were a part of this: i am deeply grateful, but i can't begin to name you because i'm all out of space. all my relations Our appreciation to the following supporters who became members of VSW, renewed their memberships, or who made donations during the month of November. Maria Abbott * Somer Brodribb * Janie Cawley * Gillian Creese * Veronica Delorme * Julia Goulden * Barbara Findlay * Sydney Foran * Pamela Greenstock * Lynda Griffiths * Vivian Guthrie * Daniela Hemper * Barborah Honeyman * Jennifer Johnstone * Marjorie Kildare * Mary F. Matthews * Frances Muir * Arvilla Read * Marine Printers A special thanks to our donors who give every month. Monthly donations assist VSW in establishing a reliable funding base to carry out our programs, services and Kinesis throughout the year. Thanks to: Masoud Azarnoush * Helen Babalos * Merlin Beltain * Wendy Baker * Tanya De Haan * Jody Gordon * Erin Graham * Tamara Knox * Linda Shuto * Shelagh Wilson So this is it. The end of 1999 is upon us! Millennium fever surrounds us, but what excites us even more is that this is Kinesis' first Aboriginal Women's Issue. And, it leaves millennium fever looking like last year's party! This special issue fits within a long, tangled herstory of neglect and silencing of Aboriginal women's voices in feminist discourse, challenge of policies and participation in the paper's development by Aboriginal women, and gradually, particularly over the 1990s, a sense of ownership of Kinesis by Aboriginal women activists in Vancouver and nationally. Then in the early 1990s, Miche Hill of the Mi'kmaq Nation, became the first Aboriginal woman to hold a full-time staffing position at the VSW. Miche worked actively with the Kinesis editor in ensuring consistent coverage of news more directly relevant to Aboriginal women. By 1994, now-United Native Nations president Viola Thomas was invited to guest-edit Kinesis' first-ever Aboriginal women's supplement. In 1995, the fresh insight, enthusiasm and activism of spankin' new Kinesis editor Agnes Huang enabled the paper to further build upon the work of Aboriginal feminists and open up the pages oiKinesis in unprecedented ways to coverage of issues relevant to and by Aboriginal women. This was further strengthened by the creation of the Aboriginal Women's Action Network in late 1995, which sprang from the initiative of then-VSW staffer Terry Netsena of the Tahltan Nation and Fay Blaney of the Homalco Nation. Out of discussions with AWAN sprung the idea of a guest-edited Native Women's Issue to lead us into a new millennium and a new chapter inKinesis' herstory. The guest editor Audrey Huntley is also a key member of AWAN's Bill C-31 Project [see page 7.] She has done an amazing job of pulling together articles from across this land, from a diverse range of Aboriginal women, and under the restraints of never having produced a newspaper before! Audrey is of Anishinawbe, German and Euro-Canadian descent. She returned to Turtle Island in 1998 after living in Europe for 17 years, with most of the last 12 years in Germany (with frequent trips to Italy to "save her sanity") While living in Marburg, she worked within the feminist autonomist and anti-imperialist movements for social change, and critiqued the romanticization of First Peoples and the appropriation of Indigenous culture. Audrey has also authored a book, Widerstand Schreiben! (Writing Resistance). She hopes that the book along with her translations of Indigenous women's literature (Jeannette Armstrong's Slash and a collection of poetry by Chrystos) will contribute to deconstructing German notions of 'Imaginary Indians' while calling attention to the on-going reality of genocide and colonization. Her determination, creativity and commitment have been key to the success of Kinesis' Native Women's Issue. We'd like to express our thanks to and her beautiful canine 'editorial assistant' Morty. No you can't chew on the paper Mort! This issue not only ends the millennium, it is also the last issue with Agnes Huang as Editor. Yes, Agnes is finally leaving!!! And a sad farewell it is. Agnes joined Kinesis a zillion years ago in 1990, as a writer and production volunteer. Within a month, she was breathing new life and fire into the Ed Board. (Yes, she's an Earth sign, but a Fire Horse too!) Despite factors that made continuing to produce a national feminist newspaper a sometimes impossible-seeming task, Agnes continued to churn out Kinesis year after year. And while the pressures did sometimes get to her and there were hard times that called for Kinesis' loyal community of past staffers and volunteers to step in, Agnes always did a magnificient job of ensuring the paper's survival! The powerful stories Kinesis carried during Agnes' years as editor are too numerous to mention. Most recently, Agnes has been instrumental in ensuring Kinesis does not ignore the racist and classist backlash against the Chinese women refugees from Fujian, who have been incarcerated in BC prisons [see Kinesis, Oct/Nov 1999]. Kinesis has been a powerful tool in making links between corporate globalization, anti-immigrant policies, trafficking in women and government trade negotiations. Among things Agnes will be most missed for is her irrepressible charm, enthusiasm and good spirits (not to suggest she didn't have some crabby days!) While her main focus is to recuperate from the rigours of running the only national feminist newspaper in Canada, Agnes has promises she will continue to sit on the Editorial Board. It makes us all very happy to have ongoing opportunities to thank and appreciate her for her years of commitment, courage and perseverance as this paper's editor. Meanwhile, we should let you know that Kinesis has not found new editor for the paper with the right balance of skills, experience and political commitment. The search continues and the Ed Board is working with VSW's Coordinating Collective to work out a solution to continue publishing the next issue without a full-time editor at the helm. December is usually a hard time to find volunteers who will come in, but as soon as we put the word out about the importance of this month's issue, a whole bunch of fabulous volunteers showed up. An enormous welcome and thank you to new production volunteers, Helen Haig-Brown and Jennifer Dysart. And, of course, a big thank you to the rest of our faithful production volunteers who come in month after month (see masthead). We'd also like to welcome all the new writers/voices who contributed to this Native Women's Issue: Andrea Walsh, Lizabeth Hall, Sandra Gray, Susan Beaver, Bonita Lawrence, Anna Sewell, Crystal Lee Clark, Theresa Marshall, Sarah Hunt, Vera M. Wabegijig, Abby Cote, Kim Anderson, Dian LeClair, Lynda Gray, Christine Welsh, Alanaise Ferguson, Vivian Stogan, Anna Hunter, Wendy, Valerie Inglis and Handan Acabay. Thanks to all. So, until next time, we'd like to wish you an extremely Happy New Year and happy reading. We're sure you'll be just as thrilled with this issue as we are!! See you in 2000! DEC/JAN 2000 News Supreme Court of Canada decision on Corbiere v. Canada: Off-reserve voting a right by Anna Hunter Corbiere v. Canada (Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs), a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada handed down on May 20, offers substantial changes to band council election practices that will impact First Nations communities across the country. The court's ruling directs the federal government to initiate changes to the Indian Act within 18 months that will allow off-reserve band members to vote in band elections for chief-and-council. The case involves voting restrictions arising from Section 77 of the Indian Act— this section says that only band members "ordinarily resident on the reserve" are entitled to vote in band elections. The case was launched by four members of the Batchewana Indian Band, each on their own behalf and on behalf of all non-resident members of the Batchewana Indian Band, which is located near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. [The case is named after John Corbiere, one of the four members who filed the court challenge.JThe four members argued that S. 77 violates the equality rights provision (Section 15) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In their court action, they were joined by a number of intervenors. [Intervenors are other parties—usually organizations or government bodies—which have a stake in the outcome of the case.] The intervenors in the Corbiere case were: Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Lesser Slave Lake Indian Regional Council, Native Women's Association of Canada, and the United Native Nations Society of British Columbia. In its decision, the Supreme Court ruled that S. 77 in its entirety is unconstitutional. One important note is that, in ruling on the section "in its entirety," the Court looked at the general application of the legislation, not just its application to the Batchewana Indian Band. This means the court's decision applies to the election rules of all bands across Canada which follow the Indian Act election rules. Throughout its decision, the Supreme Court offers recognition of the unique status of First Nations women. Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dube, who wrote concurring reasons with the majority decision, clearly notes that First Nations women have been severely disadvantaged by the Indian Act. She states: "Aboriginal women, who can be said to be doubly disadvantaged on the basis of both sex and race, are particularly affected by differential treatment of off-reserve band members." Justice L'Heureux-Dube also outlines the role that Bill C-31 has played in terms of the dramatic increase in the number of off-reserve members. Bill C-31, passed in 1985, restored "Indian status" to women who lost their status because they married non-Native or non-status men. [While Bill C-31 was a step in the right direction, it created a whole host of other problems for Aboriginal women and their descendants. See Pages 7 and 8.] For the Batchewana and many other bands, the majority growth in band membership since 1985 has been people who re/ gained Indian status and band membership because of Bill C-31. Because funding from Department of Indian Affairs (the federal government) has not increased to compensate for the increase in band members, many of these members have been left without access to programs and services, such as on-reserve housing and education and health funds. Although the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling gives Aboriginal band members living off-reserve the right to vote in band elections and calls on the federal government to change the Indian Act, the situation is far from settled in most communities. Across Canada, only 288 (of more than 650) bands still follow the election procedures set out in the Indian Act. The rest have chosen to follow the band's customary election practices. There is no certainty as to how communities with custom-based elections will respond to the new direction ordered by the Supreme Court. Nonetheless, the decision offers positive support to Aboriginal people living off-reserve in their fight towards ending discriminatory practices against them. The full text of the Corbiere decision can be found on the Internet at: http:// www.droit.umontreal.ca/doc/csc-scc. Anna Hunter has strong community and family ties to the Ktunaxa Nation in the Kootenays. She is currently teaching First Nations Women's Studies at Malaspina University College in Nanaimo, British Columbia. She studies law and public administration at the University of Victoria. It was a victory not only for Mary Vicky Scrimbitt, but for all so-called Bill C-31 Indians. On October 19, a federal court judge ruled that the Sakimay Indian Band in Saskatchewan had broken the law when it denied Scrimbitt the right to vote in band council elections. [The case is referred to as Mary Scrimbitt v. Canada.] Scrimbitt lost her Indian status in 1971 and regained it in 1985. She says she was treated as a band member since the early 1990s. Scrimbitt even ran as a candidate for council in 1991 and was given use of some reserve land (near Grenfell) in 1992. However, things changed in 1993. Scrimbitt was told by the band council that she was off the voters' list. She was told the same thing again in 1993 and 1995, even though the Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) confirmed she was a band member. At trial, the Sakimay Band Council argued that Scrimbitt could only be a full band member if the band council voted to accept her as a member, regardless of what DIA said. It also argued it was following the policies of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) concerning band membership. In upholding Scrimbitt's rights, Judge Andrew MacKay said the Sakimay Band Council had violated the Indian Act, its own band membership code, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He added that the policies of the AFN and the FSIN were not law. [information from the Saskatchewan Star Phoenix, October 22, 1999] Interview with Marilyn Buffalo, president of the NWAC: The voices of Native women by Anna Hunter One of the intervenors in the Corbiere case was the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC). Over its lifetime, NWAC has been involved in many court challenges involving recognition of the rights of Aboriginal people, especially Aboriginal women. Anna Hunter had the opportunity to interview NWAC's current president Marilyn Buffalo about her work, and NWAC's involvement in the Corbiere case and other political arenas. Anna Hunter: Can you start by telling us a little about your personal journey that led you to becoming president of the Native Women'sAssociation of Canada in June 1997? Marilyn Buffalo: I have about 30 years of experience in doing community development. I have worked with and for our people all my life which has prepared me for the issues I deal with on a national basis. I have worked in education, health, youth and policy development at all levels, and in many communities: urban, northern, and on- and off-reserve. Prior to working with NWAC, I was a policy advisor to the Assembly of First Nations and before that, I was the National Director for Aboriginal Policy for the Liberal Party of Canada. So far, I have been in Ottawa for six years and it has been a really good experience for me. Hunter: What are some of the notable changes that have taken place in NWAC under your leadership? Buffalo: One notable change is that there is more involvement in NWAC. I think Aboriginal people are more focused in trying to include Aboriginal women in their policy development. It is true in some cases, but there is still some resistance. NWAC has also made some positive contributions in helping to change some of the negative stereotypes of Native women in Canada. Hopefully, we have set the pace for more changes in the future. Hunter: What are some personal highlights of your leadership role? Buffalo: Getting involved with the other Aboriginal leaders and coordinating some of the key areas. Also, when NWAC took a lead in January 1998 during the release of the Royal Commission of Aboriginal Peoples' report. We refused to accept the "non-apology" to Aboriginal peoples relating to residential schools, because it didn't go far enough. The federal govern ment offered Aboriginal people a very well- worded legal document that basically meant nothing more than an expression of regret. Hunter: Why is NWAC needed? Buffalo: NWAC's role is to ensure that the voices of Native women are heard. We should be at every senior policy discussion to ensure that the aspects of womanhood are included, to make sure that issues regarding children are expressed and prioritized, and that we uphold the matri- lineal society. NWAC will be needed for many years to come. It will be a long time before we achieve gender equality for Native women in our communities. This is not just within our own communities, but in mainstream society as well. It is clear that there is still a lot of racism and systemic discrimination within all levels of government. The role of Native women will become more prominent in the future, in the very near future and I think that this is a very good thing. Hunter: What was NWAC's role in the Corbiere decision? Buffalo: NWAC's work has been instrumental. For 12 years, we worked on getting the Corbiere case through all levels of the judicial system, all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. In terms of the effects of the Corbiere decision, it is far-reaching in terms of the right to benefits and access to services for our people living off-reserve. For too long, our rights have been defined for us only within the boundaries of our reservations. The long term positive effects are going to mean that governments are going to have to negotiate with us in a different way, and it is going to give us more leverage. In terms of the reserves that are under customary election practices, it doesn't matter what type of election law they have. The right for people to vote is there. The onus is on the band leadership to get more funds [to support the growing number of members.] Pressure from our people is going to be greater. And governments have to stop being so stingy. For more information on NWAC, contact them at 9 Melrose Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, KI Y 1T8; tel: (613) 722-3033 or toll free 1-800-461- 4043; fax: (613) 722-7687; email: nwac@istar.ca. DEC/JAN 2000 SIS News Compensation awarded for a share in the family home: A question of possession by Vivian Stogan In 1992, it was a precedent setting case in BC. Seven years later, Vivian Stogan is still waiting for this "first" to have any real meaning. The case is known as ]ames Joseph George v. Vivian Mary George (now Stogan). This case is significant because, for the first time, a Native man was ordered to compensate his former wife for her interest in their family home on his reserve, even though he did not have a certificate of possession (CP). [A CP gives a person title to property on reserve land. It is granted by the Department of Indian Affairs with the approval of the band council. A CP allows a person to own the house or other structures on the property, but not the land. The land is owned by the Crown in perpetuity. A CP can be transferred to another band member with a band council resolution and approval of the minister of Indian Affairs.] While Vivian Stogan's case focuses on monetary compensation in the division of matrimonial property, two Native women's organizations have pushed the matter futher by filing constitutional challenges against the federal government. The British Columbia Native Women's Society and the Native Women's Association of Canada both claim that, with respect to the division of matrimonial property, the federal government has a fiduciary duty to uphold the equality rights of Aboriginal women [see sidebars.] Here below, we present Vivian Stogan telling the story of her own fight. InAugust 1992,1 was granted a divorce from my first husband. He is a status Indian and a registered member of the Burrard Band. I too, am a status Indian and a registered member of the Squamish Band. After the BC Supreme Court heard our case, it ordered my ex-husband to pay me spousal maintenance in the sum of $400 per month, beginning on September 1, 1992. The maintenance payments were to be reduced one dollar for every dollar of gross income I earned over $1,000 a month. The court further ordered my ex-husband to pay me $88,015 for my interest in our former family home on the Burrard Reserve on Dollarton Highway. We had been married 28 years and had spent almost 20 years living in that home. Because my ex-husband did not have a certificate of possession (CP) for our home, the court instead ordered him to pay me $500 a month until the total sum of $88,015 had been paid off. (Although the band had approved his application for a CP, it had never issued him one.) The then Burrard Band Chief-and- Council decided to get involved after the BC Supreme Court's decision. My ex-husband appealed- the court's ruling and the band intervened. Specifically, the Burrard Band was trying to appeal the part of the Supreme Courf s decision which addressed whether possession of property on reserve, in the absence of a CP, could constitute "lawful possession." If it did, then it was legal to have awarded me compensation under the Family Relations Act—the provincial legislation that governs division of matrimonial property upon divorce. At trial, I had argued that my ex-husband had a "life interest" in our family home—that is, he had the right to use and occupy the house for the rest of his life. The judge agreed and concluded that my ex- husband was "lawfully in possession" of the property based on the evidence of occupancy and usage. My ex-husband's appeal was dismissed. I had won again! In the ruling, one of the appeal court justices stated: "Compensation in lieu of a division of property is not a matter for which provision is made under the Indian Act, and in my view there is no inconsistency or 'actual conflict' between such a provision for compensation between spouses and the Indian Act." The court agreed there was ample evidence to support the trial judge's conclusion that the Burrard Band Council had approved the allocation of the property to my ex-husband, regardless of the fact that the allocation had originally been made, not through the Band Council, but through his relatives. Here's one example of the evidence introduced which shows that my ex-husband was in "possession" of our family home: When our house was first built through the Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) in 1970, there was no cement floor. We applied for financing through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). In the documentation of our loan with CMHC, my ex-husband agreed that if we defaulted on our payments three months in a row he would assign to the Burrard Band "his right, title and interest...to the said land held in possession by [him]" for as long as the loan remained unpaid. From this and other evidence, the court concluded that, even though we did not have a CP, "it would be difficult for a Band Council...to assert successfully that [my ex- husband] is not entitled to continued use and occupancy of the property." Because my ex-husband was in possession of our house and property, the Court of Appeal agreed that it was lawful for the trial judge to have granted me half of the value of our house and property upon our divorce. The Court of Appeal's decision was issued in November 1997. Two years later, I am still waiting for my ex-husband to honour the court's ruling. I am still trying to get the Burrard Band to compensate me for my share of the home I lived in for more almost two decades. My ex-husband lost at the BC Supreme Court; my ex-husband and the Burrard Band lost at the Court of Appeal. The right thing for them to do would be to pay me my share of the house and property set out by the Supreme Court—$88,015—plus interest from August 28,1992, when the judgment was handed down. The Burrard Band Chief-and-Council at the time took it upon themselves to get involved in my case by applying for intervenor status and helping pay the cost(s) of that appeal. When they lost, they were ordered to pay for all court and lawyer costs. Shortly after the first court decision, my ex-husband quit his well-paying job as a longshoreman—a job he had held for 20 plus years. To date, I have received just $4,000 from him—taken from his income tax return in the first year after the BC Supreme Court judgment. Because of this, I am asking the Burrard Band to settle out-of-court with me for my share of our former family house. The Burrard Band has the ways and means to compensate me because it receives good revenue from the town-houses, et cetera that exist on its reserves. Also, every band in Canada has capital and revenue dollars held in trust in Ottawa on their behalf. I was informed by someone at DIA that the Burrard Band could ultimately do up a band council resolution instructing DIA to do just what I have suggested. DIA would then get those dollars from Ottawa on behalf of the Burrard Band and buy my share of the house and property. This, to me, would be the most viable way of doing things and getting this issue brought to an end! Vivian Stogan was born and raised in the Squamish Nation. She worked in the education field for over 20 years with the Burrard Nation and with the school board in North Vancouver. She also was a special project officer for the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program - Community Health Resource. Native women lose homes under Indian Act rules "We can't seem to get the government's attention without a writ in our back pocket," Jane Gottfriedson said at a press conference on March 19, 1997. Gottfriedson, president of the BC Native Women's Society, was announcing her organization's federal court action against the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs. Their claim: the Indian Act discriminates against Aboriginal women who live on reserves by not allowing them to have a share in their matrimonial home or an order of exclusive possession, when their marriages break up. Every other married woman in the country has those rights. In its suit, BCNWS charges that this differential treatment violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Society says the federal government has a constitutional obligation to protect the equality rights of Aboriginal women. BCNWS also argues that the federal government has a fiduciary responsibility to Aboriginal women which it cannot download to the bands. BCNWS wants the federal government to be restricted from signing any agreement with Indian bands related to land management until its case is settled. The BCNWS challenge is unique because it asserts that the federal government must take women's equality rights into account when forming Aboriginal policy. If BCNWS is successful, the federal government will not be able to download land management on reserve to Indian bands, without having first ensured that women's equality rights, with respect to the matrimonial home, are protected. For more information on BCNWS' case, contact their legal counsel barbara findlay at Dahl Findlay Connors, 620-1033 Davie St, Vancouver, BC7 V6E 1M7; tel: (604) 687-8752 or 1-888-442-9529; fax: (604) 687-7686; email: bfindlay@imag.net. NWAC picks up Bill C-49 fight June 15,1999: Within days of then Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Jane Stewart's introduction of Bill C-49 into the House of Commons, the Native Women's Association of Canada filed its lawsuit against the minister. In its statement of claim to the federal court, NWAC argues that the provisions in the Indian Act relating to the division of matrimonial property rights and Bill C-49, also known as the First Nations Land Management Act (FNLMA), discriminate against Aboriginal women and their children. Bill C-49 would allow the federal government to download its responsibility for the management of land on reserves to First Nations (Indian bands). The First Nation would then be required to adopt a land code. However, the FNLMA does not set out any standards against which the land codes would be measured. This means that the "Legislation effectively leaves the matter of protection of First Nations women's matrimonial property rights in the hands of each signatory band, requiring only that bands not discriminate between sexes," says NWAC president Marilyn Buffalo. "This will result in uncertainty, as no common standards will be available." Bill C-49 passed through the House of Commons this fall, and is now before the Senate. The federal court has said it will not hear NWAC's oase until BCNWS' case is heard. For more information, contact NWAC elroseAve, Ottawa, Ontario, K1Y ': (613) 722-3033 or toll free 1-800- 3; fax: (613) 722-7687. DEC/JAN 2000 Newts Biopiracy: colonialism in the new millennium The final frontier by Jeannette Armstrong "Indigenous peoples are facing a new wave of colonization, this time at the molecular level. Worldwide efforts such as the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP), and numerous independent research projects, are interested in collecting human DNA samples from Indigenous peoples. Since Indigenous populations represent a significant percentage of the world's human diversity, we are also priority subjects for scientific curiosity." - from the Indigenous Peoples Coalition Against Biopiracy website On the last weekend in October, representatives of 14 Indigenous peoples'organizations from North, Central and South America gathered together in Los Angeles. Their mission: to organize an Indigenous Peoples Summit to critically address trade practices and other related issues, like the HGDP. The outcome: a summit will be held in October 2000 in Mexico. Jeannette Armstrong was one of the participants at the LA meeting. As well as being a writer and teacher, she has long been an activist in the struggle to safeguard the biological resources of Indigenous peoples. Armstrong is from the Okanagan Nation. She currently works as a professor of Creative Writing at the University of Victoria through the En'owkin Centre in Penticton, BC, and is a teacher of Okanagan language and culture. She is also putting the final touches on her new novel, Whispering in Shadows. The following is excerpted and edited from a speech Armstrong gave as part of The Pomelo Project held at the Mcintosh Gallery in Vancouver in June 1996. The Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) is a project concerned with collecting the genetic materials of Indigenous peoples who are "endangered." The rationale is to do this before the endangered peoples became "extinct"—before they disappear, in other words. The HGDP is part of the larger Human Genome Project, which is intended to map the entire human genome (genetic coding). Both projects are being pushed forward by the scientific community and various governments, such as the United States, Canada and several European countries. The focus of the HGDP are 722 endangered Indigenous communities around the world. It involves going into these communities and collecting DNA samples—from at least 25 persons per community. Those samples would then be put in a repository (a DNA databank). The goal of the HGDP is to look at how the genetic make-up of different Indigenous populations diverge, in order to assess whether their genes have any useful scientific or medical applications. That's the general mandate of the HGDP. It doesn't seem to be anything to be alarmed about... until we start looking at some of the agendas behind this project. Why would anyone want to collect DNA samples of endangered peoples and put it in a repository? Why would anyone make the samples available? And to whom are they making these samples available? To that last question, the answer is: science. From there, you have to ask, who owns science? The answer is: transnational corporations. Science isn't developed in the medical community to help people; science is developed to make profits. And clearly, it's not developed to help Indigenous peoples. If you look worldwide, Indigenous peoples have the statistics to bear that out: the highest rates of many diseases, the worst access to medical services, the highest rates of poverty, and so on. So who benefits from this kind of science? It's the people who can afford the fancy genetic things that are going to be made available [from the HGDP-gathered samples.] It's really hard to get information out [about the HGDP] to Indigenous communities here in Canada. I can't just take a leaflet to distribute; no one's going to read it. The average literacy level is about Grade 3 or 4, even though Canada is among the top ten countries in terms of literacy. Trying to develop tools to inform my people about this kind of project and what it might mean to us is difficult. I have to talk about a science which is totally foreign to Indigenous peoples' way of thinking. And, then, I need to talk about things like patent laws. I try to explain that the [collection of DNA, patenting] can all be done, and is being done. It is critical to put it to people in a way which makes clear how such practices jeopardize their principles, their human rights, and their rights as Indigenous peoples. Educating around these issues is even more difficult in countries where there's an even lower level of literacy, and where most Indigenous people live in rural and remote communities, such as in the jungles or the mountains. Question: How do you ensure Indigenous people understand the impact of projects such as the HGDP on their lives, livelihoods and future generations? Proponents of the HGDP have the audacity to say they've formed an ethics committee and are designing a process by which to get "informed" consent from Indigenous peoples, before the collection of DNA takes place and before pharmaceutical companies come in to get them to sign contracts. Our response: How can you develop a process by which you inform a completely different culture of people who don't even subscribe to your Western ideals of science, who don't believe in the commodification of land, rights, let alone the commodification of the basic structure of life? It is important for us, as Indigenous peoples, to talk about these issues. In 1995, Indigenous leaders representing more than 30 Indigenous peoples' organizations from South, Central and North America came together in Phoenix, Arizona. There, we did a workshop on all the issues related to the HGDP. One thing that was central to our discussions was the realization that it's not just about intellectual property rights, or the patenting of life forms, genes and other species; it's about the ownership of land and water and, ultimately, the ownership of a people. When you allow the ownership of a people, it's not a far stretch to extend it to the ownership of the individual genes of a people. That's the view from which Indigenous leaders approach the HGDP. Colonization in this hemisphere has been going on for over 500 years. At the United Nations and in other world organizations, the so-called nation-states sit together to design trade apparatuses to facilitate this kind of biopiracy (or bio-colonialism). Then, they sit together and design ways to legalize that kind of piracy. It is a piracy which says you can own a people and reap the benefits of thousands from years of their caretakership. It is a piracy which deprives the same people of the right to say, "No, you're not going to kill these rivers, these species; you're not going to make us extinct. You don't have that right. We have the right to protect this land for thousands of generations to come." When I ask Indigenous peoples if they feel there is any hope of protecting our rights and our genes under these UN-sanctioned trade regimes, they say, "No." And that's for one simple reason: not one Indigenous nation from North, Central or South America is sitting at that table as a nation. It's not about population base. There are about 20 million Mayan people spread throughout seven nation-states in Central and South America. Twenty million people who have a land base, who have a culture, who have a language, who had political systems, who had sciences... but they do not have one seat, one voice in the United Nations. It's been really difficult for Indigenous people to get across that we do not have the same mindset [as the proponents of the HGDP] Part of our laws—here in BC, the Northwest Territories, Six Nations, Central America, and so on—involves respecting and sharing with all other things living on the land. Sharing doesn't mean ownership; sharing means taking the responsibility to look after—transgenerationally and in a healthy way—the life forms that sustain your life, your children's lives, your grandchildren's lives, and that sustained your ancestors' lives. I work at an international level trying to get wording into international agreements that protects and enhances the rights of Indigenous peoples. I see the importance of that work, but I do see it as a stopgap measure only. It addresses the symptoms of the problem, not the problem itself. The fundamental problem is the notion that life forms—defined in a broad sense— can be commodified. We all know it's not right to commodity the water, the air, the land, our own flesh or the flesh of the living things around us. Still, we get caught up in these trade apparatuses that have been framed and shaped over the past few hundred years—apparatuses driven by a profit motive which benefits a small number of people to the detriment of most of the world's population. Every single thing that lives and breathes beside us, feeds our bodies. With out those things, we don't have life. Without protection of those things, we don't have any assurances that there will be a next generation. To support this profit-based system, people need to be oppressed. This system requires everything to be commodifiable. It requires access to resources that are unavailable because Indigenous peoples are standing in the way. It requires the threat and reality of poverty in order to make people into consumers, in a way that is against our own survival. We do not have basic human rights when our lives are at threat because of all that has been done to our food, air, water... Every one of us is under threat. Every one of us knows someone who has died of cancer or who has a disease related to toxicities invading our bodies. Isn't life a human right? Isn't living healthy a human right? The HGDP is just the tip of the iceberg. If Indigenous peoples' genes can be made available to scientists and pharmaceutical companies for research and profit, then everyone else's genes can be too. It's difficult to maintain hope, but we must do better than this as human beings. For more on Jeannette Armstrong's analysis of the HGDP and other biopiracy conspiracies, check out her article in The Case Against Globalization: For Local Communities, edited by John Mander and published by Sierra Club Books (1999). Taking on the biopirates The Indigenous Peoples Coalition Against Biopiracy (IPCB) is a coalition committed to protecting Indigenous peoples' biological resources from exploitation. Coalition members include many Indigenous peoples organizations throughout the Americas. IPCB has a website that serves as an information resource to help tribal governments, organizations and individuals gain a better understanding of the issue of biopiracy, and what can be done about it. For more information about IPBC, contact Debra Harry, IPCB, PO Box 72, Nixon, Nevada, 89424; tel: (775) 574-0248; fax: (775) 574- 0259; email: IPCB@niec.net; website: http://www. niec. net/ipcb. Soon to be released! Whispering in Shadows waited second nov author Jeannette An DEC/JAN 2000 Movement Matters listings information Movement Matters is designed to be a network of news, updates and information of special interest to the women's movement. Submissions to Movement Matters should be no more than 500 words, typed, double spaced and may be edited for length. Deadline is the 18th of the month preceding publication. New restorative justice project underway In a coalition project on "restorative justice," the Aboriginal Women's Action Network is working with Aboriginal women who are employed by non-Native anti-violence agencies in Vancouver. Restorative justice is an alternative to going through the mainstream justice system. The advisory committee for the project is composed of representatives from Battered Women's Support Services, Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter, WAVAW (Women Against Violence Against Women Rape Crisis Centre), the Breaking the Silence Project, and some members of AWAN. Our objective is to explore the implications of restorative justice programs that are being developed and implemented in Aboriginal communities. The impetus for our taking on this project came from our participation in the Vancouver Aboriginal Restorative Justice Caucus. As members of that committee, we found ourselves continually torn between loyalties to our nationhood and sovereignty struggle, and our defence of our human rights as Aboriginal women. The process has begun with advisory committee members educating themselves on what all of this means. Following these study sessions, we will begin developing 12 workshops for Aboriginal women in the community. Details to be worked out include identifying resource people to make presentations for each topic area, developing accreditation and promotion for enrollment. We are hoping that participants will include Aboriginal women who are front-line service providers, as well as women who are working through a healing process. Upon completion of the study sessions and the workshops, AWAN will document our findings into a final report. We have obtained funding from a cross-cultural grant from the City of Vancouver and will attempt to access further funding from other sources in the coming months. -Fay Blaney (AWAN) For more information about the Aboriginal Women's Action Network's' Restorative Justice Project, contact AWAN, c/o 309-877 E. Hastings St, Vancouver, BC, V6A3Y1, or call (604) 255-0704,879-8094 or 435-5449. Mentoring First Nations girls In response to requests of First Nations "Little Sisters" to have role models of similar cultural background, the First Nations- Big Sister Mentoring Program was initiated. The program is intended to address social issues surrounding the high proportion of First Nations youth in BC's Lower Mainland. Over 50 percent of First Nations people living in the Lower Mainland and con sistently throughout the province are under the age of 25. With such a high proportion of youth in our communities, it is necessary to encourage the adult generations to take a role in guiding our children. The goal of matching First Nations Big Sisters with First Nations Little Sisters from similar cultural backgrounds is to encourage the transmission of traditional values between generations of women and girls. This program has existed within Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland for just over a year now. We have successfully matched three First Nations women with First Nations little sisters. Currently, less than one percent of our Big Sisters are First Nations ancestry, while 20 percent of our Little Sisters are First Nations. The average amount of time a girl waits to be matched with any Big Sister after being referred to our agency is one year. The mentoring program was developed to address any program and policy barriers that may exist within Big Sisters that deter First Nations women from signing up. We designed it to reflect the circumstances unique to urban First Nations. With more than 10,000 First Nations youth in Canada living in some phase of foster care (usually in a non-First Nations home), we are faced with an even greater need for adults to take a role in guiding girls of First Nations ancestry. To enrich the lives of our future life-givers and caretakers of the culture is an investment worth making. - Alanaise Ferguson If you are interested in participating in or hearing more about the First Nations Big Sister Mentoring Program, please contact Alanaise Ferguson at (604) 873-4525, ext. 309. We encourage all inquiries and comments about our program, and welcome all First Nations women to participate. Christmas wish list Each year, the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre hosts a Christmas Dinner for over 450 women and children of the neighbourhood. The Centre depends on the generosity of the community to provide its members with this special holiday celebration. This is a remarkable opportunity to share in the spirit of the season. The Centre is accepting new unwrapped gifts for women and/or food items. This includes: □ Warm clothing for adult women (coats, gloves, socks, pyjamas, sweaters) □ Bed linens, toiletries, small housewares (electric kettles, portable heaters) □ Food (baked goods, candies, turkeys) □ Gift certificates, money Tax receipts will be provided for any cash gifts. (Make cheques payable to the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre.) Items must be delivered to the Centre at 44 E. Cordova Street before the wrapping day: December 18th. Established in 1978, the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre is a drop-in centre for women and children living in poverty. Its mission is to provide for basic needs to work toward positive change for women and children in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. For more information or for volunteering opportunities, call Mariene Trick or Denise Tang at (604) 681-4786. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR The Downtown Eastside Women's Centre is a drop-in centre serving a diverse community of women and children. The E.D. will be responsible for: management of 12 f.t.e. and relief staff and positive role- modeling re: wellness, communication and conflict resolution ^Financial Management; budget preparation/monitoring, supervising bookkeeper and relationships with government funders Organizational Development: strategic planning, program evaluations and policy development ^"Public and Community Relations^ public speaking and media relations ^^Ixperience and Skills^ □ 3 years as an E.D. or 5 years in a senior management position in a non-profit organization □ Experience with financial management and strategic planning □ Teamwork and leadership skills □ Excellent communication, facilitation and organizational skills □ Experience with unions and collective bargaining □ Knowledge of local community and demonstrated success working with diverse communities Closing date: January 3, 2000 Mail to: Downtown Eastside Women's Centre 44 East Cordova Street Vancouver, BC, V6A 1K2 Or fax: 604-681-8470 Phone calls will not be accepted. Only those being interviewed will be contacted. Since 1976 we've been building a community * dedicated to economic development by keeping our money in our community! We Finance What You Support! (© This summer, we've upgraded to a new computer system * and now offer 24 hour ♦ * Telephone Banking! # *r A/est s Celebrating 25 Years 1 9 1 1 - 1 9 9 9 DEC/JAN 2000 AWAN's BILL C-31 project: Participatory Action Research in Action by Fay Blaney The Aboriginal Women's Action Network's Bill C-31 Project remained true to the "Participatory Action Research" model right to the very end. As reported in earlier issues of Kinesis, our research questions were formulated by Aboriginal women from communities throughout the province. These same women were the ones who identified women from their own communities to interview. Upon completion of our final report, AWAN members were not satisfied with releasing it, until we conducted another phase of consultation with a variety of women, who were asked to review it. Input and last minute additions were integrated into the report. With the "Bill C-31 Final Report" now in print, the Aboriginal Women's Action Network will now be shifting our focus to the implementation of our recommendations. The attention generated from this project sharply defined the issue of inadequacy of advocacy and educational services to Aboriginal women on Bill C-31. Project objectives included surveying the experiences of Aboriginal women and analyzing policy with regard to this legislation. However, what we were frequently called upon to do was provide advocacy or educational services. The difficulty that women encountered with reinstatement procedures was often mired with confusion, costly documentation and arbitrary decision making at the level of the "Registrar Entitlement Unit [of the DIA]." Within this isolating process, the registrar and its bureaucracy does nothing to coordinate or cross-reference members of the same family who are engaged in the same application procedures. If the registrar denies reinstatement of an applicant, the very same registrar is the one who must hear the appeal. Now, how many registrars would be willing to admit that they made a mistake the first time around and be willing to reverse that decision? In short, Aboriginal women are subjected to rigorous and rigid guidelines in applying for reinstatement. This is a situation in which all power and authority rests with the registrar. It is a process which women must go through alone. Applying for reinstatement of status is usually just the beginning of a long struggle to regain inherent Aboriginal rights. Trying to access rights and benefits that 'status Indians' are entitled to can be difficult enough, particularly with the competition over scarce resources in Aboriginal communities. In these conflicts, newly reinstated women are vulnerable both as 'outsiders' and because they are outside the decisionmaking process. Band councils control the allocation of such limited resources as housing, educational funding, health and other benefits. The primary issue is the lack of advocacy and educational services for Aboriginal women, at both the reinstatement stage and for post-reinstatement follow-up. Accessing "Existing Aboriginal Rights" under section 35 of the constitution is a challenge for reinstated women. The devolution of powers under the guise of self-government also compounds the problems of unequal power relations. For example, the passage of Bill C-49 has increased the powers of band councils by giving them absolute authority over reserve lands. Despite the lobbying efforts of the Native Women's Association of Canada, nothing was done to address "Matrimonial Property Rights" of Aboriginal women on- reserve in this legislation. The dangers for marginalized people on-reserve, particularly newly reinstated, are obvious. Band councils have the legal right to evict any- Advisory committee for Bill C-31 project L-R: Fay Blaney, Lizabeth Hall, Audrey Huntley, Rain Daniels, Jennifer Dysart. one from reserves if they see better opportunities for that land. In parallel course with globalization measures, such as the MAI, NAFTA and other trade agreements, band councils are moving toward putting corporate interests before human rights. At an economic and political level, Aboriginal women need a voice, an opportunity to participate in decisions that affect our lives. Aboriginal communities are coming to the realization that all of us, who have status, are categorized under some section of Bill C-31. Whether we allow the Department of Indian Affairs to deplete our populations, or if we actively participate in that 'termination' through narrowly defined membership codes, the results are the same. The court cases that we heard about in the course of our research indicate that some band councils are playing an active role in that termination policy by developing and implementing membership codes which reflect the internalized racism of our communities and biological conceptions of identity which are highly constrained. Other cases before the courts are in relation to section 6(2), the second generation cut-off rule. Our report demands that this section of Bill C-31 be struck! Further, we demand that the requirement of single mothers for proof of paternity be struck! We call upon our non-Aboriginal allies to support us in our lobby of the minister of Indian Affairs, Robert Nault, to strike these things from Bill C-31. Thanks to the hard work of the Bill C-31 advisory committee members, especially our researcher, Audrey Huntley, (who is also the guest editor of this issue o/Kinesis.) Fay Blaney is Homalco. She is a founding member of the Aboriginal Women's Action Network. She currently is an instructor in Women's Studies and Canadian Studies at Langara College and in Women's Studies at the University of British Columbia. Excerpt! Hot off the Press! Chapter II of AWAN's Final Report: Bill C-31: Its Impact, Implications and Recommendations for Change in British Columbia - Approaches to Research by Audrey Huntley Throughout the course of colonization, Native peoples have endured the scrutinizing gaze of many researchers, anthropologists, sociologists and political scientists. Being the objects of these studies, having no control as to their direction or goals, Native people rarely benefit or even learn about the conclusions that are drawn from their experiences. It is understandable that scepticism and even contempt for "the researcher," have ensued. Native people have become increasingly selective in who they choose to divulge any more information about their lives to. More and more often, we as Native people are taking on the role of researchers and examining the various circumstances that shape our lives from within the community, informed by an Indigenous perspective. The Aboriginal Women's Action Network's undertaking, to identify and examine some of the problems encountered by Native women with regards to the 1985 [Bill C-31] legislation, involved asking the women to speak of very sensitive and extremely painful issues. This called for a high degree of trust between interviewer and interviewee, which was established on the basis of a common lived experience. Not only were the interviewers Native women affected by Bill C-31, they also came from or were a part of the communities of the women interviewed. We are convinced that the information contained in our report titled Bill C-31: Its Impact, Implications and Recommendations for Change in British Columbia could not have been obtained any other way. In carrying out this exploratory research, we chose to utilize a research strategy and methodology rooted in the concepts of feminist empowerment and community-based participatory action. Since the effects of colonization are mediated by gender, Native women have concerns which are specific to us and must be addressed in recognition of the imbalance of power inherent in a patriarchal society. AWAN conceived of this project in the context of our goal to develop our own brand of feminism, to reclaim women-centred histories and to increase Native wom en's political representation. At the same time, AWAN is committed to the empowerment of the Native community as a whole and believes that enabling Native women to take control of our lives can only benefit overall efforts at decolonization. It was the experience of exclusion, of being silenced and rendered invisible that prompted Native women to form our own groups and defend our interests on a political level. In AWAN's work, we have been acutely aware of this ongoing reality of marginalization. Our members saw this project as a prime opportunity to let those voices, which are normally silenced by the dominant discourse, be heard. The completion of a tangible product— our report—is only one measure of our success. Throughout the course of our research, we were concerned with initiating and sustaining a collective process which would allow all the participants in the project the highest degree of participation and input possible. We agree with Janice Ristock and Joan Pennell, who say, "that research itself can be a lived process of empowerment when it encompasses both a critical analysis of power and a reconstructing of power so that the latter can be used in a responsible manner." According to French theorist Michel Foucault: "power circulates and thus is never localized at one particular moment. Power is exercised through a network of individuals, yet is never in anyone's hands." While we recognize that power is sedimented in institutions such as the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, we see the power relations in any social context as in flux, not fixed but rather as a dynamic between the different actors involved. We are not only victims of the structural imbalance of power and the individuals that wield it, but also agents of change. For this reason, our study examines not only what the Indian Act does to us and our communities, but also how we respond to and participate in the construction of our realities. It is not sufficient in a participatory action-oriented research project (PAR) to ac- cumulate knowledge for the sake of academia. Rather, the goal is to assist in the see BILL C-31 next page DEC/JAN 2000 SIS from BILL C-31 previous page struggle for social change. Patricia Maguire describes PAR as consisting of "three main components: investigation, education and action." This effectively describes the different stages of this project. This was to be research which would effect change and directly influence the lives of those it touched. After an initital planning stage, we held a conference to consult with the community. Native women affected by Bill C-31 came together from across British Columbia to share their experiences and develop our research questions. These women, as well as others who were identified later, then went into the communities and began the interview process. Insufficient resources and budgetary constraints were factors throughout the entire project. Money for paid work was limited to a part-time coordinator position, a researcher's salary and a small honorarium for the interviewers. Tasks such as transcribing the interviews were done by volunteers. Additional gaps were filled by numerous fundraising efforts. Although the lack of continuous funding forces AWAN to carry out our work largely on an unpaid basis, we were extremely uncomfortable with our inability to remunerate the interviewees. They provided the substance out of which our "findings" developed, and they did so at some risk. While financial constraints tested our resourcefulness and creativity, these were not the only concerns which arose during the interview process. Many interviewers reported encountering a strong interest in our work and a willingness to tell their stories. Some women did not wish to be taped, or expressed fear of exposure and repercussions from within their communities. In most cases, the interviews required a great deal of preparatory work, often several meetings, before the women were at ease. The women in these communities— interviewers and interviewees alike— struggle everyday with the reality of ongoing genocide, disintegration of family and community, violence and poverty. The havoc that colonization wreaks in Native women's lives is not easily put on hold, no matter how important the project. Our researcher and project coordinator who spent much time on the phone liaising with the interviewers heard many examples of the challenges they faced. Often, although women agreed to be interviewed, they had difficulties finding the time for the interview. In a letter, one interviewer explained why she could not complete all of the interviews she had planned. "Please forgive me for not completing the project, but my heart was in the right place. The other two interviewees had health problems and a suicide in their family, so they weren't able to complete the interview. The devastation of living on-reserve is so bad, dysfunctional, unhealthy and helpless that I don't know how much longer I will last." At the same time, the interview process showed us that the telling of these worn- The interviews were emotional and often disturbing, yet clearly a powerful experience of reclaiming a sense of self en's stories was of immediate benefit to them. One interviewer put it this way: "...when I interviewed these individuals, they felt that finally someone was listening to them. It's a step closer to healing themselves." The interviews were emotional and often disturbing, yet clearly a powerful experience of reclaiming a sense of self. One of the women interviewed spoke of having been raped as a child. The interviewer was the first person she had ever told. She was 77 years old at the time of the interview. The interviewers also expressed benefitting from the experience. As one woman put it: "Both interviewer and interviewee learned from each other." Reciprocity is in fact a tenet of feminist research where: "questions flow both ways. Narrators have the opportunity to interrogate interviewers about the research project and about the interviewer herself." Once the interviewers had completed their interviews, they were asked to fill out an evaluation form. Questions pertaining to their participation in the conference, their relationship to AWAN and the project coordinator/researcher were included with the intent of examining our success in carrying out a participatory action model. Interviewers were asked to provide impressions of the interviews and formulate recommendations for change. Despite physical distance the interviewers were, in this way, able to continue contributing to the analysis of our findings. As our funding resources became depleted, the focus of the thematic analysis narrowed. The interview questions addressed a broad range of issues related to identity, community, governance and future generations. Necessity dictated that for the purpose of this report, we focus on the effects on the individual pertaining to the reinstatement process, access to rights and benefits, and the personal experience of the interviewees and their families in their interactions with their communities of origin. Themes were emerging in all of the above categories. Further funding is needed to do justice to the wealth of information the interviewees have given so freely. In particular, the issue of self-government and women's fears of exclusion due to the nepotism and favouritism practised by many band councils must not be erased. The band council system was imposed on First Peoples in accordance with divide- and-rule tactics. Along with excluding women from positions of power and creating a lack of transparency in the governance of community affairs, it has worked to create a corrupted class of Native elites who further the needs of the colonizer. The interviews were conducted utilizing a semi-structured narrative form. We chose a simple referencing system, referring to the women interviewed by interviewee number, thus guaranteeing their anonymity. Although we contemplated the use of pseudonyms, we decided not to attempt a random selection of names. We believe that names are always infused with (cultural) meaning and did not wish to colour the interviewees' voice in this way. In total, 60 interviews were completed between December 1998 and April 30,1999. Of these interviews, 36—the first two we receieved from each region—were chosen to be included in the thematic analysis. It should be noted that our researcher studied all the interviews; all of these voices inform our analysis. Our study reflects the inter- generational impact of Bill C-31. We have interviewed women who lost their status when they married non-Native or non-status men as well as women who never had status because their mothers had lost theirs. The age range for the women interviewed was as follows: 10 were between 25 and 40, 14 were between 41 and 50, and 12 women were between 51 and 77. The interviewees identified themselves as: Algonquin, Beaver, Cree, Halfway River (Dunneza), Carrier, Coldwater, Dene/ Doghrib, Gitxsan, Gitwangak (Gitxsan), Gwiechen, Haisla, Homalco, Kitkatla (Tsimshian), Kwaguilth, Lower Nicola Band, Nuu-Chah-Nulth, Okanagan, Saulteaux, Secwepemc, Similkameen, Six Nations, Sliammon, Squamish, Tahltan, Tsimshian, Tsilhquot'in, and Wet'suwet'en. Nine women were born out of province; their presence in Indigenous communities in BC is a reflection of the mobility of the Native community and its inter-national character. Interviews were carried out in Bella Coola, Campbell River, Castlegar, Chetwyn, Comox, Enderby, Hazelton, Kamloops, Kitimat, Merritt, Penticton, izing around identity which sparked the most enthusiastic and sometimes heated debate. The interview question: "Aside from the Indian Act who is Indian in your opinion?" generated lengthy responses by the women interviewed. Often, they came back to the subject several times throughout the course of an interview. We were able to gain much insight from their perspectives and subsequently testing the theory on these women's words, we attempted to examine its relevance for our political organizing. The Core Advisory Committee represented a microcosm of the communities we were working with. A wide range of experience exists: some of the women working on this project were born and raised on the land; others have never set foot on the homelands of their ancestors. Some of us are in the process of learning our cultures and traditions, while others are still trying to adapt to living in non-Native society. One of our members can speak her Indigenous language. In the Advisory Committee, we all engage in some form of academic work. With respect to age and experience, we represent a broad range. AWAN members are not a homogenous group and this is reflected in our individual social positions and politics. However, we are all committed to the struggle for social justice and decolonization, including the return of stolen Native land. In particular, we object to the hierarchies in governmental structures that create disadvantages and emotional hardships for Native women that we too often blame ourselves for. An appreciation of diversity An appreciation of diversity and our struggle for consensus have made our process unique and exceptional Keremeos, Powell River, Prince George, Prince Rupert, Smithers, Williams Lake and the urban centres of Vancouver and Victoria. Further interviewers were active in Chilliwack, Lytton, Masset, Port Hardy, Quesnel, Sechelt, Skidegate and Squamish. However, these interviewers were not able to complete the process. While the stories were being told across the province, AWAN members in Vancouver engaged in a discussion process aimed at developing an analysis of the status quo with regards to Bill C-31 and the Indian Act. Moreover, AWAN addresses broader issues related to our political work towards decolonization and as feminists. A study group was formed and with the help of practicum students, we began to surf the web in search of publications on the legislation, Indigenous women and the state, as well as related theory. We accessed articles from the mainstream and Native press, government publications as well as academic findings. Informed by a feminist approach to knowledge which is integrative, transdisciplinary and would "Ground theory contextually in the concrete realm of women's everyday lives,"we sought texts addressing the various ways that the Indian Act affected women's lives and our work. We looked at Masters and Doctoral theses on or directly related to Bill C-31 and the Indian Act. We grappled with the legal jargon of case commentaries in law journals and delved into the toolbox of postmodern theory. While most of the writings we elected to discuss were intriguing, it was the subject of "identity," and the politics of organ- and our struggle for consensus have made our process unique and exceptional. A high point in our collective process was experienced when the members of our Core Advisory Committee travelled to Edmonton to attend the 2nd National Conference on Bill C-31 organized by the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC). We were able to present our preliminary findings to the plenary session as well as facilitate a workshop. In four days of plenary sessions, workshops and meetings "on the side," we encountered Native women from organizations across Canada who spoke of the problems faced by the women in their communities. These were mirrored in the interviews we had conducted in BC. It became apparent that similiar research was badly needed across the country and that this would be best done by the organizations representing Native women's interests in their respective regions. AWAN BILL C-31 j Final Report In an effort to make the report accessible, we are offering a sliding scale cost between $10.00 -$20.00. Please send a cheque or money order to: AWAN c/o 309-877 €. Hastings St, Vancouver, BC, V6A 3Y1 KINESIS DEC/JAN 2000 A conversation with filmmaker Christine Welsh: stories that feed us 7 make films about women because that's my passion-my passion is to tell our Stories because I think that Aboriginal WOmen in both their public and their private llVeS do so many GXu3 OrCHil 3 ty things that get recognized only within a very small sphere. As people, we need these stories, they show us the way they inspire us, they feed us.J - Christine Welsh - by Andrea Walsh tine a Regina born Metis woman, has been a filmmaker and writer for the last 25 years. I came across her film, Women in the Shadows (1992), a one-hour documentary about Christine's search for her Metis foremothers in 1995 while at the University of Victoria library one day. As I watched and listened to Christine narrate the stories of the Aboriginal women in her family- women, who, through country ' marriages, became entwined in the history of the fur-trade in Western Canada-I could not help but think of my own questions about my great-great-grandmother, Mary Hunter, a Nlaka'pamux mixed-blood woman, born from a country marriage at the time of the Gold Rush in British Columbia. It made me reflect on the roles of our Aboriginal foremothers and their lives during those times of colonial expansion. That day when I watched Women in the Shadows, Christine's personal journey profoundly moved me, and in some way strengthened my own identity and respect for the women in my own family. Women in the Shadows affected many more people than just myself. Written and produced by Christine Welsh and directed by Norma Bailey, the film was named Best Documentary at the 1992 Vancouver International Film Festival and was nominated for the 1993 Academy of Canadian Cin- Andrea Walsh: Can you talk about your inspiration for the film Keepers of the Fire? Christine Welsh: I had been thinking about Keepers of the Fire for probably five years before I made it. That film was essentially my honour song for the women ema and Television Gemini award for Best Documentary. Other films by Christine Welsh include Keepers of the Fire (1994), a filmic tribute to First Nations women's resistance and Kuper Island: Return to the Healing Circle (1997), the story of the survivors of the Kuper Island Indian Residential School which she co-directed and co-produced with Peter Campbell. Christine's films have been broadcast widely and featured at festivals across Canada and in the United States including the Native American Film and Video Festival in New York, the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, the Native American Film and Video Exposition in Santa Fe and the Vancouver International Film Festival. Christine presently divides her time between SaltSpring Island and Victoria, BC where she teaches courses on First Nations women and Indigenous cinema in the Women Studies Department of the Univesiry of Victoria. Her production company, Prairie Girl Films, is currently producing a documentary about the Coast Salish woolworkers of southern Vancouver Island and developing a film on Two-Spirit women. Three years after I first watched Women in the Shadows, I have come to know Christine through her warm sense of humour, compassion, and humility. What follows are excerpts from a conversation I had with Christine in the late fall of 1999... who had really inspired me as I was coming of age as an adult Aborginal woman, figuring out who I was and where I fit in the continuum of Aboriginal experience. I wanted to honour them and celebrate them and in some way share what they had to teach. I thought it was really, really important to make a film that would show young Aboriginal women what their grandmothers, mothers, aunts and sisters had done, the extraordinary things that they had accomplished. Andrea: How do you decide what stories to tell? Christine: In that case I knew what stories I wanted to be in the film right from the beginning. The stories that I thought were important in terms of presenting the struggles that Aboriginal women have been involved in—for example, the struggle for land, the struggle for sovereignty, the struggle for personal safety, the struggle for political rights. Not all of the stories in that film were about women with whom I had previous contact, with the exception of Anduhyaun (the Toronto Native women's shelter) where I had worked. I just approached them (the Mohawk women of Kanehsatake and Kahnawake, the Haida women who had helped stop logging on Lyell Island, the Maliseet women of Tobique, New Brunswick, and the women of Anduhyaun) very candidly with my previous film under my arm and said, "This is who I am, this is where I come from, this is the kind of film I make, and this is my idea—that Aboriginal women are warriors. What do you think? Do you see yourselves as warriors?" And that's where I started. And in every case, the women themselves were involved in deciding how we were going to do this, how we were going to tell their stories. I don't think you can make a film if you don't have a passion for that story. Making a film is such an incredibly grueling process that if you don't have that passion for the story you won't finish it, you won't get there. Most of the films I make are about women because that's my My passion is to tell our stories because I think Aboriginal women, in both their public and their private lives, do so many extraordinary things that get recognized only within a very small sphere. As people, we need those stories, they feed us, they show us the way, they inspire us. In the case of the film I'm working on right now, the story of the Cowichan knitters, it's the story of generations of women here on Vancouver Island who have held their families and communities together by knitting. We need to be able to hear these women's stories and realize this is how they've helped us survive, this is the legacy they've given us. There is a man in the film who talks about what his mother gave him. He sat up at night with his mother knitting when he was a kid and he talks about his memories. They would sit up all night and he would knit the sleeves and she would knit the bodies and then they would go sell. And he says, "I'm really grateful for what my mother has given me because she taught us to work together, the value of working together." So things like these sweaters give us more than money. I think that is a really important thing to be considering these days because money seems to drive so much of what we consider to be of value. Andrea: The film Kuper Island: Return to the Healing Circle is about the terrible emotional legacy of a residential school in Coast Salish territory. How were you affected and transformed as a result of the difficult nature of this film? Christine: I think every film teaches me something and it's often through the people that you meet. The people I've met in the process of making films have transformed my life. I really believe in some ways that the films I've made have come along at times in my life when I needed them as much as the story needed to be told or was there to be told. It was something that I needed to learn too. Now, we hear so much about residential schools, but when we started work on that film it was only beginning to be discussed openly. The former students of the Kuper Island Residential School who participated in that film were very, very brave. There was a lot of pressure for them not to speak, a lot of pressure for this story not to be brought out into the public because of what it would unleash, because of the pain and suffering that were tied up in that experience. Once they had begun to tell their story, I just felt an enormous sense of responsibility. I felt they had pulled me into a bargain, they'd said, "OK, we've told you all this now, we've put all this out there, we've let you film it, and we've done it because we want it to go further, this story has got to go further than here. Because that's the only way that change will happen." And as it turns out, some of the people that appeared in the film are now taking legal action against the Roman Catholic Church. I really do think that when you make films with people, they're giving you an incredible gift. They give you this gift— their stories—and you're meant to do something with it in the best way that you can. All that you can do, is carry that with as much care and respect as you can. In the case of Kuper Island I was very, very conscious that this was not my story. I don't claim that because I'm Metis I have any kind of essential right to represent or tell Aboriginal stories. I don't think simply being Aboriginal gives you that right. I've never been to a residential school. No one in my family ever went to a residential school. It was not part of our experience. And yet here I was living in this territory with Coast Salish people and they'd given me this story to tell, because they recognized that I had a skill that could help them get their story told. It was an extraordinary gift, and a huge responsibility. seeWELSHpage12 Understanding the impact of the Indian Act: time to connect a conversation between Lizabeth Hall and Sandra Gray For over a century, assimilationist policies have wrought havoc on the lives of the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island. As a genocidal tool, the Indian Act has been responsible for the displacement of thousands of our people and the source of much pain and suffering. It has served to separate and divide us. Families have been broken apart, loss of culture and language has ensued. Lizabeth Hall has been a front-line worker for the United Native Nations in the Family Reunification Program for the past 10 years. She has had the opportunity to hear countless stories of people searching for their families, looking for their homes. In many cases, she has been successful in helping people reconnect. Sandra Gray is an activist who participated in the Aboriginal Women's Action Network's Bill C-31 project as a interviewer Katie Gray (age 10) introduces Sandra: My mom is Tsimshian, she dances. She has three sisters, two brothers. She works for a parent support circle. She, and everyone else in our family, does something that is a part of our culture. Sandra: I would like to acknowledge the Coast Salish peoples, on whose land we are conducting this interview. Thank you very much Liz for having this conversation. Could you please tell me a bit about yourself first? Lizabeth: I'm originally from Bella Coola, which is 365 air miles north of Vancouver. The name of our nation is the Nuxalk Nation. Nuxalk is the name of the land where we currently reside. We don't have a specific name for our Nation, simply because we were many different people at one time. We were many different individual families. Talking about family and who I am is a continuum of information which begins with our creation story. This defines who Bella Coola people are. I had a really beautiful grandmother; her name was Mabel Hall. She taught us that every family has their own creation story. Mine is really long. I think it is important to know it. It shaped who I became and why I do the things I do today. This is a short version: our first ancestor was one of many human beings that Alqntaem, the creator/god, gave a choice of cloaks to. They donned one cloak and then floated down to the place where they lived. They took the cloak off and proceeded to live their lives as human beings. Alqntaem is one of four levels of existence: where Alqntaem lives; where supernatural human beings live; where human beings live when they die; and then of course our level of existence. When I die, on the fourth day, I will travel back and along the way I will see all my ancestors until I get to my first ancestor. I will don the cloak that she wore when she came to the place where people live when they die. My grandmother imparted many beliefs and values to me. I grew up in a kind of war zone. Like so many others, our community is riddled with alcoholism, poverty, abuse, violence, yet I never questioned whether we would survive. I never questioned that because of my grandmother's eternal faith in humanity, and living, loving and caring for her people. She did a lot to build our family. Sandra: It sounds like your grandmother helped to bring out a lot of strength in you and she nourished you and provided direction. Lizabeth: Yes, she did. She was the core, she was the centre, and because of her I was able to have everybody else in my life. I had my aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters. She told me story after story so that all the people in her memory became alive in my mind. People whom I had never known in their lifetime added something to my life because my grandmother told me about them. She said that everything happens for a reason. I see her as the reason I'm well today, the reason I survived. I live a happy life in comparison to a lot of people my age and it was because of her. It enabled me to contribute in some way to people in my family, to their wellness and to their health and in getting over their hurdles. Sandra: Just to take it back to before colonization, what was the structure within the Nuxalk Nation for education, the family and the sharing of knowledge? Lizabeth: Knowledge, education and family all interact together everyday in the way you live, the way you think, and the role you play in the community. If you're a child, if you are a man, if you are hereditary, if you are from a family of carvers, those things shape the way you acquire knowledge. I've met some old people who are really fun. We had to ask them questions, and in our culture that is kind of a rude thing to do. Usually, you wait for what people offer you. But in our generation, we just have to ask because we really need to know. Old people would look at me and say, "Why are you asking?" or they just looked at me and shook their heads. There was always a tension between cultures. The values and beliefs were always in tension. One of the things my grandmother carried forward was that it's no use complaining; you learn as much as you can about those tensions and you work with that. If you resist, you will lose energy and strength. Focus on what is good. I think that's why we are here today; that's why we have people whose language and culture are more visible. My grandmother was not unique; there were many people like her. I got to know other people's families; other people's ancestors. It was educational growing up. I knew that the public school system was different, it had nothing to do with any knowledge that was important to me. I became a good memorizer, a good student so I didn't have to worry about school. I could focus on other things. Again, it's because of my grandmother that I could do that. She shaped the way I acquired knowledge and how I listen to people. I don't know how many times I've heard University of British Columbia, Social Work Professor, Richard Vedan remind us of the teachings: to speak once and listen twice. It sounds strange to hear that spoken aloud because people never talked about Sandra Gray (right) with her daughter Katie such things; they just did them. But that's the way it is, we have to talk about it now. I know that I haven't imparted everything that I want to onto my own sons. There's work to be done in carrying my grandmother's knowledge forward.There's something missing and that's because of the impact of genocidal legislation like the Indian Act on my generation. Sandra: Knowing who you are within your people, within your family, within your clan, within your house, and within your Nation is difficult. So much is gone because a lot of information died with the Elders... Lizabeth: ...because their families are gone. My grandmother was the one who told me all about the rest of the family— the people I didn't get to meet because they died early deaths. I should have had these people in my life. If I had, what would my life have been? What is more important than your family, whatever family you have? Nothing is more important than that. That's where everything grows from: knowledge, education, values and beliefs, what you do with yourself every day, what your goals become, your interests. We're all unique within that, but the centre is your family. Sandra: All of these resources are there to help to raise the children and to help them to grow up to be good people. Lizabeth: They would have been a natural influence in your children's lives. They would have some role and responsibility towards them. Sandra: We've lost a lot of our culture, even in my own family. We work hard and we try to do the best we can to live a good life and try to remember even a few words of wisdom that our grandmother would say to us like, "look after one another, stay together." Those are just six words, but that's one of the main things I remember about her, as well as her presence. Sometimes it feels like there's not very much there for us to work with. In our family, there's been a resurgence in acknowledging our Tsimshian heritage and trying to find out more about who we are and how we fit into our people so that we feel good about ourselves. It's so important to feel connected and know where you are from, so you know where you're at and can plan a little bit into the future, for the next generations. Lizabeth: I think we are in the strange position of trying to compare ourselves. We don't need to do that because everywhere I look when you feel connected, you are really rich people. Colonialism has taken away from that connection to family and community and to the spirit of the ancestors. I like getting to know people. I feel connected to people even though I don't know them because they are Indigenous folks and because I can see that strength that's alive. I am not surprised to find it in a city, from people who are scattered all over and who have a hard time connecting to each other physically. I would see them and know that they feel connected. There was this sense of happiness, sense of belonging and knowing who they are. Even though they have to struggle for that technical information, they have an inner sense of who they are, and they are reaching and searching for more. I'm energized by the resurgence, the eagerness to grasp information, all the documentation and research that's going on. Sandra: When I'm down at West Coast Family Night [Wednesday at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre] and I see so many young people, it amazes me. I'm comparing it to my own generation and what things were like. It's not the same. Lizabeth: You can see the transformation of the people who go from walking around on the sidewalk, to being dressed in regalia dancing. Who's going to notice that? We are. That's what we see. Non-Native people don't see that. It's from the heart. That's what I mean about the connectedness we have, even though sometimes we are kind of crazy to each other, nation to nation. That's not just a little thing, that's a lot. Sandra: It's almost like going back to pre-colonial times. It's a feeling of being a part of a whole —it's big, it's huge. see INDIAN ACT next page from INDIAN ACT previous page Lizabeth: When someone asks, "Who are you?" Native people answer differently. There's almost a secret code. A Native person will come along and ask, "Who are you?" and I'll say actually my name is Lizabeth Hall and I'm from Bella Coola, a relative of blah, blah, blah. They go "Oh yeah," and they want to know more. That, to me, is like a comedy sketch because it demonstrates to me a natural tendency to be connected. You have to know each other first. Certainly, I don't just tell people my creation story because it's a very unique situation. You can tell if people want to know more. Sandra: The Indian Act is a major weapon used presently and in the past to colonize Aboriginal people. As a First Nations woman, how have the different sections of the Indian Act affected your life? Lizabeth: It trashed my life. I'll just tell you one short story. My grampa was a story-teller. He was a big grizzly bear guy. He was a bush person, always out hunting, logging, fishing, everything. He was the youngest in the family He used to say, "We were poor alright." He grew up in the longhouse with his dad, who ' was a big chief. His dad would say, "I've got holes in my gumboots, my house could be filled from floor to ceiling in one day with blankets, sugar, flour, shirts, dresses, everything you could think of, you couldn't move around. Then the next day it was all gone, nothing, bare house, and I got holes in my gumboots." He'd laugh. He wasn't complaining; he was just turning it into a big joke. It was also really sad, because he was bearing witness to the breaking apart of old ways. It was the last remnant of his family life. We were still all living together. Then we were moved into separate houses and onto the reserves. We had the Indian Agent telling us how to live and my grandmothers and my aunties were left without pride and esteem. It makes me really sad and angry; I have a lot of emotions about it. It was good for me to have gramma because she said, "It's just the timing, being mad is not a bad thing. It's good energy, put it to work." It was important to take control of that anger, and that's what they did in spite of everything that was happening to them. They carried on and did what they could. The Indian Act trashed generations before and after my granddad. In one swoop the residential school took my language. My mother went and was taught nothing. The loss of love and connectedness she ex- Lizabeth Hall at the Family Reunification Program's birthday party for Aboriginal and Metis people who were adopted or fostered out. In one swoop the residential school took my language perienced prevented her from ever reacquiring her language in her life or being able to teach us. It would have been better if she had been the strength in our family, but it was gone. They tore our family apart, they tore our community apart. Our community is separate and now we're fighting amongst each other. There's alcoholism and there's poverty. But 1999 encourages me. I see a lot of young people and I can see it turning around. I feel I'm part of something. There's still so much despair that it's hard to keep focused on what is turning around. I am not proud of it, but there were times when I was in so much despair that I abandoned my home. I said forget it. I'm off to live on my own, away from this place. I really made a decision to do that. I was just tired, had no energy. All I can remember was feeling powerless and helpless, so I left. The Indian Act was something that was alive in our community, everything that it did had an impact in one way or another. You can pick any part of my life to focus on and I could say something about how the Indian Act has affected it because it's so pervasive. Some people say the answer is to throw it out and get rid of it. I would be the first to agree if we could find something to replace it. You can't just throw it out, you need to replace it with something. As bad as it is, it could have been worse. It preserved some land. It's not all of our land, it's the little that we have left, but would we have it without the Indian Act? At one time, it didn't provide enough protection, and reserve land was sold by non-Native people who had acquired it through marriage. People were losing their land despite the Indian Act. So it does not provide complete protection. People don't like to hear that because it's too frightening. Sandra: I didn't live under ihe Indian Act because we didn't actually find out that we were entitled to have status until about ten years ago. One by one, we started to apply for our status. That also meant, inadvertantly, that we started doing research about our family. Even from negative things, there can be something positive. It initiated something. Lizabeth: That's a good thing. There's nobody who is Aboriginal in Canada, and some in the States too, that the Indian Act has left untouched. If you didn't grow up in your ancestral community, it was likely due to that. If your mother lost status, she would have been immediately asked to leave. The Indian Act separates families. Sandra: The Indian Act even affected our economy. When I look back on the potlatch system, I see how different it was from the capitalist system. Lizabeth: It definitely messed up the economy. My grandad was potlatching, he was a chief and his house was full of goods. The Indian Agent observed all of this. It wasn't because he was selling it or messing up someone else's economy, it was because he was giving it away. The agent thought that was incredible. Such things exist now. I see it in other places too; they call it the barter system. We've got a different language, so we have different meanings, but it's the same concept. Sandra: Could you tell me about the work you do at the United Native Nations, as well as some of the other work you are doing outside of the UNN that you think is important as an Aboriginal woman? Lizabeth: One day, I decided that I had to learn how to live with my people because I really missed everybody. I wanted to be a part of the community. I was looking for a job when an opening at the UNN, for a Bill C-31, legal assistant, came up. My job was to help Sherry Clark, now Sherry Small, a beautiful Nisga'a woman. She was helping people research their family trees in order to apply for status. This was in 1988.1 didn't know anything about Bill C-31 other than that it had changed the Indian Act. I grew up on a reserve with status and thought it wouldn't affect me. I started reading and to tell you the honest truth, I was astonished. To help people apply for status I needed to listen to their stories, to help them build up family trees. I remember crying at some of the stories. I couldn't fathom how it might feel to live in the city without your community, away and separate. I was also energized by it because these people were really dynamic and willing to share. For everything I did to help, they gave me back tenfold. I was really enjoying myself. I spent the first while just listening. Then I met the first significant person who was adopted. We had previously sent him down to Indian Affairs because adoption records are sealed. How are you supposed to apply for status if you don't know your birth mom and dad's names? I didn't know how to help him and began to do research. We learned all about ihe Adoption Act and in a very short period of time, about six weeks, he got his status. He was happy as a lark. This experience really made us angry. He had looked everywhere for help, from people who were supposed to help him, Indian Affairs and Social Services. We were angry that he had to go through all of this, and that we had to go through all of this. He had been searching for his birth mother for the 10 years prior to when he met us. In 1985 when Bill C-31 came around, he applied for his status. His mom had been identified as an Indian in his file. His goal wasn't to gain status, his goal was to find his mother. He told us about that and then he said, "can you help?" In a very short period of time we found his mom. That was 10 years ago and we just kept on going from there. We started looking in our files, we called other people we thought we couldn't help before. I don't know what we started, but it just ran away from there and we've been doing it ever since. Sandra: This is the Reunification Program at the UNN? Lizabeth: Yes, it grew out of the Bill C- 31 Program. What it is today came out of a response to the clients' needs. We responded to a need and it just kept on growing in every different direction. We realized that Aboriginal people who are adopted have many, many different issues. Their problems are compounded because of this experience. Ninety-nine percent of them are adopted into non-Native homes and are raised in non-Native communities, and they are trying to connect to people who were raised in Aboriginal communities. A lot of work needs to be done and people need to have understanding and sensitivity because you can't just find people and connect them. In many cases we find a birth mother who lost her child through apprehension—99 per cent of the children who were adopted were apprehended; they weren't put up for adoption. A birth mother who lost her children may not have talked about it for 25 to 30 years, because when that file closed, a social see INDIAN ACT next page DEC/JAN 2000 DEC/JAN 2000 from INDIAN ACT previous page worker probably told her that there's nothing she could ever do to find them. It's closed. The file is sealed. It's another weapon, just like the Indian Act. People ask what the Family Reunification Program does. We provide services to adoption circle members. The larger society refers to it as a triad, the adoptive parent, adoptee and birth parent. We use the word "circle" because we believe that if the adoptees are missing, it doesn't just affect the parents, it affects the grandparents, the aunts, the uncles, brothers, sisters—the community. We get calls from all those people. We provide services to adoptees of all ages and to former children in care. A lot of children were taken away, not legally adopted, but raised in care. They have the same issues and have asked social workers for help in trying to find their families. Some of them were consistently denied information. It was their right to have birth information but they were denied it. We have birth mothers, but very few birth fathers, who come in. We also have grandmothers, aunts, uncles, cousins. We still help with applications for status and there are still a lot of people who are affected by adoption who have no idea what that means. We think it is not good enough to know that you are registered or not registered; you need to understand how the Indian Act affected you and your fam- ily. Sandra: So you provide an education about the history? Lizabeth: Yes, people don't understand Bill C-31. You have to put it into context of what it was, what it is, and what it can do to individuals and their family in the future. We did that for everybody at the UNN. The Indian Act created a mindset, and if you understand how your family got that mindset, you might be more compassion- from WELSH page 9 Andrea: So who are the films for? Christine: My films are first and foremost for our own people—to tell our stories, to have our stories reflected back to us, to open up conversation amongst ourselves. But they're also for non-Native people, I really see that with Kuper Island: Return to the Healing Circle. When I show it in my classes, and I have mostly non-Native students, I preface it by saying: "You're meant to be here, you're part of this circle. When the people in the film shared their stories with me, and that initial bargain was struck, it was because you were going to hear it. They wanted you to hear it, and to be changed by what you've heard." I really believe that people participate in these films because they're going to be heard. That's part of the bargain. And so for non-Native people watching the film, I say, "Listen up, because you're part of this story. Things won't change for Aboriginal people in this country unless you're part of that change. There's stuff we've got to do, there's stuff you've got to do, and together we can make it happen. But first you need to listen." It's not just about telling these stories to our own people; it goes further than that. ate, more patient or you might be more resourceful about how to resolve the family conflict that the Indian Act creates. Bill C- 31's second generation cut off rule, people having different categories of status, for example. Some people will forever be denied. Why does that cause so much separation within families? We need to understand what the Indian Act does. The UNN is a political organization and our commitment to people is to help them understand the impact of the Indian Act. We don't want to become another Indian Affairs; we don't want to become another social services. We see adoption reunion and registry differently because we're always changing and we're always open to whatever people come with. Our commitment is to stay with people until their issues are resolved. People will come back. I helped people who were reunited in 1992, and they came back in 1999 with more questions. They needed another piece of the puzzle. Sandra: Speaking from your own experiences—life experiences, work experiences—what sort of things do you see in the future happening for Aboriginal women? Lizabeth: I've heard members of the Aboriginal Women's Action Network (AWAN) articulate that women are taking the lead right now. I think this is good because the unsung heroes in my community were always women. If you looked carefully, you wouldn't say that men had all the power. In my family, a lot of the men didn't get up to speak without first speaking with their grandmother. The Indian Agent might have put him there but the power lay with the women. I witnessed that, I knew that, but I didn't talk about it. Who talks about it? It's just something that is. There are women like that all over—that experience is not unique to us. Now I'm bearing witness to that with AWAN. These women are saying our voices are really important and I'm going to use it. That makes all the difference in the world. I see that happening more and more. The young people will be affected by this.We have a really huge youth population now. It would be good if this movement continues to happen in other parts of Indigenous country. I think it will because of people like Fay Blaney and Rain Daniels of AWAN, and Viola Thomas, president of the UNN, who are taking on the challenges. We are still fighting the paternalism in the Indian Act. It's not easy to go against that. Eventually, more women will say, "I think that woman needs my support. I think I'll go there." Some people say the circle is getting wider and the circle is going to come around. I feel, I'm part of the circle—it's a healing circle in a sense. I definitely believe women are taking the lead on it. It's not any different from the past. It's not as if it went away. Again, it wasn't talked about before, and now we're talking about it. I think ten years ago when I was making a decision to change and to come back into my own, one of the things I didn't say, or didn't even think about consciously, was that I was looking for a leader. I'm not putting myself down—I don't think that I can't lead—but I was looking for a leader. Now I know what that means. It's not a male political, Phil Fontaine-leader, I have my own definition. I know it will be a woman. o you have any new projects on the horizons? If so, what is compelling you to tell this story? Christine: I'm working on a film about Two-Spirit women right now. The other 'Prairie Girl' in Prairie Girl films is Colleen Craig who is a Two-Spirit woman from Manitoba and she's also Metis. We're working on this project together which is something I've wanted to do for a long time. Colleen and I went to the Two-Spirit gathering in California this summer to start work on the film and to do some filming with the women who were there and they were all really, really excited about it. I was the only straight person in sight, which was—for me—a really different place to be. And a very humbling place to be. They were really clear in saying: "that doesn't matter, you're here and we want you to do this." And again, "this is how we want you to do this, this is what we'd like it to be. It's going to be an interesting process to be involved in. And ideas keep coming along, but it's about the stories we need, the stories that feed us, the stories that open up the conversations that we need to be having. They just keep coming... Andrea Naomi Walsh is a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Victoria. She writes in the area of Contemporary First Nations Art and Film in Canada. SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF WOMEN'S STUDIES Professorship in Women's Studies The Women's Studies Department at Simon Fraser University is seeking a candidate with an outstanding academic and/or professional or activist record for the Ruth Wynn Woodward Endowed Professorship in Women's Studies. This is a two-year limited term appointment that will begin in September 2000. The are of specialization is open.The department particularly welcomes applicants who can further the department's work in the area of race and gender. Applicants must have appropriate academic qualifications. Responsibilities will include teaching, public lectures and community outreach. Salary will be commensurate with experience. In accordance with Canadian immigration requirements this advertisement is directed to people who are eligible for employment in Canada at the time of application. Simon Fraser University is committed to the principle of equity in employment and offers equal employment opportunities to qualified applicants. Candidates should a) send a curriculum vitae, and; b) arrange to have sent directly three letters of reference which include an evaluation of their teaching, research, professional and community service to: Meredith Kimball, Chair Women's Studies Department Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC V5A1S6 Phone:(604)291-5526 Fax:(604)291-5518 e-mail: kimball@sfu.ca http://www.sfu.ca/womens-studies/ Completed applications must be received by the Women's Studies Department no later than 15 February 2000. This position is subject to final budgetary authorization. DEC/JAN 2000 Native,Treaty, Non-Status, Metis, Indian, Inuit, Status, Indigenous, queer thanksgiving by Susan Beaver This weekend is the weekend of American Thanksgiving (November 25). It is a time of celebrations, parades, football games, shopping, and pleasant, homey dinners with the family. Here I sit, a woman, an indigenous woman, an indigenous, lesbian woman. I couldn't let the days go by without doing something, and so I'm fasting. From sundown Thursday to noon Sunday, when I'll eat with my queer friends, I'm praying for the people. Praying for indigenous people, praying for the women, praying for the queers, praying for the people with HIV, praying for all people who are struggling. I'll break my fast with an older lesbian woman from India, with a young dyke from Colorado, with an FflV-i- gay man from California, and with a lesbian Jewish sister from Massachusetts. Under this roof that the Creator has so graciously provided me and my partner with, will be the newest members of my family. I am comfortable with them. The way I feel inside is the way they feel to me. No where else do I feel I belong. They are full of energy; they are spiritual, queer, and dedicated to a better world than the one we've inherited. I will miss them when I leave this place. It's true I am homesick and need to live somewhere closer to my rez than I am now, but that may not happen. Living on the rez is out of the question. It's too complicated; my partner is not native and would draw even more attention to the fact that one of us isn't a guy. We've been together 10 years. Some folks embrace us as we are. My brother insists that my partner is his sister- in-law. Some folks would rather I disappear. I came out to one of my cousins early on in my relationship, and now she pre tends she doesn't see me when she walks by me in the grocery store. We were best friends growing up and sometimes I think it would have been nice to have been able to share my adult life with her. What am I doing with all this? When I was a kid I was militantly Indian. My uncles taught me history and it wasn't pretty. I was afraid to be queer even though I knew from the age of seven. So I left the rez and my people were never more important to me. I learned how to pray. I learned how to make love to other women and I became a dyke. I wanted to make women happy and save the world. I became an activist, I wrote, I folded and stuffed, I organized, I spoke and I tried. How many of us remember sitting up all night in prayer vigils for the people in Kanesatake? Just pray and pray that no one gets hurt. I used to run AIDS programs and sat on Boards of Directors for non-profit organizations. I used to march in protests and stand toe-to-toe with anti-choice extremists. What am I doing with all of this? I'm writing a novel and maybe I'll go study comparative religion in Jerusalem, if they'll have me. I used to know what my contribution was to the world, but now I'm not so sure. A friend of mine, an older indigenous woman from the west coast, once told me that we create the world by walking through it. If that is so, then living as close to the teachings and living in such a way that brings good things to creation, is vital. If that is so, then it is my work to not bring any more hatred to the world. I think it's always important to me to do the things I do, not because I hate the system or colonization or homophobia. It's important that I always do the things I do because I love the people. Maybe I do not know what my contribution is, but I do know what my base is. It's a difficult world, to come out in. I know of several Indians in the closet who are being twisted up inside because our world, their world or maybe just their family would not welcome them into their circle. And I'm not blaming our people, either. Generosity is one of the first laws you'll encounter among our people, and there are many elders out there who accept queers as we are. As queer indigenous folks, we've heard the stories of the different nations who honoured the men who lived as women and the women who lived as men. It's a little thing called "colonization" that has tried so hard to break the threads of our nations. In my not knowing, I am reminded that one of my teachers told me daVinci said he was able to do what he did, because he allowed confusion to permeate his life. I have multiple aspects to my identity that have allowed me to walk through many places and meet many people. Perhaps my contribution will not be to find one contribution, but to allow the various circles of my life to grow and be nurtured by diversity. Perhaps my work is to be at home in the confusion, in the world, and still take two days to fast and pray. Perhaps my work is to continue to be in a loving and respectful relationship with my partner. Perhaps my work is to speak, as small and as scared as my voice is. Perhaps my work is to learn how to love and be loved. One morning I was praying. I hadn't prayed for a while. I stood in the morning light and it occurred to me that what a wonderful opportunity it is to pray. What an amazing chance it is to be standing in front of my creator, giving thanks and humbling asking for blessings on all of creation. Here I am, at the end of my article, the end of my fast, and near the end of the semester and I still don't know what my contribution is. The only thing I can do, really, is wake up every morning. It takes a tremendous amount of faith for me to wake up and get up each day. I didn't say struggle, I said "faith." Faith to do my best and trust that creator's work will be done. It gets me up every morning. Susan Beaver is Mohawk from Six Nations. She is currently finishing her degree in religious studies at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Untitled alienation/sub/culture/ world's gone blind /shit's gone blonde/ go on/go now/i'm not here/ I'm fucking queer/ /saw my hands/in the air/walkin mainstreet/passed a window/ check to see/my zipper's up /no reflection/pissed off me/ scared my ass/cause i'm/not/here/ why/ /went home/ would you believe/i'm cleaning my oven/with the/latest/ feminine hygiene product/ looked in the mirror/still no reflection/shit/ have i gone blind/look around/i'm not in /the design of my building/ nor in the movie/nor in the teachings/nor in the classroom/nor in the novel/nor in the lyrics/nor in the pow wow/nor in the discussion/nor in the metaphor/nor in the image/nor in the criticism/nor in the nation/nor in the past/nor/in/my/skin/ /how did that happen/i wonder/ am i in the future /nothing written down/to say i was here/who's gonna know/ that i was/ including me/who's/me/i '"ask myself/ am i gonna be me/a hundred years from now/wondering if/i/ who's me/i ask myself/ out there/no surface to reflect to my image/ who's gonna write me down/who's gonna dream my world/ who's gonna sing back up to my love song/gotta 2-step inside/where's inside/ what's inside/cause all i got's inside/ wonder when i stopped being/couldn't have been looking/ must've missed it/ maybe i never began/ /think i'11/polish the mirror/with my own breath/ print my history/all in capital letters/self-portrait in condensation/on the window/ i/was/here see LETTER TO HATRED poem next page DEC/JAN 2000 KINESIS Halfbreed, On-Reserve, Aboriginal, First Nations, Off-Reserve, letter to hatred i'm walkin down the lamp lit street and i see graffiti written on a park bench: dyke murder and it is a reminder that the world is not a safe place it puts me on edge wondering is it a call is it a rally is it a cry for people to commit acts of violence against lesbians? cause i'm thinkin people who would use these words might want me dead and it is a reminder that the world is not a safe place but it wouldn't have been so bad you know it wouldn't have cept last night there were these two guys these two indian guys who came up to us on the street and they were friendly and we were friendly then they started saying things like don't lick too hard and doesn't pussy stink and AIDS kills fags and it was a reminder that the world is not a safe place and it reminds me of the time i tried to go home home to the reserve to the hills and trees and wheat fields i love home to where i grew up learned about dreams and family and community and stars and love home to where my gramma's bones lie feeding the earth and my sisters said people won't like it they won't say nothin they'll just burn your house down and once my brothers asked me to trade my humanity for a hot kiss of anger pleasing and gone in a second just once they pleaded but i said no i said i walk talk breathe and think compassion for everyone for the one who may have me on the ground beating me for the one who hurls words at me like broken beer bottles for the one who'll sew a black tri angle on my jacket because i can not because i can not add to the violence of this world in thought or action and i call on the grandfathers i say to the aggressor to my would-be assaulter i know what kind of teachings you got in your life to make you want to hurt me and i pray for you i pray for your healing and I think maybe you need new teachings i think maybe your hearts and minds are small because they've been beaten into submission and i pray for the sky to fill your bodies i think maybe your hearts and minds are small because they've been beaten into submission and i pray for the universe to fill your mind and i said to my mama i'm so cold and lonely and i want to come home and my mama said no and i said to my mama i'm so cold and lonely and i want to come home and my mama said no and you know what else? whoever the teachers are in the future i hope they are kind and gentle ones and you know what else? i'm human i'm a human being with the limitless capacity to love beat me hurt me kill me and i will die knowing that i brought some love into this universe beat me hurt me kill me and i will die knowing that i brought some love into this universe and that is what makes me human and that is what makes me respectful and that is what gives me dignity YOUTH ASSOCIATION TZ Youth Program This program is for lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgendered, and questioning youth. Services include educational and sharing circles, individual and group counseling, referrals, meals, advocacy, contact with role models and Elders, and fun nights. We believe that Two-spirited youth have the right to a safe, healthy, and non-threatening environment in which to learn, grow, and enjoy life regardless of sexual orientation or perceived gender roles. Contact Gil Lerat at 604-709-5728, fax 604-254-7811, cell 604-841-3271, Email: qillerat@netscape.net.. For information on other UNYA programs call 604-254-7732 or Email: unyainfo@unya.bc.ca Other UNYA programs: $ Aries Project is an alternate school for youth aged 13-18 f Alcohol and Drug Counsellor uses First Nations traditions and counseling to assess & work with youth attending our programs. % Youth Worker Prevention Team works to help prevent youth from gravitating to or becoming entrenched in the street lifestyle. 9 Aboriginal Youth Safehouse is for youth 16-18 years old trying to make the first move from the streets. 9 Aboriginal Ways Accelerate Youth is a five month pre- employment training program for youth aged 16-24. ¬Æ Youth Agreement Support Worker works with youth on underage agreements for independent living with the Ministry DEC/JAN 2000 Bill C-31, Native,Treaty, Non-Status, Metis, Indian, Inuit, Status, Regulating Native Identity by Bonita Lawrence The laws created to regulate Native identity represent a historic struggle by European settlers to control miscegenation and therefore maintain control of the land they were claiming. The European settlements which developed on Native peoples' lands were obsessed with maintaining colonial control. By rigidly asserting differences between 'Europeans' and 'Natives,' they were able to develop white social solidarity and cohesion Gender has thus been crucial to determining not only who has been able to stay in Native communities, but who has been called as such among groups of European settlers who had little else in common but the fact that they weren't Native people. The very ex- i istence of the settler society therefore depended on maintaining the strictest racial apartheid, on emphasizing racial difference, white superiority and 'Native' inferiority. This flies in the face of the actual origins of French and English settlements in North America— which began with displaced and often marginal white men, whose success with trade and often their very survival depended on their ability to marry into Indigenous families, and who in many cases had few loyalties to Europe and the empire. In the early days of the fur trade and French/English settlement, the boundaries between who should be considered 'European' and who should be considered 'Native' were not always clear. In the east, for example, French Acadian colonists not only intermarried with Mi'kmaq people but began to adopt their ways of life. This was, of course, very troubling to colonial authorities, who began to pass laws which restricted intermarriage—and prevented Native wives and children from inheriting European family fortunes. For English settlers, the fact that by 1830 there were over 50 Metis communities surrounding their settlements made it difficult for them to maintain clear boundaries between colonizers and colonized. Social control depended on being able to clearly identify who was white, entitled to land and citizenship, and who was Native and denied these rights. Clearly, if the mixed-race children of white men who married Native women were to inherit mixed-race' and externalized property, they had to be legally classified as white. As a result, in 1869, the Gradual Enfranchisement Act was passed, which stipulated that any Native woman who married a non- Native would lose her Indian status, and any right to band membership. It was this statute that, for the first time, created the legal categories of "status Indian" and "nonstatus Indian." Prior to this, Canada had made only one attempt to define who was In- dian—and it was a loose, general, non-restrictive definition. This, however, could not allow for the kind of control that would later make a person born Native (and her offspring) legally white. In order to do this, 'Indianness' had to be legally codified, to make it a category which could be granted or withheld, according to the needs of the settler society. This legislation was incorporated into the Indian Act of 1876 and all subsequent revisions, until 1985. As a result, for 116 years, the Indian Act removed the Native status of all Native women who married individuals without Native status (including American Indi- MB ans), and, particularly after 1951, forced them to leave their communities. Creating the legal category of "status Indian" enabled the settler society to create the fiction of a Native person who was by law no longer Native, whose offspring could be considered white. Because of the racist, patriarchal framework governing white identities, European women who married Native men were considered to have stepped outside the social boundaries of whiteness. They became, officially, status Indians. For Native communities, of this long- term gender discrimination have been disastrous. The majority of the 25,000 Indians who lost status and were forced to leave their communities between 1876 and 1985 did so because of gender discrimination in the Indian Act. By depriving these women of status, the Indian Act not only removed most of these 25,000 individuals from their communities of origin—it removed their children, grand-children and great grandchildren as well—and for the most part, permanently. By the time Bill C-31 was passed in 1985, and this form of discrimination ended, there were only 350,000 status Indians left in Canada. After over a century of gender discrimination in the Indian Act, the idea that it is somehow acceptable for Native women to lose status for marrying non-status or non-Native men has become a normalized aspect of Native life in many communities. As a result, the very notion of which Native people are considered to be 'mixed race' is highly shaped by gender. The family histories of on-reserve Native people have routinely included the presence of white women married to Native men, as well as (in some cases) the children of Native women who had babies by white men but were not married to them. These experiences have not been seen, or theorized, as 'mixed-race' experiences. The children of these unions have been considered to be Native, and have never had to leave their communities. Native reserves, particularly those adjacent to white settlements, may have grown progressively mixed-race under these circumstances— but they have not been called mixed-race communities, and on-reserve mixed-race families have therefore not been externalized as mixed-race people. On the other hand, the children of Native mothers and white or Metis fathers who have been forced to leave their communities because of loss of status have grown up as "urban Indians", who are frequently regarded as outsiders within their home communities, because they are urban and mixed race. Gender has thus been crucial to determining not only who has been able to stay in Native communities, but who has been called 'mixed-race' and externalized as such. In this respect, gender discrimination in the Indian Act has shaped what we think about who is Native, who is 'mixed-blood', and who is entitled to access Indian land. These beliefs are only rendered more powerful by the strongly protectionist attitudes towards preserving Native culture as it is lived on reserves at present where outsiders may be seen as profoundly threatening to community identity. Legislated control of Native identity did not only happen along the lines of gender, however. A central aspect of how Native identity has been controlled in Canada is through externalizing those who are considered mixed-blood from Indianness. When Canada passed the Gradual Enfranchisement Act in 1869, a blood quantum requirement was added for the first time to the definition of an Indian. After 1869, the only people eligible to be considered Indian were those who had at least one-quarter Indian blood. With the expansion of Canada into the western regions of the continent, however, officials in the Indian Department, in negotiating treaties with the new Nations they encountered, began the practice of exerting much more stringent controls over who would be accepted as Indian. As a result, when the Indian Act was created in 1876, it contained a provision which, for the first time, excluded anybody who was not considered to be "pure Indian" from Indianness. It stated that:".. .no half-breed head of a family (except the widow of an Indian, or a half-breed who has already been admitted into a treaty) shall...be accounted an Indian, or entitled to be admitted into any Indian treaty." (Canada,Indian Act, Section 3,1876. R.S.C., 1951) But who was "Indian" and who was "half-breed"? These distinctions have been created and negotiated, to a tremendous extent, by colonial categorization, as well as being regulated by them. While many Metis communities have had extremely different histories and have been very distinct culturally from status Indian communities, in some instances the differences between Indians' and so-called 'halfbreeds' have been quite minor. WHKHi Most Native bands have had mixed-race members. Marriages between halfbreeds and treaty Indians has always been a reality. Many people of Native heritage have been eligible for either treaty or Metis scrip, and the extent to which they chose one or the other has often depended on the choices that either category provide. [From the 1870s to the 1920s, Metis people were excluded from the treaty process. Instead, they were offered a "scrip" which entitled them to 160 acres of land or $160, in exchange for their individual and collective rights.] In some cases, whole families were split, with some family members opting to 'become' Metis while others opted to 'become' status Indians. see IDENTITY page 18 DEC/JAN 2000 KH^pIS ' Native,Treaty, Non-Status, Metis, Indian, Inuit,! Status », Indigenous Halfbreed, On-Reserve, Aboriginal, First Nations, Off-Reserve, Bill C-31, Mixed-race urban Native identity: s urvi vi n ^J a le g acy Of ^J enoc id e by Bonita Lawrence For over 150 years, Native people's understanding of our own identities has been strongly affected by government policies controlling who should be considered Indian and who should not. This long history of government control has been a central tool of genocide, and still shapes how many of us see "Indianness" today. On top of this, for urban Native people, especially if we are of mixed ancestry, the images of "Indianness" presented to us in mainstream culture, and the academic assumptions about what "Indianness" is, often encourage us to hold a yardstick to our lives and our families' lives. This yardstick measures to what extent we should be considered "really" Native—how Native we look, whether we have status or not, how much we know about our culture—In essence, how much Native can we be said to be. Talking about mixed-race urban Native identity may seem to simply be falling into the trap which white society sets for us— of weighing and measuring "Indianness" to see how well we fit. Many people have responded to the divisions created by government classification and control by insisting simply that "we are all Native people— the differences between us are not important." While this is a valuable step, it often ignores the experiences of many Native people who are mixed-race and urban, who need to explore the ways that we don't always fit into Native society. More importantly, it erases the power differences between those who can "pass" as white and those who must face racism for being Native on a regular basis for looking Native. It also ignores the very real differences in entitlement that exist between status and non-status Indians, and to a growing extent, between urban and reserve-based Native people. If we avoid addressing the very real differences among us, it makes it impossible for those of us who are very mixed race and from heavily assimilated families to ask the crucial questions we may need to ask ourselves: Are we not in some ways potentially a liability for Native communities? Are we not (for example) at risk of bringing "New Age" influences into the culture simply through our lack of exposure to those whose world views are shaped by traditional language and culture? Does looking white mean that we may find it easier to take on leadership positions which we may not be good at because we lack deep knowledge of our own culture? I want to emphasize that I am not suggesting that we are in any way liabilities to our communities—merely that we should be prepared to ask ourselves that, and frequently. At the same time, I also believe that the tremendous diversity that mixed race urban Native people represent—in appearance, in lived experience, in our mixed cultural background—can actually be a strength, rather than a weakness, for Native people as a whole. We do, after all, bring a wealth of experiences and access to different resources into the Native community with us. In doing so, we make them "Native resources." With all this in mind, I decided that the research for my PhD would be the experiences of urban mixed-race Native people in the Toronto area. Who I interviewed I conducted lengthy, in-depth interviews with 22 women and eight men on the subject of their identities. I began with my own friends, and then interviewed their friends. I moved outwards from the circle until I had found 30 people. I interviewed far more women than men, simply because I know far more Aboriginal women than men. Yet, I did not want to make my thesis only about Native women. Why didn't I concentrate solely on Native women? My main reason was the tremendous under-representation of Native people in universities at present. My entire student life was spent in settings where there was virtually no Native presence— where almost nobody at the university could be considered as representing Aboriginal people in any way. To focus solely on Aboriginal women, in a setting where Aboriginal people as a whole were absent, seemed inappropriate. To be effective in such a context, my research had to speak across that silent space for a whole people, not just the female half of it. Almost one-third of the interviewees were status Indians. Most were Ojibway and Mohawk people whose families came from nearby reserves. Another one-third were Metis people from Western Canada. The rest were non-status Native people from Indigenous Nations all over the Americas. All were mixed-race of white and Native heritages, but one person was also of African-American background and another was half Japanese. We talked about family histories, experiences of belonging and not-belonging, and opinions about what was important for maintaining a strong sense of Native identity. Histories of genocide The family histories of the participants told similar stories. Each family had undergone many painful experiences of violence, which had had the effect of separating them from their communities or silencing Native cultural expression within their families. Almost half of the people I interviewed had parents and grandparents who still attended residential schools. For many of them, being urban started with their grandparents or parents never returning home after residential school. Several individuals also came from families so devastated by alcoholism and sexual abuse because of residential schooling and racism, that for years they struggled to disown any connection to their Native identity. One-quarter of the interviewees had experienced loss of close family members— their parents, siblings or children—to provincial child welfare authorities, either temporarily or permanently. For five of them, the adoption of their Native parent signalled the end of any connection to their Native community of origin. Two East Coast participants came from families who had been forced off their ancestral lands by Loyalist settlers. They had barely managed to maintain their identities as Native people, after two centuries of being surrounded by hostile whites who targetted individuals who dared to openly speak their language. One woman spoke of how her band had been forced from their land in New Brunswick into what is now the United States. The band was so decimated that only 56 people remained when it launched a land claim in the 1970s. Several of the Western Metis came from families who had fled to the US to escape persecution in Canada after the 1885 rebellionfin 1885, a huge invading force of soldiers from Eastern Canada was sent to Saskatchewan to quell what white people considered to be a "Native Canada. In the end, Metis leader Louis Riel and 11 Cree leaders were executed, and scores of other Metis and Cree people were im- Hf prisoned.] |H All of these indi- Jviduals spoke of their families' struggles as landless Metis forced to live in white urban centres. Distancing themselves from their Native identity in the face of the relentless racist violence they faced, was, for many, a necessary step to ensure basic survival. Almost unnoticed initially in these stories of suffering and alienation was the loss of Indian status. The Metis people described how their status Indian grandmothers "became" Metis by marrying Metis men. Others spoke of living off-reserve for generations and of never having had status. Others described their mothers' losing and regaining status, or losing status themselves for marrying non-Natives. Nineteen individuals came from families where one or both grandparents had Native status; however, only 12 of them had status themselves, and only five would be able to pass status on to their children. For all but eight of them, loss of status had separated their families from their reserves forever. Other Western Metis people interviewed, although they were from families who were dark-skinned, Cree-speaking and indistinguishable from Cree Indians in any way other than status, had never been granted status for a variety of reasons. That meant they were always designated "Metis." These individuals suffered from racism, yet lacked the treaty rights to education, health care, or off-season hunting which would have made their lives significantly better. Other individuals who had no status came from Native communities outside of Canada—a couple of people had American Indian federal recognition, two were American Indians whose families were not on the tribal rolls of their Nations, and one was from South America. From the interviews, it appeared that being deprived of, or losing, Indian status was one of the central methods by which Native peoples were removed from their communities. Status was the primary source, not only of their livelihood, but also of their identity. The family histories, however, outlined certain differences in experience between individuals as well. One issue was whether people came from families who had been mixed-race for more than one generation. This was important for two reasons. For those urban people whose families had been mixed-race for at least one generation, Native identity was silenced in profound ways. The children and grandchildren of these families were most often uncertain as to who they were and where they came from. These individuals, in returning to their Native communities, often had to negotiate between family members who no longer identified as Native and communities which expected anybody who identified as Native to be "100 percent Indian" in blood and experience. The label "wannabe" was most often applied to them. Then, there was the experience of individuals whose families were mixed-race but which had managed to stay on reserve. It was clear from these peoples' stories that their parents had occupied positions of authority in Native communities because they were light skinned. One individual, whose light-skinned mother taught in fly-in Native communities, described being brought up to avoid other Native children and to only play with the white girl whose parents ran the store on the reserve. Differences in experience between status Indians and Metis people in Western Canada were occasionally discussed in the interviews. One Metis person, despite the racism he suffered while growing up in the white society, saw Metis people as much better off than status Indians because they did not have to go to residential school. Another individual talked about how her dark-skinned Metis mother, in the face of the alcoholism and physical and sexual abuse, envied status Indians because they could get away from violence and alcoholism by going away to [residential] school. (As I did not interview any status Indians from Western Canada, the "status Indian" side of the picture was not explored, although many of the Metis had status Indian grandmothers). What stood out in the interviews was that despite differences of light skin or dark skin, having or lacking status, and being urban or on-reserve, the family histories of all of the participants were amazingly similar. In terms of history, they mostly told the same story. In terms of their present experiences, however, the participants showed considerable differences especially with respect to appearance and status. In an urban community such as Toronto, where the Native community is trying to de-emphasize difference in order to promote community, it might be important to explore some of these differences more closely. Appearance Twelve of the 30 people I interviewed were indistinguishable in appearance from white people. About one-third were very dark and did not even appear to be mixed- race. The remainder were people who looked non-white but not necessarily Native. As urban Native people, surrounded by a non-Native society which sees "Indianness" solely as a matter of race, appearance is crucially important. This is true especially to those who are adoptees or who grew up in families where Native identity was denied. Peoples' experiences with having an appearance that did not fit their identity ranged from almost tragic to surreal. Tragic, in the case of two white-looking individuals whose parents had been adopted off- reserve and never reunited with their families, who did not even attempt to reconnect with their communities of origin because they knew they would simply be turned away as "white people." Surreal, in the case of one white- looking woman who, on being arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct with a group of other Native people, was pulled from the cell and lectured to by a paternalistic white police chief about the dangers of "hanging around with Indians." Among interviewees who had grown up in families which disregarded their Native heritage, the darker skinned people spoke of how validating it was to join the Native community, and how, in particular, the elders were a source of strength to them, for seeing them as really being Native. By comparison, the white-looking individuals who grew up alienated from their communities spoke of how devastating it was when elders ignored and rejected them—this seemed to be the ultimate expression that they weren't really Native. Most of the people simply described routine daily experiences as alternating between rejection and affirmation. They talked of coming from Native environments where they were known and trusted, and then moving into other Native environments where they were viewed with suspicion and hostility. They talked of how wearying it was to negotiate the same reactions year after year, and how difficult they found it at times to maintain a sense of trust around other Native people in the face of such ever-changing circumstances. A few people delib- erately limited their contact with other Native people and worked in non-Native environments to avoid rejection. This was much more common with white-looking women than white-looking men. While the groups are too small and not balanced in numbers enough to be statistically sound, we cannot ignore the fact that each of the six white-looking men interviewed was working in the Native community, while three of the five white-looking women spoke of not fitting into the Native community and chose to work in white environments. This suggests that white-looking Native women might find it more difficult to negotiate a place in the Native community than their male counterparts. One woman, a brilliant student, spoke of her decision to not go into law because it struck her that it was difficult enough for a Native woman to practice law without having to constantly face hostility for being a Native woman lawyer who looked white. By comparison, one of the white- looking men was a lawyer and while he saw his appearance as a problem in certain contexts, he never saw it as a career barrier. Gender disparity also existed around poverty and wealth in other respects. Of the poorest and least-educated people I interviewed, the least-educated man (a white- looking individual with a Grade 6 education and a criminal record) was a thriving artist and activist, while the three least-educated women (all with Grade 11 education and with no criminal records) were on welfare (including two of the white-looking women). A similar gender difference existed with respect to the issue of choice of partner. While all of the white-looking women I interviewed mentioned that Native men did not seem to want them because they were too white-looking, only one out of six white-looking men made this comment about Native women. Because most of the white-looking individuals interviewed witnessed the racism which darker siblings or parents faced every day, they were often quite clear that looking white protected them from racism in ways they could not ignore. Most, however, did not have much sense of the extent of privilege they enjoyed, through having white skin. They were aware they were not targeted for racist hostility but they did not acknowledge how much easier it was for them to rent an apartment, apply for a bank loan or a job in the mainstream, or deal with government bureaucracy with a white appearance. Darker-skinned Native people made comments about certain individuals not being really Indian, implying that these individuals were actually white people pretending to be Indian. Implicit in their criticism was that when white-looking people claim their Native identity, it is purely self-serving and only weakens darker skinned Native people who have to compete against them for jobs, not only in the mainstream, but in the Native community as well. It is clear that attempts by people in the Toronto Native community to disregard the importance of looking Indian in the interest of overcoming divisions do not account for the ongoing racism in Canadian society which continues to oppress people who look Native. Having white-looking people identify with their Native heritage may provide opportunities for these individuals to promote Native empowerment from a position of strength. However, unless divisions around appearance are actually addressed (respectfully), the different circumstances white- looking and dark-skinned Native people face will continue to be unspoken. In a different light, two of the dark- skinned people I interviewed spoke of how they were often made unwelcome not because of their appearance, but because they are too culturally different. Both women— an African Cherokee from the United States and a Mapuche woman from Chile—spoke of how they are seen as too "multicultural" in the urban Native community in Toronto. It appears that people who are mixtures of Native and white, (particularly if the white background is Anglo-Canadian), are more easily accepted in the urban com- . munity than those who are Native and Black, or who are Native in appearance but who speak Spanish or another non-Indigenous language other than English. This is problematic, especially since the future generation of urban Native people in Toronto will likely be more multiracial, given the high rates of contemporary inter-marriage between people of colour and Native people. The next decade will probably signify a radical shift in our understanding of what it means to be urban Native people, as people of multiple cultural backgrounds—whose non-Native heritages are from all around the world—struggle to create new, hybrid Native identities which still affirm their connections to Indigenous communities. Status While divisions between those who look Native and those who look white are at least negotiable among the people I interviewed, the issue of being status or nonstatus or Metis represented a fundamental division which could not be surpassed. Everybody I interviewed asserted loftily, as if it was all too obvious, that status had nothing to do with whether one is a Native person or not. At the same time, almost everybody, when pressed, admitted that they did feel status Indians were more Native than non-status Indians or Metis. The status Indians I interviewed frequently indicated their determination that they would only have children with partners who would enable them to pass their see GENOCIDE next page Indigenous, Halfbreed, On-Reserve, Aboriginal, First Nations, Off- from GENOCIDE previous page status on to their children. They expressed the view that status was the only thing protecting Native people from genocide. The non-status Indians and Metis, on the other hand, saw the divisiveness which status creates as being the greatest challenge Native people face. One issue which became clear throughout the interviews was the range of experiences Native people have with respect to status. Some of the interviewees had multiple experiences in their family of gaining and losing status (losing it through enfranchisement or marriage to a non-Native, and then regaining it through marriage to a status Indian prior to 1985.) Some came from families where some siblings were status and some non-status, depending on whether their mothers were married to their fathers at the time of birth. Two could not regain status because their grandfathers had been born in the US; their families had fled there to escape persecution after the 1885 uprising. One woman was a federally recognized American Indian whose band came originally from Canada but had been pushed south by Loyalist settlers. In Canada, where her family had always lived—a stone's throw from the reserve boundaries at theAmerican border— she was considered non-status. A number of individuals could not regain status because of the second-generation cutoff with Bill C-31. Status for many people has been granted or removed in a purely arbitrary fashion which had nothing to do with their family's experiences. Yet, among the people I interviewed, it (in conjunction with band membership) remains a fundamental dividing line between experiences of "Indianness," marking clear divisions around entitlement and non-entitlement. This is despite attempts by each individual I interviewed to minimize its importance through statements such as, "status has nothing to do with who is Native." Urban Native people, who are struggling valiantly to make their own defini tions of who is Native and who isn't, do not seem able to easily come to terms with the issue of status. This suggests that government regulation of Native identity has far more power over different groups than is frequently acknowledged. Status is more than a matter of "believing in" government categories—it is, above all (along with band membership) the fundamental determinant of who has access, fyW^v or who should have access, to whatever fragments of land still remain in Indian hands. Every government action related to Native people—whether it is a funding decision, a change in policy, or a response to a land claim—enhances divisions on the basis of status. Clearly, it is not enough to simply say "status has nothing to do with being Indian" as a means of overcoming divisions. Those divisions are about entitlement, particularly to funding, but also to land. The future A major issue which concerned everybody I interviewed was the future of urban Native people. Most individuals felt that, in addition to strengthening knowledge of culture and building a strong urban infrastructure of Native organizations to service the needs of the community, building closer ties to reserve communities was important. For many, this reflected their own feelings about being urban, and their own, personal relationships to their community of origin— their understanding of what extent they would be able to undo past losses through rebuilding ties and relearning their language (for example). The conversation returned, again and again, to the manner in which urban Native WM people have no real or- BP ganic forms of connec- B? tion to reserve commu nities. How can we work to rebuild our Indigenous nations when as urban people we do not have membership in any First Nation? And why is the current network of over 600 tiny "matchbook" size communities occupying less than one percent of the traditional landmass seen as the only viable expression of nation-building? What about the growing number of urban Natives who have no home communities to return to? In talking about the future, developing new forms of nation-building was discussed. Some individuals felt all urban nonstatus individuals should join the Metis nation as an advocacy group, while working towards being "adopted" back into their home communities. Others were angry about not having their status reinstated or having band membership denied them, and felt that regaining membership which their mothers had lost was the primary direction for empowerment. A number of individuals recognized that there is no "going back" for most of us. We cannot rebuild ourselves as "full- blooded traditionalists" in the communities from which our parents or grandparents were separated. Embracing different forms of nation-building—such as revitalizing the traditional confederacies which were the forms of political organization in existence at the time of colonization—is only beginning. Revitalizing the Wabanaki Confederacy along the eastern seaboard, or the Blackfoot Confederacy in what is now Alberta and the northern US, or building new geopolitical units such as the Cree Nation and the Anishnabek Nation seems to be the most promising route to take out of the government-regulated divisions among Native people. However, without a deep understanding of how these divisions have been imposed on us, there is a danger that these rebuilt or new forms will develop the same divisions as before, such as restricting citizenship to status Indians, as the present Indian Act system does. If urban and nonstatus Native people embrace these alternate political frameworks, it could do much to strengthen the more traditional organisations, to the empowerment of all of us. Wel'alioq! Um sed nogumak! Thank you. All my relations. Bonita Lawrence is a mixed-race person of Mi'kmaq, Acadian and English heritages. She currently teaches Women's Studies at Queen's University. She has been doing traditional singing and hand drumming for a few years now, as well as serving on the board of directors of Anduhyaun Inc., which operates a shelter, a daycare centre, second stage housing and other programs for Native women in Toronto. from IDENTITY page 15 It has been the Indian Act which has played the largest role not only in creating the separate category of 'halfbreed' in regions where no such concept existed, but in forcibly externalizing mixed-race people from Native communities. The process of differentiating between 'Indians' and 'halfbreeds' did not necessarily conform either to actual racial blood quantum or to individual self-identification. In the 50 year interval during which treaties one to 11 were negotiated with the Native bands across Western Canada and the subarctic, treaty commissioners in each location set up tables where potential 'halfbreeds' were to present themselves, individual by individual, to be judged by white officials as to what they were. In a context where racial mixing was frequently difficult to determine, factors such as lifestyle, language and residence were employed. Thus ascribed, an individual became, irrevocably, Indian or halfbreed (as did their descendants). Many Native families who were away when registration was first carried out never made treaty lists and ended up being classified as halfbreeds. Indeed, whole bands who were absent during treaty signing similarly lost any chance of acquiring Native status and became, de facto (on paper), 'halfbreed' communities. (In other parts of Canada, where the treaties did not expressly separate 'halfbreeds' from 'Indians,' in the way that the numbered treaties in Western Canada did, such individuals were usually considered to be "non-status Indians". The government frequently sought to 'winnow out' from Indianness all who could be claimed to be Metis. In 1879, the Indian Act was amended to enable individuals to withdraw from treaty, to take scrip and be counted as Metis. Because of the widespread destitution on the newly created Indian reserves, and because halfbreed money scrip could immediately be cashed, a rush to leave treaty status on the part of some bands, regardless of ancestry, ensued, until regulations were created which ensured that individuals who "led the mode of life of Indians" were not to be granted discharge from treaty. In rare cases, individuals who were known to be half or three-quarters Indian and were said to be following "an Indian way of life", who were destitute and prevented by hunting regulations from living off the land, were allowed to be taken into treaty. The numbered treaties were thus crucial to the project of forcibly identifying and segregating 'halfbreeds' from 'Indians', regardless of how individuals saw themselves. If the preceding history clarifies anything, it is that both "Indian" and "Metis" identities have been shaped to a phenomenal extent by discriminatory legislation in the Indian Act. In this sense, to view these groups solely as the products of entirely different histories and the bearers of entirely different destinies belies the common origins of both groups, as members of Aboriginal nations who faced colonization pressures in different ways, or who were classified in different ways by colonial legislation. Treaty Indians and the Metis—like status and non-status Indians in general—represent two very distinct sides of a common history, where one side, the Metis, have been forcibly externalized from Indianness, deprived of their rights as Aboriginal peoples, and given little option but to pursue an entirely separate path to empowerment. Bonita Lawrence is a mixed-race person of Mi'kmaq, Acadian and English heritages. She currently teaches Women's Studies at Queen's University. She has been doing traditional singing and hand drumming for a few years no, as well as serving on the board of directors of Anduhyaun Inc., which operates a shelter, a daycare centre, second stage housing and other programs for Native women in Toronto.Studies at Queen's University. Shehas been doing traditional singing and hand drumming for a few years now, as well as serving on the board of directors of Anduhyaun Inc., which operates a shelter, a daycare centre, second stage housing and other programs for Native women in Toronto. SIS DEC/JAN 2000 Reserve, Bill C-31, Native,Treaty, Non-Status, Metis, Indian, Inuit, "About That Question ii by Anna Marie Sewell Aboriginal. It's such a big term. And it seems so important. And within it, it seems so important to clarify and classify in detail—treaty, non-status, metis, inuit, halfbreed, on-reserve, off-reserve, bill c- 31...and so on. I sure sympathise sometimes with anyone who struggles to be clear about what it all means, and why it's important. A lot of really wise and strong people have worked long and hard to clarify it all, and the stakes are high. I understand only a little of it all. Just had to say that so you'd know what an idiot is talking to you here. And I have to add thanks to all those hard-working, caring people, for their part in the struggle to keep beautiful traditions and understandings and people alive, in very difficult situations. But this is not about history. It's just a crabby rant about how sometimes I want to snap, when people ask me to justify myself in terms of my racial lineage. I love being asked who I am and where I'm from out of interest. Who doesn't? I love finding that out about other people. I understand that sometimes it gives us information that can protect our vitals, but sometimes, in some situations, I get tired of being asked That Question. That question bugs me when it comes from white liberals who just want to appear hip, enlightened and concerned about the Indian Problem (thank you, by the way, for classifying me as a problem. It shows you're not completely stupid, because, Jack, I Am a Problem, and to people like you, I won't be easily solved.) That question bugs me when it comes from fearful or jealous natives, who have just felt challenged by me, by my words and actions (I am a sometime teacher, and a director, and I am demanding, because those things are my job; being Aboriginal is not). That question bugs me when it's asked by people who want to revere me for my Ancient Indian Wisdom. (First, I have to get over the laughability of that concept—revere me?!—but it has happened). So, here, for those times when you may feel the same annoyance and frustration, are some snappy replies to various variations on That Question: Q: "So. What are you?" A: "Possibly Human. Yourself?" Q: "What's your tribal affiliation?" A: "Say what, Jack? Speak English to me." Q: "I mean, what's your Nation?" A: "So, is this replacing 'What's your sign?' as a red flag signifying sleazy intentions masquerading as interest, or what?" Q: "What Nation are you? " A: "Today, I am Bulgaria. Tomorrow, I may be Italy. If I lose weight, I could try for Chile...." (and smile smugly, cause injuns ain't supposed to know geography, doncha know; and wouldn't it throw them way off if you said you were Eritrea or East Timor or some other under-recognised people who struggle as we do to be recognised and respected both as individuals and as a larger, political, cultural entity?....or, let me respond to that again...) Q: "What Nation are you?" A: "I am not a Nation. Oh, no. I'm much bigger than that. I'm a continent. And not just any continent. No, I am the Lost Continent of Mu, and I have come with a message of Timeless Wisdom just for You. (At this point, it could be fun to roll your eyes back a little and let your voice wobble into a strange far-off register, or assume a trendy— Tibetan, for example—accent of a stereotypically wise and esoteric people; but make sure it's got snob appeal, that accent mysterious stuff just doesn't work if you use an earthy, maybe-I-play-bingo accent). Q: "Well, you don't look Indian....?" A: "Listen, Jack, I didn't pose for the old US Nickel, or the logo for the Chicago Blackhawks, or the Barbiehontas cartoon, if that's what you mean. But I am of aboriginal heritage." Q: "Really? You're Indian? So, What are you?" A: "Convinced that you can't win them all and thankful for all the times you can; and, for the record, I have nothing against persons named Jack. Jack is a fine name." This piece was first published as a letter in the 2nd edition of The Buffalo Yell, an Aboriginal academic paper published by Native Student Services at the University of Alberta. Discovering the Inner Indian by Anna M. Sewell and Crystal Lee Clark It's been hundreds of years now since we started importing Europeans here to Turtle Island. Despite various programs aimed at maintaining genetic purity, crossbreeding has been inevitable from the start. The odd thing is, somehow, some people have grown up ignorant of their Turtle Islander bloodlines and inheritance. You wouldn't think it was possible, but it is. Today, many seemingly 'white' people wander in a wilderness of confusion, unaware of the identity of that strange thing inside, that part of them that rears up from time to time in the course of their lives, causing inexplicable behaviours and reactions—as if they are host to some colonizing agent. If this dilemma sounds familiar, this little questionnaire is for you. Gentle reader, be you the scion of wealthy New England Republicans, be you the uneasy heir to generations of Victorian Royalists, be you an Aryan poster child marked only by a strange propensity to tan easily, whomever you are, if you can answer yes to these simple questions, you may be the lucky owner of an Inner Indian. 1. When square dancing, do you compulsively round off the corners? 2. In a deli full of fancy prepared meats, does the bologna speak to you? By name? 3. Do you tend to start formal speeches, addresses and presentations with "So anyhow...?" 4. Have you compulsively shouted 'Bingo!' in any of the following situations: at a football game when the quarterback is calling a play, during Hamlet, when the actor asks '2B or not 2B'; during the countdown to launch a space mission?* 5. Do you talk to trees? Do trees talk to you? 6. Do you possess an uncanny ability to tell time by the sun, and get irritated by the great mass of associates who always want to start a half-hour early? 7. Are you incredibly good-looking? 8. Do you see right through all that car- manufacturers' propaganda about 'seats five comfortably?' 9. When asked how many people are in your family, do you answer 'it depends.' 10. Are you seized by the urge to block ade, even in unlikely situations— at McDonald's, in public washrooms, etc.? 11. Do you instinctively hate the song "White Christmas"? 12. Do you take natural phenomena— passing birds, thunderstorms, road- killed chipmunks, and so on— personally? 13. Do you have super-strong lips and/ or chin and the ability to give directions with your hands full?** *This actually happened to one of the founders of our Institute, who was a highly- paid NASA official until his inner Indian spoke up and freed him from that commitment, giving him both the inspiration and the time to help us begin our work. **This symptom alone might also point to an Inner African, Inner Asian, et cetera. So anyhow, gentle reader, if you have answered yes to a significant number (say four, for example) of these questions, do not hesitate to contact us here at the Institute for Newly Discovering the Inner Aboriginal Now (INDIAN). Operators are standing by with details of our affordable Inner Indian Seminar packages. It costs so little to join the tribe, and if you act now, we'll reduce the price of our exclusive workshop meal plan, featuring your choice from our delectable menu: bannock and lard, macaroni, or fried bologna sandwiches. To discover your Inner Indian, just pick up your phone and dial 1-900-WANNABE. Make your reservation today. This piece is reprinted from Gatherings, Fall 1997, Vol. VTH. Anna M. Sewell is a writer of Mi'gmaq, Anishnawbe and Polish heritage. Crystal is a former student of the En'owkin International School of Creative Writing and Visual Arts. She has other styles of writings that can be found in some of the issues o/Gath- erings, published by Theytus Books. ^MMRXo^ P.O. Box 868,268 Main St. Ucluelet, B.C. VOR 3A0 Phone: 250-726-2343 Fax: 250-726-2353 E-mail: westwomn@cedar.alberni.net DEC/JAN 2000 New literary arts journal from Native Women in the Arts: a review memories of home Cruz-i-FICTION by Abby Cote MY HOME AS I REMEMBER edited by Lee Maracle and Sandra Laronde published by Native Women in the Arts and Natural Heritage Publisher Toronto, Ontario, December 1999 My Home As I Remember is the eagerly awaited third journal produced by Native Women in the Arts (NWIA). I am fortunate to have the dual honour of both reviewing My Home As I Remember and of having my first published piece (a short story)—previously printed in a newspaper I write for—also published in it. NWIA is a non-profit organization founded in Toronto in 1993 by Sandra Laronde. Laronde hails from Teme- Augama-Anishnabe ("the deep water people") in Temagami, Ontario. She is an actor as well as a writer. On top of her work at NWIA, Laronde is the co-artistic director at Native Earth PerformingArts in Toronto. "I felt the need for a way for the voices of Native women to be heard beyond the confines of their own communities," Laronde explains in describing why she undertook starting NWIA. "The primary goal was to create an organization that serves Native women from diverse nations "I feit the need for a way for the voices of Native women to be heard beyond the confines of their own communities" and artistic disciplines who share the common interest of culture, art, community." One of NWIA's most far-reaching projects is its literary arts journal, which publishes short stories, poetry, biographies, visual art, photographs, and more by Indigenous women from around the world. With every journal that they publish, Native Women in the Arts is accomplishing that goal. The first two journals published by NWIA, in a vast dreaming (1996) and Sweetgrass Grows All Around Her (1998), highlight the literary and visual art work of Native women in North America. This latest offering broadens its scope to include works by Indigenous women from Hawai'i, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, as well as, of course, North America. Each journal features the creative work of more than 50 women. The first two journals were produced with funding support from the Toronto Arts Council. A broader base of funding was garnered for this third journal, with grants coming from the Canada Council Block Grant Program, Toronto Arts Council and the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, with assistance from the Association for the Export of Canadian Books. My Home As I Remember is co-edited by Sandra Laronde and Lee Maracle, who is a member of the Sto: lo Nation of British Columbia. Maracle is the author of several literary works—Bobbi Lee: Indian Rebel, Ravensong and I Am Woman, to name just a few—and is currently living in Ontario and working at the Barrie Friendship Centre. Both these women are well-respected in artistic and Native communities as accomplished writers and activists. As I write this review, My Home As I Remember is in the final stages of being published by NWIA, in partnership with Natural Heritage Publications. We can expect to see it on the shelves by the beginning of 2000. (I can tell you—as a sneak preview— that there is a new feature inside: 16-pages of full-colour photographs). The journal presents work by women ranging in age from the young (those who are newly entering their womanhood) to Elders (grandmothers in their own right). All the contributors speak from the heart on identity and place in relation to their "The women in this book braid their strands of memory of home from the perspective of our origins, and our current womanhood" own individual concept of home, be that what it may. In this landmark volume, 62 writers and visual artists are represented from nearly 25 Nations, including some who are well-known and some who are published here for the first time. It's interesting to note that most of the contributors have not been previously published in NWIA's journals. New feasts to savour. In presenting the work of 153 Aboriginal women over the years, NWIA continues its unique and critical role in promot- ingAboriginal women's literature, not just within Canada, but also throughout other Indigenous territories around the world. In explaining the theme of this latest journal, Maracle says: "The braiding together of Home, Memory and Native Women in this book has such simple and elegant significance... Home is for us origin, the shell of nurturance, our first fire and the harbinger of our relationship to the world. Home is the domain of women. For all of us, the memory of home is more than physical, geographical, emotional or even spiritual. "Stone is the foundation of the beginnings of the natural world. From stone springs all our songs, our aspirations and our dream world. From stone sings out the story of the world of Turtle Island and our relationships to earth, flora, fauna, sky and star worlds. Home is our first stone. The stone from which humans shape relationship. The perception of home in the pages of this work tells us about how the women in this book see themselves and what shaped the governing principles in their lives. "The women in this book braid their strands of memory of home from the perspective of our origins, and our current womanhood; in the process, we reaffirm cultural origins, explore ourselves and experience rebirth. Memory takes on life, social significance, feminist governance, sociological future, and then returns to the heart as a beautiful gemstone." Here's just one of the gems in My Home as I Remember—this one's from Kimberly Blaeser: In the locked house of memory old spirits rise, sing rockabye. Rounded vowels soften our sleep oohing like pine wind sweeping through our dreams stardusting us with longing. Keep your eyes peeled for My Home as I Remember in the new year! To order a copy or for more information about the journal or Native Women in the Arts contact NWIA, 401 Richmond St West, Suite 363, Toronto, Ontario, M5V1X3, tel: (416) 598-4078; fax: (416) 586-1504; email: nwia@interlog.com Abby Cote is a freelance writer and p pher with the Anishnabek News, which is published monthly by the Union of Ontario Indians. She is cf Metis descent and grew up in Toronto, but now lives in North Bay, Ontario with her two-year old daughter Shaiyena and her partner Lindsay Cote. Inside My Home as I Remember, you'll find... Kim Anderson KenojuakAshevak Carol Snow Moon Bachofner Frances Beaulieu Susan Beaver Kate Berne Miller Kimberly Blaeser Murielle Borst Joane Cardinal-Schubert Cat Cayuga Chrystos Abby Cote Sondra Cross Mary Lou Cecile Debassige D. Mahealani Dudoit Dawn Dumont Gloria May Eshkibok Linda LeGarde Grover Pearl Rose Greene Tina Goerz Louise Bernice Halfe Lucie Idlout Doreen Jensen Charlotte Kayenderes Green Edna H. King Cynthia Lickers April E. Lindala Marion W. Macdonald Lee Maracle Teresa Marshall MariJo Moore Darmody Mumford Shelley Niro Dolly Pelitier Napatchie Pootoogook Marie Pruitt Mary Pudlat Dozay (Arlene Christmas) Marcia de la Torre Garcia LauraLee Harris Melanie Printup Hope Merlin Homer Heather Henry Maria Hupfield Deborah Ramos Michelle Richmond Cheryl Savageau Sandra Abena Songbird-Naylor Sharon Syrette Madeline KattTheriault Jillian Tipene OvilooTunnillie Sharron Proulx-Turner Vera Wabegijig Jan Bourdeau Waboose Melvina Watts Ann Wesley April White Sharon L. White Rosemary White Shield Karenne Wood SIS DEC/JAN 2000 Confronting violence against Aboriginal women in prostitution: Working for safety in the sex trade by Sarah Hunt Violence is a harsh reality for most women in this country. If we are not directly the victims of violence ourselves, we undoubtedly know someone who has been victimized, and the threat of violence shapes and confines our movement on a daily basis. Violence against women is an inherent part of mainstream media images, Canadian literature, and the English language. As a result of ongoing feminist struggle, the Canadian government has established laws and consequences for the perpetrators of violence against women, in efforts to minimize or at least "manage" violent acts in our society. However, most of these efforts are in vain, as women continue to be victimized at greater and greater rates on national as well as global scales. Aboriginal women and sex trade workers (particularly street-involved women) live with violence and death on a daily basis, with little, if any, justice being sought on their behalf by those people who are in positions of power in Canadian society, such as police, judges, and both Canadian and Indigenous government officials. Women working in prostitution are estimated to be 40 times more likely to die violent deaths than the average Canadian. For Aboriginal women, this is in addition to the already horrifying situation in Native communities, in which mortality rates are very high due to suicides, poverty, substance abuse, child abuse, the quickly climbing rates of HIV and AIDS infection and other atrocities of colonization. Of the total population of Aboriginal people in Canada in 1991, an estimated 51 percent were women. At this time, the life expectancy of Aboriginal women was 75 years, seven years longer than for Aboriginal men, but nearly six years less than other Canadian women. Additionally, Aboriginal youth suicide rates are five to six times higher than for non-Aboriginal youth. Violence against women is just one more component of the ideology of white colonizers, which has been imposed on and indoctrinated into Aboriginal communities. Of course, Aboriginal communities were not devoid of violence in some forms prior to colonization, but the level of violence and types of violence were certainly not at the degree of insanity in which we now live. Many Aboriginal women who live in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver have migrated there from their reserves or home communities in order to escape the colo- Violence against Aboriginal prostitutes is not an "Aboriginal issue" largely because men are setting the agenda nial legacies of violence and poverty. Aboriginal women migrate from all over Canada to this area, where they find an opportunity to escape from familial violence and abuse, and to disappear into a large city with a large Aboriginal community. For some women living on reserve, there are so many forces shaping their lives, forces such as substance abuse, poverty, isolation, sexual abuse and violence, that going to a large city and entering into the sex trade is the only way out. For some, this is a decision they see they can make, taking charge of their lives, instead of living in a community in which they have no choices. In the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, as in other urban areas across Canada, the situation for Aboriginal women is grim. Significant numbers of women are killed or go missing each year. From 1991 to February 1999, almost 200 women died violent deaths in this area of Vancouver alone. In 1997 alone, 32 women died and countless others went missing. Community agencies are constantly putting up posters in windows announcing the disappearance of yet another woman, many of whom are very young and many of whom are sex trade workers. Most of the people living in this area are very poor and have inadequate or no housing. Many people have addictions to drugs and alcohol with limited access to treatment facilities, have little if any opportunity for legal employment, and have very little regard given to their lives by mainstream society. This is, in effect, an Aboriginal ghetto, as the numbers of Aboriginal residents are so high and the opportunities and resources so few. Despite these conditions and the fact that women continue to die and go missing on a regular basis, very little attention is being paid to this situation by those in positions to create change. While our primarily male leadership is negotiating with the Canadian government over fishing rights, land claims, and self-governance, our mothers, aunts, sisters, and daughters are dying on the streets, are disappearing or are being maimed. Violence against Aboriginal prostitutes is not an "Aboriginal issue" largely because men are setting the agenda. While the other issues are important to our survival and the strength of our communities, the misogyny which has been taught to us through colonization (and as a mechanism of colonization) is affecting more than just the organization of our band councils and male- centered hierarchies. It is also allowing the Elders open Valentines' Day March, February 14,1999 to commemorate the women who have died violent deaths in the Downtown Eastside. genocide of our sisters living and working on the streets to continue without a national uprising of our leadership. Women's lives are being lost daily and the stigma which surrounds the topic of prostitution has shamed us into silence. While efforts are being made to prevent children from being victimized through sexual exploitation, and sexual abuse cycles are beginning to be recognized and slowly dealt with through addressing residential school abuse, grown women in prostitution is still a taboo subject. Women's needs are being further marginalized within our own marginalized communities. In the eyes of many mainstream Canadians, the police, judges, and government officials each have their role in ensuring the safety of all members of Canadian society. However, each of these groups has contributed to the marginalization and victimization of Aboriginal women, as they have been entrusted with the tools of the colonizers and the power to enforce our oppressed position. They, like other members of Canadian society, have been indoctrinated with racist stereotypes about our sexuality and our worth, and their work is largely reflective of this ideology. Police generally do very little to find the murderers of women who are found dead in areas like the Downtown Eastside. One of every two murders of prostitutes in Canada goes unsolved, as opposed to one of five of all homicides. Police also have a lot of room for enforcing laws as they see fit, with the communication, bawdy house, and procuring laws rarely being enforced against Johns or pimps, and often being used to harass prostitutes themselves. For example, in a study conducted by John Lowman of the SFU Criminology Department, police, apart from a handful of charges, enforced the law only against prostitutes. The situation is changing slowly, and more customers are being charged, but the numbers are still not equal to sex workers. The laws are biased against street workers, and create situations in which it is nearly impossible to work on the street without harassment, but it is equally impossible for marginalized women—who are not seen as "good" or "desirable" enough—to work in safer off-street sex work. Even though prostitution itself is not illegal, sex workers are targeted under Canadian law, and are not protected from violence in the same way as other citizens and workers. This year, a $100,000 reward was offered in an attempt to locate some of the 31 reported missing sex trade workers from the Downtown Eastside. Surprisingly, very few of these 31 women are Aboriginal. Where are the faces of our women? Why has no one reported them missing? One woman, Olivia Gale Williams, went missing December 1996, and was not reported missing until July 1997. How can one of our women go missing and no one takes notice? Our relations have become invisible in the most impoverished, stigmatized community in Canada and even our own family members are ashamed to speak of the reality of their lives. We must begin a dialogue around these issues and open up the baggage and shame we carry around about our own sexuality. As we look forward to taking the necessary steps towards changing the situation of violence and shame which is faced by Aboriginal women working in the sex trade, we must put the experiences and needs of these women at the forefront. In spite of the oppressive ideologies which have been brought into our communities through colonization, we need to focus on the fact that our relations are dying and disappearing on a regular basis from urban centers such as Vancouver. We need to unlearn the moralistic, biased, racist and sexist beliefs which tell us to be silent, and we must create movement around these issues on all levels. There are many areas in which change is needed, including service provision, law reformation, education and alliance building. see SEX TRADE page 24 DEC/JAN 2000 Confronting racism in anti-violence structures A Good Burning Anger by Wendy and Valerie as told to Handan Acabay Valerie Inglis is a First Nation, 2- Spirit, Lesbian, Dyke, Butch/Fern, Woman Loving Woman, Saphic Hedonist, Queer who does not believe in labelling herself. She currently works at Battered Women's Support Services. Wendy works in a feminist anti-violence organization in Vancouver. Handan is of Turkish, Kurdish and German descent. She works in an autonomist shelter/crisis line in Giessen Germany. She is currently studying communications and languages in Marburg. Handan loves life despite it all. Handan is part of an anti-violence project which was recently taken over by a team composed exclusively of women- of-colour. While shelters and transition houses in many cities in Germany currently service predominantly migrant/ refugee and/or women-of-colour clients, this reality is not reflected in the staff. No more than a sprinkling of women- of-colour work within most projects and rarely in positions of power. Demands for anti-oppression work and an affirmative action policy have been met with outrage so far, but efforts towards coordinating women-of-colour from various projects in Germany aim at breaking through their isolation and creating a support-network. Handan: I am interested in hearing about your experiences. Do you encounter racism in your interactions with group members or clients? How do you feel you are being treated? Do you feel you are taken seriously? What kind of work do you do within your structures? Wendy: Those are huge questions. Valerie: It also depends on what organization we are talking about and what their policies are. Whether they have an affirmative action policy or not, et cetera. It is true that if they do and you're the only one, you tend to be tokenized. "See we're fine, we have this colour, that colour and we're doing this." It should be about actually walking through anti-oppression work together. It's not just about having this person or this culture represented in your group, it's how you work through issues together. It takes a lot of work, usually, on the person of colour's part. Where I work now is a bit different than where I've worked in the past because we have actively worked towards creating an anti-oppression place within the organization. It wasn't always like that though and I also have the experience of functioning as a token. Handan: Do you have discussions about racism within the group? Wendy: Actually, initially, my organization had created a watershed in terms of its hiring policy which other organizations now base their hiring policies on. This was done quite a long time ago because women of colour and First Nations women had pushed for it until it was finally recognized. It entailed hiring so many women of colour, so many First Nations women, and V<2 f-Cje l*/0./f/Q e \r fer/fiqei Buck f making sure that there were provisions in place ensuring that we represent the community that we are servicing. Predominantly, we service the Downtown Eastside and we wanted that to be reflected in the women that were hired. Valerie: There's a huge difference between having a policy and a provision in place and actually practicing it. I think that's where we're sort of moving towards in my organization. My position is actually a very high profile position that two white women occupied before I came on and my co-partner is a white woman. I deal with approximately seventy organizations, the justice system and women serving organizations to help implement the attorney general's policy on violence against women in relationships, with different sub-committees and things like that. Even after five months, almost everybody has met me at least once, but I'm still astounded at the amount of people who don't know how to treat me or be around me. One of the things that we've had to discuss is that I need allies and support from my workplace because if I'm continually extending myself and calling people on their stuff, then I'm perceived as a hysterical Indian. And if my co-partner whose white, doesn't speak up even though she hears it and sees it, then... Wendy: It's legitimized. Valerie: "A" legitimized and "B" she's actually colluding with them by not speaking up with me. She, being white, would legitimize calling somebody on their racist statements or assumptions, but me, being Native, even though I am calling people in an intelligent, relatively articulate way, placing it in front of them in a way that they can understand and in their language because it's up to us to speak in their language and in their discourse, whether it's legalese or psychobabble, it's up to me to do that, yet, again I will be perceived as being hysterical. Over and over and over again. My actual workplace and environment is supportive, but it's still work. One of my co-workers likes to use the word loser, to her that means nothing, but when she uses it on me I have huge bells going off emotionally. Saying I'm a loser is saying I'm a squaw, I'm a drunken Indian. She didn't get that, we had to work through that a lot. Fortunately, there was a wonderful article in the Vancouver Sun about a 15-year old Native girl who was fighting for her rights and against experiences of overt racism. She spoke about words and what they mean to us. One of the words was "loser." I brought the article into work and showed it to my co-worker. That's when she got it. It was no longer just one person who had a problem with the word and did not want to be called a "loser", not even in jest. So again, it was a lot of work and it was work on my part. And then there are subtle things, the acceptance of me because I fit in so welj with intelligent, intellectual types. But what's that saying about me or them? Native people aren't intelligent, so you're surprised how well I can articulate myself in your language? Well, it takes a lot of work for me to do this, but that's not saying anything about me, it's saying something about you. We have an anti-oppression policy that we're all working really hard towards walking: we're ninety percent women of colour in all the coordinating positions and all the different programs. We have a huge volunteer base, which is actually predominantly white, so that makes it interesting. Membership on the collective is about 50- 50 right now. I wonder, sometimes at night, when I go home why I'm so exceptionally tired. It's because the work I do is constant and it's subtle and sometimes it's subconscious. Constantly educating or re-educating others about a simple word. Wendy: Not only is anti-violence work emotionally draining, but you also have that constant battle and the juggling of how to introduce these ideas around Native issues. For example, the importance of paying attention to Native issues. We are in the Downtown Eastside, Native women are the hardest hit by poverty and violence, the degradation of many, many women's lives down here is extreme and if we're not paying attention to this, then I don't know what the hell we're doing. I'm always the only one bringing these issues up and I never have allies and it really is a struggle. Valerie: It there's more than one of you in an organization and one is political and loud about it, which I am, but the other is not because they're afraid, then divide and conquer mechanisms kick in. It is not considered a big enough issue if you aren't allying together. So one of you comes off looking like this—and I put it in italics—hysterical person. They've done that, they've divided us. A lot of Native women find it very hard to push for that kind of change when they're at a point where they might be feeling lucky they have a job there and they have families to think about. As for me I don't have anything to lose. I'm at a point in my life where I don't care what I say, if it's the bottom line truth and if it's the truth of my experience and the Native women who are coming to this organization for service. My bottom line is how do we serve these women? Native women are coming here on a regular basis and feel comfortable doing so, but will they still continue to come if I or my other First Nations coworker aren't here? Wendy: It is a structural problem. It shouldn't be up to us to support Native causes and Native women. You know, this is Native land and it bothers me that colonialism is never a part of the equation. It almost feels like if this work isn't being done by me, it won't get done, it won't get addressed and Native women are going to stop using the service. People lack education around it, they lack understanding and there are so many judgements being made all the time about the Native women that are calling the line. Or else it's "Wendy, you should talk to her because she's Native." But no, you're on the crisis line why are you coming to me about this? Get educated, we do have workshops, we do have all of these things. I try to talk about it all the time but I really feel that I need allies. It really is a matter of having allies and there are times when it does go really well and I feel like the dynamics are pretty good and people are pretty respectful, but I still feel like I'm doing all that work. Valerie: And you shouldn't have to be. I mean there are times when I get fed up with having to be the one to educate. You just get tired of it. But, then I thought about it, actually an elder taught me: "Valerie if you don't teach them the truth, they're going to go to the library or the internet or see ANGER next page from ANGER previous page somewhere and they're going to get the archeological, anthropological view" which is a white, male, conquering view of primitive heathens or primitive children, rather than seeing us as human beings with a rich history and culture. Wendy: But in the end it tires you out. One of my colleagues ended up in therapy because she couldn't handle it anymore. In the end you are the one who is doing the giving and you get worn out. Valerie: Or you start second guessing yourself. What really pisses me off, on a personal level is when I go home doubting my experience whether it was viceral or not. Covert racism isn't something that you can attack, it just makes you feel like shit and you're not sure why and you don't have any armour to address it with that person when you see them again. It just made you feel like a piece of crap, that's all. Wendy: It's very dehumanizing. I come from a really, really small Native village on the coast. There is a lot of poverty and a lot of despair and I see these beautiful Native girls here in the Downtown Eastside and they are disappearing at an alarming rate and they are from places like Bella Coola and Bella Bella. I just think "Oh god if we're not here for these people, if they can't call this crisis line, if we can't help them and support them in some way. I mean offer support in the capacity that we can then, nobody's going to do it. It is a responsibility that then becomes your personal responsibility. I don't resent that because that is where my heart and my passion is and where my work calls me to be. But in terms of an organization, I do struggle with being the only one to really care about these issues. People will talk the talk, but it is harder to walk the walk. Valerie: The topic of anger also had to be brought up at a staff meeting. How do we facilitate the women that we deal with as peer counsellors to express their anger if we can't look at our own? We can't harbour it, so we need to express it in a way that is not detrimental to ourselves or others. But first of all we need to acknowlege that it's o.k. for women to have anger and express it. Saying we are hysterical, if we begin to express it, is just another way of keeping us down. Wendy: I think, if it's not acknowledged and it's not allowed to manifest itself in a way that's healthy before it just explodes or sickens us, it implodes. This is the big thing for me. I find that it will come out in a really scathing way to people who I am trying to educate and then I begin to second guess myself and think, "Did I say something wrong? Why did I get so upset? Maybe I should have done it differently." For me, anger is a big thing because I think you can educate people in a more effective way if it isn't coming from such a place of pain. It is almost invalidating the cause that I am trying to bring up if I get so angry that I am completely emotional about it and people are so burned that people don't even want to approach me. I'm really struggling with that right now. How to acknowledge that anger without it coming out in ways that aren't really condusive to good communication. Valerie: But I don't think you should have to be the one who's taking care of their emotional response to truth. Handan: They make you feel guilty. Valerie: "See, if you hadn't spoken so nastily to me I could have been an ally." Again, it's all on our shoulders. I would have been angry especially if they were defensive. If they are not going to listen, you bet, I'm going to get angrylAnd if they're going to try and put it back on my shoulders they're going to waste their time because it is not my problem. If they are not listening to me that's not my problem but they're going to hear me and that's it. What they do with that I have no control over, but they're going to hear me and if I have to be loud they're going to hear me. It has taken me a long time. I know I am way older than you, I hope it doesn't take that long for you. I've been in anti- violence work, semi-professionally, as they say for 12 years. I've been a First Nations women all my life and a lesbian to boot. So my experiences run the gamut from being on the streets as a kid to wherever I am now. At times, I have been shut out and shut up and invisible. How I got out of there to where I am now, I have no idea. There was a good burning anger in my gut telling me this isn't right. It's injust. And I know, I'm not the only one experiencing it. Wendy: For me, the impetus to get involved in this kind of work was the experience of violence in my own family. It was experienced by my granny and then by my mom, by all of mom's siblings and by us while we were growing up. I realised that it's a condition that you don't have to live with. Violence is a condition that you can be free of. In as much as you create your own personal kind of environment, it is not something that you have to put up with. It's not something that's o.k. I wanted to find a way to combat it. That was the impetus for me getting involved in this work but it really has been a struggle. I just find it very isolating and I wish that there were more people that were aware of these issues and how important they are. Valerie: I agree. I also think that if we are not working in non-Native organizations, then we are ghettoized in Native organizations which are again marginalised. I use the word ghettoized because we are easily discounted. You are just part of a Native organization. The approach to you is different. Again, working in a non-Native organization people are astounded and stunned when they come face to face with me after having dealt with me over the phone. But at least where I am now, the work I continue to do has a different tact. Where I work now I wouldn't want to be seen as a representative of Native women and I don't ever speak as a representative of Native women because we are too diverse. My experiences are mine. While they do parallel many Native women's experience, it would be disrespectful to generalize. Wendy: To have people think that you are speaking for all of your people or for all of your community is simply buying into the stereotypes that white people have about what it is to be an Indian or what it is to be Native. That you must be speaking for everyone is quite a racist assumption. Regarding Native organizations, I attended the opening of the Squamish Nation Crisis Centre this summer. They are an all Native anti-violence organization that is just starting up. They want to start a twenty -four hour crisis line for Native people on the North Shore. They have an art therapist and there is a Native fellow who has a psychiatric nursing background. They're really organised. We were invited out to the opening. It was beautiful, there was dancing and singing and they brought people through the centre and showed them how it was going to work. They were very together and had so much hope for this centre. The community was in such need of this and it just felt so good that I didn't want to leave, (laughter) I just thought "Ohhhh it would be so great to work in a place like this and never have to have those struggles." Then I thought, no I think I would be struggling when it came to women's issues. I don't think there is any really ideal work place, but there is definitely something to be said for a workplace where people are more allied with you when it comes to your political views around race. Valerie: You're right. When I worked for a Native organization, if we experienced any kind of racism out in any of the communities or at the workplace, we took it on as a group, not one of us took it on personally. For me, the impetus to get involved in this kind of work was the experience of violence in my own family. Where I am now, I feel targeted because I don't have those kinds of allies. It is being dumped on me and again that is more work for me to do whether or not there is more than one Native person working there. The experience of myself and the other Native woman worker there are different. Sometimes we can share experiences and other times my reaction to my experience is something she can't help me with. So who do I go to? And again, am I second guessing myself or am I taking it too seriously? Again, it is me thinking about how I'm supposed to fit into this. And there are no provisions in place. It's one thing to have a policy. O.k. that's a start, but that's not the end. How do you walk it? And how do you as my ally walk it with me? That is the biggest struggle that I am finding right now. And I don't know how to teach them. I 've never really had people willing to be an ally before, number one, and I don't know how I want them to walk with me with the respect that I know would come from another Native person. Wendy: It takes a lot of work. Handan: And it is so difficult if the other Native women don't support you. Valerie: It's this fear. There is a big fear. Wendy: There is fear. I really want that to be acknowledged. I think that the material circumstances of some women's lives are such that they feel unsafe, and unwilling to come forward. They are afraid of being branded as these crazy Native women. Handan: But would they have to fear for their jobs? Don't you operate on consensus? Valerie: Things can be made difficult to the point where women would voluntarily leave. Handan: So basically a hierarchy is still in place in these structures. Wendy: Yes. Collectivity is still a fantasy, (laughter) Handan: But they claim... Valerie: There is a claim but it's a fantasy. There's still a hierarchy whether its colour, whether it's privilege, or whether its background. Wendy: Functionally the collective isn't this Utopian thing that everyone likes to say it is or likes to think it is. Handan: So the question is what do I acheive by working in these groups? Valerie: Exactly. What is the focus. One of the things that we can't forget, and that I don't forget—and I try to remind people of—we're earning our daily bread off the backs of beaten and raped women. If you forget that focus then it's just a job, it's big business now, battered women are big business. Transition houses are now unionized and have standardized practices. If we forget the reasons we started these movements, then we're going to lose the whole concept of collectivity, of why we're there, why we still continue to do the work we do. I don't imagine for a second that even in my own lifetime that I will see dramatic changes for First Nations people. I would like to hope, but as a First Nations woman I think seven generations ahead of me. It's the next generation, their generation, the next, the next, the next. So what I start today, my self responsibility, has to reverberate seven generations from me. That is my responsibility. Non-Native people don't see that; they don't have that to fall back on as their drive and their passion. Wendy: It's very ecological thinking. It's not just thinking about the here and now. I think that everything we do, every interaction, everything we put in our mouths, has a consequence on the planet, and we have to be so aware of that. And always be very aware of what you are doing the work for. And I've said that already. And that is why I do it. It gives me the chance to work with women that I love and care about, who constantly amaze me with how resourceful and smart and kind and resilient they are. I'm just always blown away by them, by their strength and by their beauty. That is why I do the work, and that is what makes it all worthwhile. All the bullshit, I can deal with, if it's to be able to do that, and to have an organization behind me so I can do those things. I can walk around on the street. I can be my own personal activist, but it really does help to have some organizational backing behind you, to be able to do that kind of work. That's why I do it. It is isolating and it is lonely, but it's worth it. That's unfortunately how I see it in terms of my organization and my relationship to it. It's for the women, not for the kind of feel-good sense of community I might get out of being there. Valerie: And not to grandize the organization either, or their political statement or anything like that for me either. I am astounded and amazed by the resilience of Native women, what we have lived through generation after generation, and the strength and power in each individual woman. It's amazing, and that's what keeps me going too. I wouldn't be still doing this work after 12 years if I didn't have that to sustain me. ATTENTION!!! Aboriginal Women of All Nations! \ The 4th BC Conference I on Aboriginal Women and Wellness 7 THE LEGACIES WE LEAVE OUR CHILDREN January 8-11,2000 Vancouver, British Columbia For further information, Call: (604) 822-4965 >r Fax (604) 822-4835 >r E-mail elaine@cchs.ubcc; ; WOMEN'S DEC/JAN 2000 KINESIS from SEX TRADE page 21 The services that exist now are largely directed toward helping women exit the sex trade. Many women can only find help if they are willing to become "good," moral citizens. More services must be made available to women who are in situations of violence, need help with substance abuse, dealing with police or the law, health issues, housing, familial issues, and other problems, regardless of how they are making money to feed their families and themselves. Aboriginal women should have the option of using services which are specifically designed to meet the needs of Aboriginal women, using culturally-appropriate programs. The programs should ideally be run by former sex trade workers, to ensure that the people who are running the programs have experiential knowledge of facing the dangers of working in prostitution, dealing with the police, and living with the 'whore' stigma on a daily basis. Additionally, programs need to be established in non-urban Aboriginal communities to address the reasons why women flee these communities and migrate to urban areas to work in the very dangerous street-level sex trade. It is necessary to establish programs designed to support women who have experienced sexual or physical abuse, who are in violent relationships, need help with employment, skill development, substance abuse, health issues, and the many other conditions of colonization, in order to prevent women from ending up with no choice but to leave their homes and work as prostitutes in the city. It is necessary for Aboriginal women to have more options available to them, and to be supported in their communities to prevent them from becoming isolated in urban centres, working under very dangerous conditions. The prostitution laws which currently exist in Canada only serve to make problems worse for sex trade workers, especially street workers, and are in need of some serious reformation. John Lowman has the following suggestion for change: " As long as prostitution is legal—and there is every reason to believe that criminalization would only make matters worse—Canadian politicians ought to decide where and under what circumstances prostitutes can meet their customers." By changing the laws to reflect the fact that sex work is indeed legal, we can focus on situations of abuse or misuse of power, and sex workers can finally have the same rights as any other worker, as any other human being. We must strive to make it easier to prosecute abusers and leave those women in consensual situations alone. We need to work to ensure that sex trade workers can maintain a sense of dignity and that their lives are valued as much as any other woman on this earth. Women must ultimately have control over what they do with their bodies, and how they use them to make money—whether they be using their hands, eyes, minds, mouths, or vaginas. Education must happen on all levels, including with the public and with those people whose voices are heard in our communities, includingAboriginal leaders. We must break down the virgin-whore dichotomy, refusing to be pitted against each other. Solidarity work between women working in the sex trade and women not working in the trade is crucial, and is a revolutionary act in and of itself. Aboriginal leaders must also make the concerns of the women in our communities a priority, to ensure that women are not forced into prostitution as a result of being chased off reserves by situations of abuse. We must be able to talk openly about prostitution, recognizing the large numbers of Aboriginal women who are working on the streets, and we must make it our concern, honouring the women who fight for their lives every day. Large numbers of Aboriginal women will continue to choose to work in the sex trade, until Aboriginal communities make substantial jumps in their path toward healing and putting back together the fragments of our communities which have been blown apart by the forces of colonization. Aboriginal women residing in urban areas need activism around obliterating poverty, sexual abuse, child abuse, violence, and other forms of continuing the legacy of colonization. Ideally, Aboriginal women should not have to go into prostitution out of a place of desperation. But until those forces which shape our lives, whether in the city or on the reserve, are themselves abolished, sex work will continue to be a reality for women in our community. We need to work to ensure that sex trade workers can maintain a sense of dignity and that their lives are valued as much as any other woman on this earth. We need to ensure that sex trade workers have access to services if they have been raped or physically beaten, if they have been robbed or kicked out of their homes, and if they still see prostitution as the best way to make their living. We need to work to create options for Aboriginal women so that they can choose to make a living for themselves and their families in other ways if they desire to do Sarah Hunt is a mixed-blood woman from the Kwagulth Band of the Kwakwaka' wakw Nation. She is an activist, writer, and lover of the color pink. vera m. wabegijig is anishnawbe:kwe from Ontario, vera is a member of the bear clan and the writing community, currently, vera is overcoming her educational barriers at the university of victoria where she hopes to achieve success in a writing and a women studies degree, all the while being a single mother, if she can do it; anybody can. go out and test your limits, break the boundaries. wUSSuJJmmmhSmJU i found Coyote on pembroke & douglas she faces towards the north star her lips slightly apart while traces of steam escape from her hot salmon breath Coyote's long red trenchcoat loosely hangs around his lean muscular shoulders he waits. she waits, not for Raven not for me but for a trick to pay rent for her fuckin' pimp who slaps her around, who points a gun to her head while he rapes every sign of dignity out of her leaving her body a barren wasteland. Coyote's eyes no longer reflect any signs of her creation her job disposed of over five hundred years Coyote is no longer the trickster of the west coast, east coast and in all points in between. Coyote is only myth, a legend, even a cliche. Coyote in her wispy breath calls to me while she wraps one arm around a lamp post, offers me a cigarette as she sucks back hers there is no traffic, no intruding voices of people passing by, just the spotlight above us, casting a blue light i inhale the tobacco smoke, it is harsh & stings my throat, it's smoke hangs heavy in my lungs Coyote tells me he found them late last night beside a drunk beat- up body they're re-rolled from collected butts Coyote pulls up her fish nets, adjusts her breasts, adds a dab of rich wine lipstick a white caddy slowly comes to a halt on I Coyote's corner at pembroke & douglas i wait to see if Coyote will transform p but all he does is slide into the passenger side rolls down the window and tosses out the butt j it lands at my feet, embers glowing e with red lipstick tracks i return to pembroke & douglas I no sign of Coyote 8 but Coyote's name I scratched into the empty sidewalk. DEC/JAN 2000 Filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin: 25 years in the making by Abby Cote Alanis Obomsawin is a member of the Abenaki First Nation from the Odanak reserve in Quebec. A proud Anishinabekwe (Aboriginal woman in the Algonkian dialect) she has dedicated her life to making films that focus on Native peoples, their cultures and issues. Obomsawin's career in filmmaking was showcased in the Retrospective of Native Filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin's 25- Year Career at the Reel Aboriginal Film Series that ran throughout the six-day Aboriginal Voices Festival in Toronto in June of this year. The event included rare screenings, film discussions and premises of some of the director's work. Obomsawin was on hand during the Festival. Obomsawin is a board member with the newly developed APTN (the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network), a national television station that went on air across Canada on September 1st, 1999 as part of basic cable packages. She has also been involved for years as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Film Board of Canada which also sponsors the making of her films. Obomsawin is "well versed in Mohawk history", having made several films that focus on Mohawk history. Among these are, My Name Is Kahentiiosta (Behind the Scenes of the Kanehsatake Crisis) and her most recently released film, titled, Spudwrench about one of the warriors who was at Kanehsatake who is also an iron worker. Spudwrench premiered in Brittany in late 1997 and was aired this past summer in Toronto at The Aboriginal Voices Festival. Obomsawin has also documented some of her many travels to the James Bay region of Canada which she has presented as a slide show, titled The Travels of Alanis. This slide show was filmed in Moose Factory and Alanis considers it "a children's film and the backbone of her film, Christmas in Moose Factory." During the slide presentation of The Travels of Alanis, Obomsawin provides the audio commentary, making reference to the wrongs done to Aboriginal people as a result of residential schools. The period of time during which Obomsawin was making this slide show, 1966 through to 1968, "was the tail end of the residential school system and the eight or so former residen- The Canadian government setting up the reservation system and placing Native people on those reservations was all about the possession of tial schools had been converted into residences for children who for the most part lived at and were attending school in Moose Factory." Obomsawin feels that her visits to Moose Factory influenced further film making in the north. "It was difficult being both a woman and a Native when I started working to bring the plight of children to the forefront more than thirty-six years ago, but I feel that I helped to pave the way for the Native filmmakers of today." Obomsawin was fortunate to be able to document the events at Oka on film, thus allowing the rest of Canada and the world to view the happenings there, however making the films was an extremely challenging process. "In July of 1990 the police blockaded the village and journalists were given special accreditation. At that time I had two crews with me and one time the crews were allowed in but I was not. I ended up staying there instead of trying to go home to sleep. The outcome of this situation gave me further insight into some of the repercussions of the police blockade. "I spent time talking with some of the police officers and arm)' personnel and they were just like people everywhere, some were real bullies and used their power on the people and some were just doing their job and may not have wanted to be there anymore than we did. "It was quite a schooling for me. I was worried about whether my equipment would be confiscated. I finally came out in October of 1990.1 felt as though I'd gained ten years and three months during the occupation." Commenting on the political state of things in Oka all these years later, Obomsawin says, "There are still problems in the State of Oka, still a lot of problems. Although the golf course expansion and the building of the condominiums were stopped, some of the underlying issues still remain." "The Canadian government setting up the reservation system and placing Native people on those reservations was all about the possession of land. Oka may have occurred in 1990, but the issues behind the occupation have been going on for generations and could be considered the basis for Native land issues across this country. The reason that Oka brought the issue to the forefront was because it was all so highly publicised and because the army was brought in, therefore, making it the most publicised Native occupation in Canada up until that point." H o w - ever, Oka changed all of that, now maybe the country is more aware of the significance and outcome of Native blockades and oc- cupations. Aboriginal people learned some valuable lessons from Oka about effective and in effective media coverage. We are now trying to ensure that our side is effectively heard and seen. By utilizing Native press coverage and by having Native producers and directors like Obomsawin present, our side of the land issue is being more fairly represented to the rest of the world. Obomsawin has been directing films about Canadian Aboriginal history for more than 25 years now. "I am happy to be able to make these documentaries that are seen all over the world, I am happy about that for future generations. The next seven generations need to be taught the ways of our people. It is the responsibility of all of us to care for this world. The youth of today are the future leaders, so we need to show them by example to do something good for our country." Aside from making films, Obomsawin is an accomplished writer. She has done many presentations of her written work including reading her poems and singing songs she has written while accompanying herself on her hand drum. During her presentations she reminds us that, "The rule of law in this country is to suppress our rights. We need to find our way back from the road of broken dreams, and the way to do that is to listen to the spirit within ourselves." Obomsawin stated, "I've never actually said this before, but I encourage all Native people to find a way to document their local, community histories to enrich our young people. Through educating our young people of today with our own teach- Image from Kanehsatake: 270Years of Resistance ings we are building stronger communities for tomorrow. I support and encourage the video and tape recording of our Elders so that we have access to their knowledge. I believe that we are gaining control over how our histories and teachings are being recorded and this is no longer done in a disrespectful and exploitative way. Now we have the tools to record our histories in a good way and to utilize them for the good of our communities." Obomsawin is always busy writing or working on a current film project. She is also the author of numerous poems and songs and has a cassette tape available that was produced in 1988 titled, Bush Lady. Many of Obomsawin's films are available at public libraries across Canada. For more information or to purchase her work contact the National Film Board of Canada. Obomsawin is well known internationally as a producer, director, writer, singer and songwriter. She has toured Canada, the United States and Europe as a singer, teacher, speaker and film maker and intends to "keep on making films that speak out about Native heritage, culture and issues as long as there are films to be made". Abby Cote is a freelance writer and photographer with the Anishnabek News, which is published monthly by the Union of Ontario Indians. She is of Metis descent and grew up in Toronto, but now lives in North Bay, Ontario with her two-year old daughter Shaiyena and her partner Lindsay Cote. DEC/JAN 2000 KINESIS SNEAK PREVIEW a recognition of being: Women's role in politics by Kim Anderson my forthcoming book, Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Na- leased by Second Story Press i the Spring of 2000. ibused. After listening to their ttories, I needed to find hope for ap out a path of of something bet- A Recognition of Be women across Canada. In it, I discuss how women resist negative experiences, reclaim Native tradition, construct tradition into their modern lives, and act on their responsibilities. It is about the magnificence of being a Native woman, as reflected by all the aunties and grannies I spoke with in the inter- Background material in the book includes a look at the traditional position of women in a number of Indigenous societies across the Americas. Prior to interference from the colonizer nations, Native wo spect, and a place of honour in our communities. The excerpt demonstrates women's traditionalpoliti- '"Where are your women?" The speaker is Attakullakulla, a Cherokee Chief renowned for his shrewd and effective diplomacy. He has come to negotiate a treaty with the whites. Among his delegation are women "as famous in war, as powerful in the council." Implicit in the Chief's question, "Where are your women?" the Cherokee hear, "Where is your balance? What is your intent?"They see balance is absent and are wary of the white man's motives. They intuit the mentality of destruction. "I turn to my own time. I look at the Congress, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission... to the hierarchies of my church, my university, my city, my children's school. "Where are your women?" I ask. M a r i I o u Awiakta, Cherokee/ Appalachian1 "The Elder women were the ones to hold M a r i 1 o u Awiakta clearly demonstrates the contrast between Z> western and Indigenous political systems. Native women were not tradition- c£ ally excluded from decision making, as has been the case for women in western politics. Native women had political authority because our nations recognized the value of having input from all members of society. The inclusion of women in decisions was critical for the security of the nation. Like her Cherokee ancestors, Awiakta points to the mentality of destruction, which sees nothing wrong with excluding 50 percent of the population from positions that are politically powerful within the nation, the community, the church, and school. There are a number of ways that our women traditionally exercised political power. Any one of our Iroquois sisters and brothers can attest to the fact that their women had (and still have, albeit to a much lesser degree) political power, and there are a number of written works that confirm this.2 Iroquois women had a role as leaders vis-a-vis the outside world, as is evident in their role in negotiating some treaties.3 In traditional Iroquois systems of governance, women's political authority extended to choosing and deposing the chiefs.4 Chieftainships were determined and managed by matrons of certain families who held meetings with other clan women to make these decisions. Iroquois women also exercised their political authority through participation in community meetings. "[Iroquois] women often addressed councils; their opinion was asked and places in council and to guide the men..." heeded. When tribal or village decisions had to be made, both men and women attended a meeting. Though the chiefs normally did the public speaking, women at times stepped up and, by their authority as owners of the land and their concern for the future of their children, took an active part in telling sachems (chiefs) what they should do."5 The Mohawks also had a women's council that would bring their issues to the Grand Council or to all of the people, if necessary. According to Sylvia Maracle, a women's council still operates. It travels between various Mohawk communities to hold public meetings. Although these women may have some influence on the modern-day political system, they no longer hold the official status or authority they did before the introduction of an elected chief and council. Other Native societies had similar political systems that ensured the participation and influence of women. Sto:lo Elder Dorris Peters recalls her grandmother telling her "women were able to choose the chiefs, and women were able to fire the chiefs." Like the Iroquois, the Cherokee had women's councils whereby women had direct input into political decisions.6 Some nations had Elders' councils that were comprised of men and women. Simona Arnatsiaq, co-ordinator of the Women's Program for the Qiqiktani Inuit Association, points out that traditional Inuit politics were dealt with by both female and male Elders who would discuss and decide matters pertaining to the community. She confirmed that informal leadership of this nature is still operating in many Inuit communities today. Monica Ittusardjuat is an Inuk currently living in Iqaluit, Nunavut. She describes how women were generally called upon to deal with matters related to community harmony and wellness, but qualifies, "there was no rule that said it had to be a woman. It was according to ability and what people did." Some societies had both male and female chiefs. Wet'suwet'en chieftainships, which are still in place today, are hereditary. Leadership positions can fall on a male or a female child, and everyone takes direction from the wisest and the eldest (male or female) chief. In Plateau societies, both women and men filled the role of chief. The wives of male chiefs also served as advisors, or as chiefs in the case of a husband's absence or death.7 The Algonkian and the Sioux had similar practices.8 see ANDERSON page 27 kSJSi IS DEC/JAN 2000 SNEAK PREVIEW from ANDERSON page 26 If formal political systems did not include women's voices, then women found the authority to voice their opinions through the influence they exercised over their male partners. This type of indirect evidence has been noted among the Blackfoot and the Sioux.9 Be-te Paul points out that in Maliseet society, "The elder women were the ones to hold places in council and to guide the men.. .We had chiefs, but the elder women were behind the men; they were listened to and held in high respect."10 Inuit women also influenced politics by stating their opinions to their husbands. These opinions were taken seriously, as they were a way of accessing the collective opinion of the women of the community. In public gatherings, older women were likely to voice opinions about policy decisions. Their status as Elders secured their authority, as it still does today: "Position in the age hierarchy protects old women from recrimination and retaliation so that they are in a position to insinuate the 'women's vote' into what would otherwise be an all-male 'caucus'."11 It may seem incredible that this territory we know as Canada once hosted societies that afforded significant political power to those currently most marginalized: older women. Yet in "Indian country," the political authority of older women is not so far in the past. Many contemporary women can describe the political authority their grandmothers held in their families and societies, even after the introduction of western political systems. Jeannette Armstrong (Okanagan) recalls how, "it was traditionally always women who made decisions about re- who made decisions about the wealth, and who carefully constructed a balance of power in the family, and a balance of work and task making and so on." Armstrong grew up in a family where her grandmother played the role of decision-maker. Maria Campbell's great-grandmother held a similar role. Campbell points out that the authority of her grandmother was based on her relationship to the children. "My great-grandmother was the head of our family. No decision was made without her first giving her blessing. My uncles would sit down and talk to her when they were going to do something. If she said no, nobody questioned it. She would tell them why, and they trusted her, because her primary responsibility to the community was to the children. Her decisions were based completely on the children. They didn't question that." It becomes clear when we listen to these women that their societies understood the significant roles, responsibilities and skills involved in being the primary caregivers of children. Their societies upheld the people who held these roles and gave them the power to make decisions about their families, communities and nations. In spite of the fact that many families and societies held on to traditional female political authority, Native women on the whole experienced a tremendous loss with the introduction of European political systems. The severest blow to their status came with the introduction of the Indian Act in 1876, which defined who was an Indian and what Indians could and could not do. The Act legally took away long-established rights for Native women, and left them with fewer rights than Indian men. Native women were categorically denied the right to vote in band elections. They could not hold political office, nor could they speak at public meetings.12 The Act also prevented Native women from voting on issues of band territory. It was not until the 1950s that Native women regained the right to participate in these public and political affairs.13 Revisions to the Indian Act gave status Indian women the right to vote in band elections, but they were not permitted to vote in provincial or federal elections in Canada until the 1960s. The Indian Act not only dispossessed women of community/communal authority, it severely dismantled their authority within the family through the imposition of patriarchal marriage and property rights. The Act decreed that Native women who married non-Native men lost their status, and that Native women who married Native men from other bands lost their rights in their home communities. Kathleen Jamieson, who has written extensively about the losses Native women experienced, wrote the following passage in 1978. In it she points to the inequities that time. "The woman, on marriage, must leave her parents'home and her reserve. She may not own property on the reserve and must dispose of any property she does hold. She may be prevented from inheriting property left to her by her parents. She cannot take any further part in band business. Her children are not recognized as Indian and are therefore denied access to cultural and social amenities of the Indian community. And, most punitive of all, she may be prevented from returning to live with her family on the reserve, even if she is in dire need, very ill, a widow, divorced or separated. Finally, her body may not be buried on the reserve with those of her forebears."14 These laws were not repealed until 1985. For over a century, Native women were shut out of their communities and families. Women who kept their status were shut out of political and economic decisionmaking because they were restricted from owning property. Even on the death of their husbands, they had no inheritance rights: "On the death of an Indian, his 'goods and chattels' and land rights were to be passed to his children. The wife was excluded, her maintenance being the responsibility of the children."15 Cathy Martin, a Mi'kmaq from Nova Scotia, points out that the removal of women from the political process was part of a deliberate dismantling of the culture overall. When the colonizers came, she says, "they saw a society where women were respected and children were respected, and this was very much against the colonialist or the patriarchal world that they came from." The Indian Act banished Native women who married white men, while at the same time awarding Indian "In order to break down and destroy a culture, you have to get to the root of it The heart of Aboriginal cultures is the women " status to white women who married Native men. Martin comments on how this may have been part of an assimilation strategy "In order to break down and destroy a culture, you have to get to the root of it. The heart of Aboriginal cultures is the women. So it makes sense to start making policies that would banish the women, the givers of the language, the culture, and life. The ones who brought in the Native children and made them Native. It made sense to make that policy so that white women could come in and take over that role and start teaching the white ways." Whatever the intent, the patriarchal provisions of the Indian Act removed Native women from their roles as decisionmakers and teachers, and robbed them of their voice in community affairs. Once active participants in the management of community affairs, they were forced into positions that held little power. This deliberate state action imposed on Native women the devalued position of women in western society. White women had no power to vote, they did not hold in decision-making on matters ranging from the family, to community, to nation. Native women who held political power were a threat to this kind of a system. They could effectively be put in their place through assimilation, or by making them the same as white women, as Janice Acoose explains. "Indigenous women's political powers (including and especially the freedom to exercise control over their bodies and relations with others) were almost completely eradicated while their energies were channeled into less threatening activities, such as ladies'auxiliary groups, church rituals (marriage, baptism, confession, communion, confirmations and funerals), as well as far less important social activities such as church sponsored teas, bake sales and bazaars."16 For the first time in our history, our women found themselves on the margins, in the ghettoes of the evolving culture. The exclusion of our women from decisionmaking in important political and community matters not only disempowered the women, it also disempowered Indigenous cultures. 1 Marilou Awiakta, Selu: Seeking the Corn Mother's Wisdom (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 1993), 9. 2 See W G. Spittal, ed., Iroquois Women, An Anthology (Oshweken, ON: Iroqrafts Ltd., 1990). 3 Sally Roesch Wagner, "The Iroquois Confederacy: ANativeAmerican Model for Non-sexist Men," in W G. Spittal, ed., Iroquois Women, An Anthology (Oshweken, ON: Iroqrafts Ltd., 1990), 220. 4 These traditional political systems still exist among the Iroquois, but they do not hold the same political power that tiiey once did. Elected band councils now hold the official authority for community governance. I use the past tense in this section to refer to a time when the traditional Iroquois system was the only means of governance. 5 Cyndy Baskin, "Women in Iroquois Society," Canadian Woman Studies 4, no. 2, (1982), 43. 6 See Marilou Awiakta, Selu: Seeking the Corn Mother's Wisdom, 38,119; Paula Gunn Allen, The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Tradition (Boston: Beacon Press, 1986), 36; and Wilma Mankiller and Michael Wallis, Mankiller: A Chief and Her People (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993), 19. 7 Lillian Ackerman, "Complementary But Equal: Gender Status in the Plateau,"in Laura F. Klein and Lillian Ackerman, eds. Women and Power in Native North America (Norman, OK: 1995), 88-89. "Robert Stephen Grumet, "Sunsksquaws, Shamans and Tradeswomen: Middle Atlantic Coastal Algonkian Women During the 17th and 18th Centuries," in Eleanor Leacock, ed., Women and Colonization: Anthropological Perspectives (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1980), 49; Carolyn Reyner, Cante ohitika Win (Brave-hearted Women): Images of Lakota Women from the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota (Vermillion, University of South Dakota Press, 1991), 5. 9 Beverly Hungry Wolf, The Ways of My Grandmothers (New York: William Morrow and Company, 1980); Maria Powers, Oglala Women: Myth, Ritual, and Reality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986). 10 In Janet Silman, Enough is Enough: Aboriginal Women Speak Out (Toronto: The Women's Press, 1987), 226. 11 Lee Guemple, "Gender in Inuit Soci- Ackerman, eds., Women and Power in Native North America (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995) 25. 12 Joanne Fiske, "Child of the State, Mother of the Nation: Aboriginal Women and the Ideology of Motherhood," Culture 12, no. 1 (1993), 20. 13 Although some gains were made as a result of the 1951 revisions, Native widows of white men had previously been allowed to return to their communities upon the death of their husband. After 1951 they were no longer allowed to do so. 14 Kathleen Jamieson, Indian Women and the Law in Canada: Citizens Minus (Ottawa: Advisory Council on the Status of Women, 1978), 1. 15 Ibid. 16 Janice Acoose, Iskwewak. Kah'Ki Yaw Ni Wahkomakanak: Neither Indian Princesses nor Easy Squaws (Toronto: Women's Press, 1995), 47. ^n*"**^ P.O. BOX 868,268 Main St. Ucluelet, B.C.V0R3A0 Phone: 250-726-2343 Fax: 250-726-2353 E-mail: westwomn@cedar.alberni.net Bringing our voices to the big screen: T'lina: a celebration of tradition by Lynda Gray a catch of eulachon' T'£INA: THE RENDERING OF WEALTH written and directed by Barb Cranmer produced by Barb Cranmer and Cari Green Nimpkish Wind Productions, Vancouver, BC, 1999 'Namgjs filmmaker Barb Cranmer has garnered yet another award for her work in bringing First Nation voices and concerns to the big screen. T'lina: The Rendering of Wealth won the best short documentary award this year at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco. Each of the three films she has submitted to the film festival over the last four years has earned her the best documentary award. Since its sold out world premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival, the film has gained much attention for its con tribution to raising the public consciousness about First Nations' modern day issues. T'lina: The Rendering of Wealth highlights the importance of recognizing and celebrating traditional activities, regardless of how few people possess the knowledge or practice them in their communities. The significance of this film was indicated by the attendance of 50 or so members of her home community of Alert Bay, who travelled to Vancouver to attend the premier. Not only did they show their support by attending, they also sang feast songs with her after the audience had a first hand chance to taste the precious t'lina (pronounced gleet-na) that was offered along with other food after the screening. This act of celebrating in a traditional manner while in a modern setting is indicative of the film itself. The balancing of cultures is played out as Cranmer smoothly works the archival clips of her people celebrating the production of t'lina and the voice of her deceased grandfather into this modern day way of recounting our history. Although Cranmer uses modern technology to document our histories, she honours the importance of continuing in our oral traditions by letting the voices of the people who know our truths be heard. T'lina is commonly thought of as just a traditional food staple, but Cranmer shares with us the many issues that are raised when speaking of t'lina. These include the traditional grease trails used for trading, its importance in the potlatch system, the rituals that are practised when gathering and processing the eulachons (the fish from which t'lina is extracted), the destruction of the environment that is causing the stocks to dwindle, and the importance of passing on the knowledge to younger generations so that this age old practice will not be forgotten. One of the most important points of the film is that the gathering of eulachons and the continuation of producing t'lina is being threatened not only by the destructive logging practices in the region, but also by the loss of knowledge of our people. But the young faces of those in the film who are pulling in the nets, standing under the falls, tending to the simmering fish, gathering the cedar bark, and celebrating in the Bighouse along with the Elders gives us hope that this irreplaceable aspect of the culture will be carried on as long as there are still fish to catch. Currently, Cranmer is working on I'tusto: To Rise Again which documents the rebuilding of the Bighouse in Alert Bay , destroyed by an act of arson in August of 1997, as well as We Weave Our History which tells the stories of six weavers working to bring traditional chilkat and geometrical weaving back to coastal First Nations communities. Nimpkish Wind Productions has also recently branched out into interactive media technologies. For more information about films produced by Barb Cranmer and Nimpkish Winds Production, contact them at 107-2772 Spruce St, Vancouver, BC, V6H 2R2; tel: (604) 731- 8044; fax: (604) 731-8011. ground work for resistance by Dian Leclair and Audrey Huntley RED POWER WOMEN produced by Cleo Reece Vancouver, BC, 1999 Red Power Women is a must-see video created by Cleo Reece, a member of the Vancouver-based Indigenous Media Arts Group (IMAG). Her docu-drama is a personal account of the coming-of-age and political development of young radical Native women in the late 1960s and early 70s. Reece takes viewers back to when she came to Vancouver following the death of her 18-year old brother. They were the children of a Cree family from Alberta who were placed in foster care. In her search for identity, Reece found the Native Alliance for Red Power (NARP). There, she met other 'red power women,' three of whom she interviews for her video: Ginger Adams, Joan Phillip and Lee Maracle. These women relate the events which led to their politicization and their experiences in the growing Red Power movement of this time. Ginger Ambers goes back to her time at a residential school. She talks about how the resistance she was involved in then, laid the groundwork for her later political work. When older siblings learned that many of the young boys staying at the school were being sexually abused, they organized a petition expressing their anger and demanding to speak with the administration. Although, they were initially refused a meeting, the students' resolve was so great that the staff soon initiated a reform: new supervisors were hired for the younger boys and powdered milk was replaced with fresh milk. This was Amber's first lesson in political organization and it taught her that "When people come together, they can make change!" NARP was borne out of this self-empowerment and resistance. The trigger behind the group's first meeting was the murder of a Native woman in Williams Lake, BC. She was tortured to death, then thrown in the garbage. For this crime, only one of the two men responsible was fined— $200: the equivalent to hunting moose out of season. The other man was acquitted. In developing their analysis, members of NARP drew on the influence of the civil rights movement in the United States and from the writings of revolutionary thinkers such as Lenin, Mao Tse-tung and Frantz Fanon. A study group about colonization was set up to help the activists develop their politics and their radicalism. With the help of a dictionary, even those with a Grade 4 reading level could make it through the lessons of these legends of revolution. An important aspect of the struggle for members of NARP was the cultural importance of language and tradition. Internalized racism was responsible for the deep sense of shame that many Native people felt with respect to their identity, but a shift in the way the movement saw itself had begun. Travelling south of the border in support of a struggle around fishing rights— which drew tribes from all over Turtle Island—NARP members were, for the first time, exposed to a traditionalist path. People began to identify with their ancestors and to be proud of who they were. They realized they had much to heal from, and that 'the hangover of racism'—violence and addictions—was at the source of much of their pain. The women in NARP had to stand together and fight for their place beside the men. As women, they developed a sense of togetherness, and over time, love for each other as brother and sister as they grew in the struggle for sovreignty. Lee Maracle characterizes the first few years of NARP as a journey of discovery— of self, of activism, and of community. The goal, she says, is to develop the power within and to engage in the decolonizing work which will lead to a culture of healing. To do that, Maracle adds, it is critical that Native peoples regain their land base. Some of the younger women who speak towards the end of the film underline the importance of spirituality. They believe their mothers and grandmothers have uncovered the truths. It is important to tap into this but now, they feel, it is time to move to the source and begin healing on a deeper more spiritual level. Skeena Reece, Cleo's daughter, is shown speaking at a demonstration in November 1997, when leaders of 19 nations converged on Vancouver for the Leader's Summit of APEC (the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation). She states that the likes of APEC are not new to Native people who have lived with genocide for so long. She adds that, "the Creator put us here for a reason—to make a stand for the air, water and land—not just for our own children, but for all humankind." Reece's film spans the past, present and future. She was inspired by many women, and she thanks those who came before and those who will come after. "Being a part of the struggle is a responsibility that never ends, not as long as a colonial government exists." DEC/JAN 2000 Bulletin Board Bulletin Board listings have a maximum of 50 words. Groups, organizations and individuals eligible for free space in the Bulletin Board must be, or have, non-profit objectives. Other free notices will be items of general public interest and will appear at the discretion ot Kinesis. Classifieds are $8 {+$0.56 GST) for the first 50 words or portion thereof, $4 (+$0.28 GST) for each additional 25 words or portion thereof and must be prepaid. Deadline for all submissions is the I 8th of the month preceding publication. Note: Kinesis is published ten times a year. Jul/Aug and Dec/Jan are double issues. All submissions should include a contact name and telephone number for any clarification that may be required. Listings will not be accepted over the telephone. Kinesis encourages readers to research the goods and services advertised in Bulletin Board. Kinesis cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information provided or the safety and effectiveness of the services and products listed. Send submissions to Kinesis, #309-877 E. Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, V6A 3YI, fax: (604) 255-7508, or email: kinesis@web.net. For more information call (604) 255-5499. NVOLVEMENX INQUIRING MINDS WANTTO KNOW! Do you ever wonder how the pages of text in the newspaper you're holding get lined up so neatly? Want to know the fastest way to get wax off your hands? How about all the cool things you can do with a scanner? Does thinking about the right dot pattern keep you up at night? Or do visions of rubylith enter into your dreams? If so, then you definitely need to come down and help put Kinesis together. Just drop by during our next production dates and help us design and lay out Canada's national feminist newspaper, and all your questions will be answered. Come and join us. No experience is necessary. Training and support will be provided. If this notice intrigues you, call us at (604) 255-5499. Childcare and travel subsidies available. m J* J Book & j %r Art Emporium NVOLVEMENX WANNA GET INVOLVED? With Kinesis? We want to get involved with you too. Help plan our next issue. All women interested in what goes into Kinesis— whether it's news, features or arts—are invited to our Story Meetings held on the first Tuesday of every month at 7pm at our office, 309-877 E. Hastings St. For more information or if you can't make the meeting but still want to find out how to contribute to the content of Kinesis, give Agnes a call at (604) 255-5499. New and experienced writers are welcome. Childcare and travel subsidies available. VSW IS LOOKING FOR YOU! If you want to learn to do referral and peer counselling work, at VSW we are offering a great opportunity to women interested in volunteer work during the day. Come answer the phone lines, talk to women who drop in, and help connect them with the community resources they need. For more information call (604) 255-6554. Childcare and travel subsidies available. FEMINIST FUNDRAISERS WANTED VSW is seeking enthusiastic, energetic and creative women to join the Finance and Fundraising Committee. If you enjoy raising money for a great cause, organizing events, or just want to have fun, call Audrey at (604) 255-6554 today! VOLUNTEER NEWSLETTER Are you a volunteer at VSW or Kinesis? If yes, please feel free to make contributions to our monthly "Volunteer Newsletter." The newsletter is for us—for all VSW/Kinesis volunteers—and will be a place for updates on committee work, gossip, recipes, things for sale/barter, a calendar of events, and whatever else volunteers want to put in. There's a box at #309-877 E. Hastings St just waiting for your submissions. If you want more info contact Amal at (604) 255-5499 or the VSW Volunteer Development Committee at (604) 255- 6554. KINESIS MARKETING GANG Interested in being on the hottest commit- . tee at VSW? Then check out the Kinesis Marketing Gang. We're looking for women who have experience or are interested in advertising and marketing. The Marketing Gang works as a collective to strategize on innovative ways to promote and raise the profile of Kinesis. The gang meets monthly. Training and support will be provided by Kinesis marketing coordinator Jenn Lo. Call her at (604) 255-5499. EVENTS THE CANNIBAL'S WIFE The North Shore Women's Centre invites you to a book reading and presentation by Yvonne Maes, author of The Cannibal's Wife. The reading will take place on Fri Dec 3 at 10:30am at the Women's Centre, 944 W. 16th St, North Vancouver. The event is free and open to all women, but registration is required. For more info call (604) 984-6009. Y2GAY IN SONG The Vancouver Lesbian and Gay choir, the Sapphic Song Weavers and Betty greet the year 2000 with confident delivery of a song list that should banish anyone's Christmas blues. If you're downtown Sat Dec 4, plan to stay for the 7:30 opening of the doors at St. John's United Church, Comox and Broughton. Rest your feet and please your ears, then meet the choir and guest artists at the end of the show. LET'S VEG! An informative workshop on vegetarianism and women will be held on Thurs Dec 2 at 7pm at the North Shore Women's Centre, 944 W. 16th St, North Vancouver. Topics to be covered will focus on the health issues most important to women. Hosted by Earth Save Canada and presented by Sally Errey, Holistic Nutrition Consultant. This workshop is free and open to all women. Pre-registration is required. For more info or to register, call (604) 984-6009. ' WOMEN OF SUBSTANCE The North Shore Women's Centre would like to invite you to an art opening and reception on Wed Dec 8 from 4-7pm. The art opening will showcase the work of Sharalee Regehr and will commemorate the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. The opening will be held at the North Shore Women's Centre at 944 W. 16th St in North Vancouver. For more info call (604) 984- 6009. PURPLE ROSE CAMPAIGN The Philippine Women Centre will be launching its new campaign to end the trafficking of Filipino women on Sat Dec 4 at the Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews, starting at 7pm. It will be an evening of exciting performers and artists, including Katari Taiko and Alvin Tolentino. The event will also feature an art auction of works donated by local artists. Tickets are $10. For more info, tickets or to volunteer, call Marilou or Ning at (604) 215- 1103. Western Canada's Lesbian & Gay Bookstore Open Daily 10am to 1 lpm Our Books/Our Issues Gay Fiction Lesbian Fiction Our Magazines & Journals AIDS/Health Humour Erotica Queer Theory Feminist Theory Biographies, Essays, Poetry Religion & Spirituality Art & Photography Community Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium 1238 Davie Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6E 1N4 (604) 669-1753 Phone Orders 1-800-567-1662 Internet Address: http://www.lsisters.com Paula Clancy, b.a. Certified General Accountant Auditing Accounting Financial Planning Income Tax Services for Organizations Small Businesses and Individuals Tel: (604)215-1720 Fax:(604)215-1750 pclancy @bc.sympatico.ca CANDLELIGHT VIGIL Douglas College Women's Centre and Student Union invite you to commemorate the 14 women murdered at Montreal Lecole Polytechnique on Dec 6, 12:15 pm at the Atrium, David Lam Campus, 1250 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam. CDWCR'S 7TH ANNIVERSARY You are invited to a party! It's for members and friends of the Committee for Domestic Workers' and Caregivers Rights (CDWCR). And it's on Sat Dec 11 from 3-8pm. There'll be music, a craft fair, games, dancing and potluck dinner. Where: Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House, 800 E. Broadway, Vancouver. See you there! For more info call 874-0469. CHILD POVERTY Linda Moreau of End Legislated Poverty is January's featured speaker at the Richmond Women's Centre's monthly tea-party, held on Jan 20, 1:00-3:00 pm. All women welcome. For location and other info, call Terrie at (604) 279-7060. THE COLOR OFVIOLENCE The Color of Violence: Violence Against Women of Color conference will take place on Apr 28-29, 2000 at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The conference will bring together Indigenous women and women of color to explore and strategize around the relationships among racism, colonialism, and gender violence in the lives and histories of women of color and Indigenous women. Angela Davis and Haunani Kay Trask will be the keynote presenters. For full details, visit the conference website at: www2.ucsc.edu/people/ andysm/ To receive registration materials, contact Andrea Smith at #4-3 Felix St, Santa Cruz, CA, 95060; tel: (831) 460- 1856; fax: (831) 459-3733; or email: andysm@cats.ucsc.edu. ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES The Vancouver Women's Health Collective is hosting a series of education sessions on body-focused alternative therapies. The workshops will be held on the first Thursday of the month from 6:30-8:30 pm at the collective, 219-1675 W. 8th Ave. The next session on Jan 13 will focus on Feldenkrais, the Alexander technique. A $3 sliding scale donation is requested. Seating is limited, so please register by calling (604) 736-5262. GOOD AD, GREAT DEAL, RIGHT PRICE EIGHT DOLLARS (PLUS G.S.T.) FOR THE FIRST FIFTY WORDS LEGAL REPRESENTATION AND MEDIATION SERVICES in: labour and employment law human rights civil litigation public interest advocacy MUNRO • PARFITT LAWYERS Melinda Munro and Clea Parfitt 401-825 granville street Vancouver, b.c. v6z1k9 689-7778 (tel) 689-5572 (fax) quality legal services woman friendly atmosphere DEC/JAN 2000 KINESIS Bulletin Board GROUPS GROUPS GROUPS SUBMISSIONS OTTAWA RCC The Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre is looking for committed volunteers to work on its crisis line, or Public Education and Fundraising program. Ottawa RCC is a volunteer-based organization which relies on over 8,000 volunteer hours a year. Volunteering can and often does lead to paid work. As part of the Centre's diversity plan, priority will be given to women from diverse ethno-racial/cultural backgrounds. If you would like to join the Ottawa RCC in building a fully inclusive anti-racist service, call (613) 562-2334, ext 24 for an information package. SURVIVORS FOR SURVIVORS Survivors for Survivors, a self-help group run by and for women survivors of childhood sexual abuse, offers referrals and weekly support meetings. The group aims to maintain a warm, safe and judgement- free environment in which women can speak about their lives, be heard by open ears, and move towards healing. Meetings take place in the North Vancouver area. For meeting dates or more info call Maya at (604) 987-6486. All calls held in strictest confidence. JAPANESE QUEER GROUP A new group has started up in Vancouver for lesbians, bisexual women and transgendered women of Japanese heritage. Meetings will be every third Thursday. We will provide you with a safe and joyful place to meet others. For location and more info call Tomiye at (604) 728-0097; or contact Aki on her pager at (604) 708-6867 or by email at akingl 976 @ hotmail.com BI-WOMEN'S GET-TOGETHER A bisexual women's get-together in Vancouver is being held once a month for conversation, munchies, laughs and the occasional bi-related movie. For more info and to get on the email list, call (604) 734- 9407 or email Liane at angelbum@netcom.ca. NAC YOUNG WOMEN'S CAUCUS The National Action Committee on the Status of Women presents its Young Women's Caucus for women between the ages of 16 and 30. It is imperative that young women have space where their voices are validated, celebrated and honoured. The NAC Young Women's Caucus is committed to providing that space, as well as demanding it! Please join in the struggle. For more info contact Rachel at (416) 755-9605, email: thedivas@pathcom.com; or Kelly at (905) 525-0629, email: hwetl-pr@interlynx.net. PRIDELINE The Centre's Prideline offers information, referrals, and peer support to lesbian, gay, transgendered and bisexual people 7 days a week from 7-1 Opm. In the Lower Mainland call (604) 684-6869. Elsewhere in BC call 1-800-566-1170. BWSS SUPPORT GROUPS Battered Women's Support Services in Vancouver offers a range of support groups for women who are in or who have been in abusive intimate relationships. Women meet to share common experiences and to receive emotional support, information and practical help on resources. BWSS has various drop-in groups, including a custody and access support group, a group for Japanese women, a group run through the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre, and 10-week groups. Bus tickets and onsite childcare or childcare subsidies are available. Call (604) 687-1867 for more info. SATRANG If you are into drama, theatre sports, et cetera, and feel strongly about issues affecting South Asian women, come and check out the South Asian Theatre and Networking Group. Satrang is about enthusiasm and having fun with your creativity in a positive scene. Meetings are every Monday from 3:30-5pm at the South Asian Women's Centre, 8163 Main Street, Vancouver. For more info call Anu at (604) 592-0013 or Sonia at (604) 325-6637. MENOPAUSE AWARENESS GROUP The Surrey Women's Centre is sponsoring a Menopause Awareness Group which meets the 4th Monday of each month for informal discussions around menopause issues. The group starts at 7:30pm and will be held at the centre. For location or more info call Janet or Sharon at (604) 589- 1868. BUILDING BLOCKS Building Blocks Vancouver offers information and support for Spanish-speaking, Vietnamese and Aboriginal women living in the Grandview Woodland area expecting their first baby or with newborns under three-months old. The program has a great team of Home Visitors to assist women. For more info call Mosaic at (604) 254-9626 or the Vancouver Aboriginal Family and Child Services at (604) 251-4844, local 311. WOMEN ABUSE SUPPORT GROUP Battered Women's Support Services in Vancouver is offering a support group for women who are in or have been in abusive intimate relationships with women. The group provides emotional support, legal information and advocacy, safety planning, and referrals. The group is free and confidential. Bus tickets and childcare subsidies are available. For more info (604) 687-1867. COMPULSIVE EATING SUPPORT A drop-in support group for women with issues of compulsive eating is held twice a month at the Eating Disorder Resource Centre of BC, St. Paul's Hospital, Room 2C-213, 1081 Burrard St, Vancouver. Drop- in times are 7:30 - 9pm every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month. Facilitated by Colleen Hyland and Cynthia Johnston. For more info call (604) 631-5313. RAPE RELIEF VOLUNTEERS Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter needs women who are interested in volunteering for their 24-hour crisis line and transition house for women and children. Volunteer training sessions are held Tuesday evenings. For more info and a training interview call (604) 872-8212. SHAKTI Shakti (meaning "strength") is a self-help group in Vancouver for South Asian women who have experienced the psychiatric system. The group meets every 1 st and 3rd Saturday of the month 1-3pm at South Vancouver Neighbourhood House, 6470 Victoria Dr. Join the group for outings, discoveries, peer support, and relaxing massage. Participation is free. For more info call Helen (604) 733-5570 (for English); or (604) 682-3269 box 8144 (for Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu). Sponsored by the Vancouver/Richmond Mental Health Network. LESBIAN SOCIAL GROUP In the Company of Women, a social group for lesbians in the Lower Fraser Valley meets one Friday every month in the Surrey/Langley area to plan social activities. For more info call Jill at (604) 576- 8107. ALLIESTO FIRST NATIONS WOMEN "Allies to First Nations Women," a subcommittee of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women-BC region, has been re-activated. The subcommittee works in solidarity with Aboriginal women, particularly in the areas of research, proposal writing and organizing. Any woman wishing to join is welcome. For more info call Jenea at (604) 294-8092. MOTHERS INTRANSITION Mothers in Transition Support Group holds regular coffee meetings for mothers who have lost custody of their offspring due to mental illness. Come meet other moms of like mind and situations. Share experiences and interests. We hope together to lessen the burden of living without our offspring. We create friendship. Private meetings with Dawn are also available. For more info, contact Dawn at (604) 871-0151. FIRST NATIONS SUPPORT GROUP A new social support group of Adult First Nations (Native) Former Foster Care and Adoptee members will be meeting on Tuesday Nov 30, Dec 14, and Jan 18, 2000. The meetings will be at #425-380 W. 1st, Vancouver, BC. For more info call George at (604) 871-0909 or Joyce at (604)709-8164. SUBMISSIONS SURVEY ON WOMEN WITH DISABILTIES A survey on the midlife needs of women with disabilities is being organsized by Pacific DAWN (DisAbled Women's Network) and the BC Centre of Excellence for Women's Health. For the first time, someone is asking women with disabilities about their mid-life changes. If you are 35 years of age or older and are willing to share your midlife experiences with us, please phone (604) 875-2280, press 4 and leave your name and phone number. Please phone as soon as possible as we must complete this part of the survey by Dec 17, 1999. CALLING ALL QUEER PINAYS If you are a Filipina and identify as queer, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, tibo... If you have stories, essays, poetry, journal writings, drawings, photos, comics, recipes... Sa PinayKa, A Pinay lesbian group in Toronto, would like to hear from you. This is your last chance to be a part of this ground-breaking work, A Queer Pinay Anthology. Final deadline Jan 31,2000. Send submissions to SisterVision Press, c/ o Pinay, PO Box 217, Stn E, Toronto, ON, M6H 4E2; or by email to bengg@hotmail.com. GENDER AND GLOBALIZATION The Journal for Gender Studies is publishing a special issue on "Gender and Globalization" in September 2000. A broad spectrum of articles representing feminist perspectives on gender and globalization from all parts of the world are being sought. Themes may include: the feminization of labour and the gender of labour markets; transnationalization of identity politics (youth culture, gender, sexuality); effects on Indigenous peoples and nationalist movements, et cetera. Submissions may be in the form of academic articles, poetry, photographs, artwork, and so on. Send submissions to: The Editors, The Journal of Gender Studies, CASS, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, England. For more info email: journal-gender-studies@cas.hull.ac.uk. Deadline is Jan 30. CHILD CARE ADVOCACY Dr. Susan Prentice, a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Manitoba, is seeking submissions for an edited text on the history, politics and practice of child care in Canada from 1945- 1995. The aim of the anthology is to identify the particular ways that child care mobilization has contributed to the development of policy and services in Canada. For suggested topic ideas or if you wish to submit a paper, contact Susan Prentice, Department of Sociology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3R 2N2; tel: (204) 474-6726 (call collect); fax: (204) 261-1216; e-mail: sprenti@cc.umanitoba.ca. The submission deadline is June 2000, but is flexible. PHOTOS OF GAY AND LESBIAN FAMILIES A Safer World, a National Film Board documentary/animation project, is looking for a diverse array of out gay couples and their families to share their photos or to be photographed. For more info or to make a submission, call Chris at (604) 255-0057. ART SHOW SPACE The Vancouver Women's Health Collective has opened its space to women artists. Shows will run for 4-6 weeks under contract guidelines. The Collective will host an opening, and provide some advertising as well as hanging materials. For details, leave a message for Christine Campbell or Tamara Flick-Parker at (604) 736-4234. BLACK GIRLHOOD Contributions are sought for a proposed anthology on the topic of girlhood in African American and Diasporic African Women's Fiction and Autobiography. Essays which explore girlhood and coming-of-age as themes within Black women's literature are welcome. Send double spaced manuscripts (between 25-30 pages) in hard copy, a brief biographical statement, and a stamped self-addressed envelope to the address below. Preliminary deadline for book proposal package is Dec 15,1999. For all other contributions, the deadline is Jan 31, 2000. For questions, please contact Gabrie'l Atchison via email: atchison71 @aol. HEALTH NETWORK The Canadian Women's Health Network invites submissions for its quarterly newsletter, Network. If you'd like to contribute or wish to suggest a topic we should cover, please email the editor at news@cwhn.ca. Or contact her at CWHN Network, 203-419 Graham Ave, Winnipeg, MB, R3C 0M3, or visit the CWHN website at www.cwhn.ca. RIDETHEWIND Ride the Wind is collecting submissions for an Anthology on women's experiences in the workplace. Poetry and personal essays of approx. 10-pages max, typewritten. Submissions should focus on the difficulties women have working in the labour market, how these difficulties have been coped with, or resolved, and also what successes the author enjoyed. Pseudonyms required for co-workers and companies, and may also be used for writer. Deadline Dec 31. Send to Ride the Wind, PO Box 965 Stn. A. Campbell River, BC.V9W 6Y4, fax (250)923-0541, email ridewind @ angelfire.com Got Something to say? Classify it! DEC/JAN 2000 Bulletin Board gjCLASSIFIEDS OCEAN FRONT CABIN Charming, secluded, ocean front cabin, Roberts Creek, Sunshine Coast. Two bedrooms, full bath, kitchen with all amenities. Relax in picturesque setting. Ideal for cycling, hiking, swimming, kayaking. Children welcome. Friendly, trained outdoor felines OK. Smoke free indoors. Weekly $350. Group retreat rates. Weekend rates. Available from May/99. (250) 352-3609 or hgh@netidea.com WOMEN'S SELF-DEFENSE Women Educating in Self-defense Training (WEST) teaches Wenlido. In Basic classes, you learn how to make the most of mental, physical and verbal skills to get away from assault situations. Continuing training builds on basic techniques to improve physical and mental strength. By women, for women. For info, call (604) 876-6390. CITYVIEW CO-OP Cityview Housing Co-op is accepting applications for its waitlist for one, two and three bedroom suites ($565, $696, $795 per month and refundable share purchase). Carpets, blinds, appliances, parking and laundry room. Children and small pets welcome. Participation required. Please send a business size SASE to Membership Committee, Cityview Housing Co-op, 108- 1885 E. Pender St, Vancouver, BC, V5L 1W6. WOMEN IN PRINT BOOKS & OTHER MEDIA Discountsfor book clubs ♦ Special orders SEXUAL ASSAULT Published by the Montreal Health Press, a women's collective, producing quality books on health and sexuality for 30 The most up-to-date information on sexual assault: how to handle an assault, prevention, the social context. 1997 EDITION New information on: ♦ Pregnancy and STDs resulting from an assault ♦ Partner assault ♦ Dating violence ♦ Abuse of people with disabilities No other resource offers the combination of personal and practical information, an understanding of why sexual assault happens and ways to work for positivechange Send $5.00 (cheque or money order) to: Montreal Health Press Inc. P.O. Box 1000 Station Place du Pare Montreal (Quebec) Canada H2W 2N1 Tel.: (514) 282-1171 Fax: (514) 282-0262 E-mail: mhpmontreal@msn.com CLASSIFIEDS VOLUNTEERS NEEDED Empower your community while developing job skills.The British Columbia Persons with AIDS Society needs volunteers. There are opportunities for all interests and skills. Particularly needed now are people with law, administrative, research or data entry skills. For more information, contact Gillian Barber at (604) 893-2298. MINDFULNESS-BASED STRESS REDUCTION FOR WOMEN This meditative approach to working with stress, pain and illness is offered in introductory classes, eight week courses or individual sessions. For more info call Deborah Prieur at (604) 733-6136. ROOMMATE WANTED Hey there women! I need you and you may need me! I'm looking for a roommate for Feb 1 or Mar 1, and this time my roommate is really moving out! I live in a sunny breezy top floor, two-bedroom suite in an East Vancouver co-op close to the Drive. Underground parking and laundry facilities on site. I am looking for a non-smoker, gay- friendly, tidy, responsible, easygoing woman to share my plant-iful apartment. No pets please, I'm allergic. You would pay $348 per month plus share deposit. Call me, Lisa, at (604) 253-1827. ? CONGRATULATIONS ABORIGINAL WOMEN'S ACTION NETWORK (AWAN)!!! On the success of your Bill C-31 project North Shore Women's Centre 944 West 16th Street, North Vancouver, B.C. V7P 1K5 Tel: 984-6009 Fax: 980-4661 E-mail: nswc@direct.ca URL: www.nscweb.org/nswc CORRINE HUNT SPECIALIZING IN KWAKIUTL JEWLLERY 501-3600 WINDCREST DR. NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C. V7G 2S5 T:(604) 924-0273 F:(604) 924-0243 EMAIL: CORRINEHUNT@HOTMAIL.COM For info on how to advertise in Kinesis call jenn @ (604) 255-5499 tEMmmsmm Massage Therapy Craniosacral Therapy 736-1910 315-2150 West Broadway, V«K 4L9 Vancouver, BC Angela Povis Vancouver Status of Women is pleased to announce that prominent scholar, author and social activist, Angela Davis, will speak at a fundraising event for the Vancouver Status of Women on Saturday, February 12, 2000 @ 8:00 pm. The event at the Vogue Theatre (918 Granville St.) will be one of the highlights of the first Black History Month of the new millennium. Davis gained international attention in 1969 for her membership in the U.S. Communist Party and for her activism in the civil rights movement. In 1970 she was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List and was eventually incarcerated for eighteen months on false charges. A massive international "Free Angela Davis" campaign led to her acquittal in 1972. During the last 25 years, Davis has been active as a student, teacher, writer and continues to be an outspoken activist and organizer on issues of race, gender and class. Tickets for this exciting event are $35 each ($25 for students & seniors) on sale now at all TicketMaster outlets or Charge-By-Phone @ 280-4444 DEC/JAN 2000 3\A1» sfrerflc>uJ 3K/rr, -101 ^s: -ft slcernouJ gvrr-vm. es> -J p'rHrnooi gv/rr^neussi uj 3v/»t/m^ijssi s'r^moui 3v/rrysrm IK 3v/rT/^r0LJB2l S'r0ft1CJai 3v/rr/*r0U_ ~ 10001 avrryvmjsgi ■ M3v/rr^rSUBSl 13v/rr/V^USSl " I S'rWJ^v/rfWHlJBgl b'rernoiii 3v/rr^r0uissi srernajj ■ 2'nernouJ 3^/rr/v-Buesi g'rernouJ gv.. fe'rwioiu 3v/ir^rBue^i ^'rernoui 3\/rrv s'rBrnoai avrryveuesi s'remcjuj ^/ha s'remoai ^v/rr/trsuesi s'rernpuj ^v/it/v . s'nBmouJ 3v/rr/veuesi sT&flom ^K/rrysna B'nsmcJiu 3v/it/mt0ubsi sTemoui pvfPArtii s'nancjui ■3sjnt><&03&\ s'rHrnoui 3\/r D Bill me D New □ Renewal One year □$20 + $1.40 GST Two years □$36 + $2.52 GST Institutions/Groups □ Gift □$45 + $3.15 GST □ Donation □ Visa □ Mastercard Card#: Name Address Country Telephone E-mail □ Cheque enclosed For individuals who can't afford the full amount 3 for Kinesis subscription, send what you can. Free to women prisoners. Orders outside Canada add $8. Vancouver Status of Women Membership (includes Kinesis subscription) □$30+$1.40 GST Expiry date: Postal code. Fax Published ten times a year by the Vancouver Status of Women #309-877 E. Hastings St., Vancouver, BC V6A 3Y1
Preceding title: Vancouver Status of Women. Newsletter. Date of publication: 1974-2001. Frequency: Monthly.
Periodicals
Newspapers
HQ1101.V24 N49
English
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Vancouver : Vancouver Status of Women
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Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. HQ1101.V24 N49
Women--Social and moral questions
Feminism--Periodicals
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