I've spent the good part of four days of holidays glued to Ancestry.ca pulling together both Ralph's lineage and my own for this post. It's as though I've been given a magical looking glass into the lives of our ancestors. For Ralph's ancestors we were able to go back to the 1400s and for my own into the 1500s. None of this has been double checked by a historian so if there are grave errors, that would be both my fault and the fault of our ancestors for being so free with the spellings of their names.
My grandfather Harvey Gladue's ancestors were predominentely French until settling for several generations in Lac La Biche. Prior to Lac La Biche, they lived in the Montreal area, specifically the Lachine Settlement in New France in 1689 (there were 375 inhabitants at the time, today there is around 45,000). While there, the majority of the family was killed during the Beaver Wars, and specifically the Lachine Massacre, which resulted due to continued disputes of land with the Iroquois. Those who survived the massacre made their way west to Red River and Lac La Biche with a few taking residence in Pelican Portage and Calling Lake, Alberta. Along the way a great grandmother appears to have signed away their treaty rights which is likely why my grandfather and his ancestors were considered Metis or non-Status. It was near Calling Lake where he met my grandmother, Maggie Auger, who's family is essentially a mystery on Ancestry.ca perhaps due to their Cree names which were only changed in the latter part of the 1800s due to residential school. All I know are my great grandparents names and very little else, perhaps one day I'll spend much more time in Wabasca and hear from my family members more about them and the ancestors before them. My maternal ancestors arrived in Canada in the mid 1800s likely upon the promise of homesteading. Many family members continue to farm the homestead in Meanook and around Athabasca to this very day. I'm unsure of the Indigenous history of the area other than the name Meanook means "good camping spot" in Cree which suggests that it was a stopping point. Perhaps my paternal ancestors had stopped at the very spot where my grandfather's barn sits today. It was the building of the Athabasca Landing Trail (what we know call the old highway). It is the same trail that was used by Indigenous hunters who travelled north (to Wood Buffalo) for buffalo hunting. My grandfather Harvey told me that it was a right of passage for young hunters to get a buffalo but it was a long journey so he only went for himself once. Once the railroad reached Calgary in 1883, goods were shipped to Edmonton, then to Athabasca Landing where they were loaded onto steam boats and carried down the Athabasca River. The Trail saw hundreds of Klondikers travel its dirt path in 1897 and 1898 on their way to strike it rich. From then on, homesteaders came by the thousands to settle the area, including my maternal family the Browns, Tuckers, Doreys and Hopps. I could go on and on but will end with a few ancestral discoveries about Ralph:
Now how do we fit into the dispossession of Indigenous people in Canada? I think that is indisputable that our family members (both maternal and paternal) participated in the settlement of the Americas as both as settler and Indigenous. How does that make me feel? Surprisingly ok, because if both of our families could come together and intertwine (willingly and lovingly) then I believe there is hope for reconciliation and seeing each other's perspectives.
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Reconciliation means action. The creative vision of emerging Indigenous writers is precious. The Emerging Indigenous Writers award was created to help support and nurture the work of new Indigenous writers. The award is crowd funded because every person, big or small, wealthy or modest in means, can make a difference. We are all the richer when there is space for all of our voices to join the conversation. My contribution, despite very small at $25 will add to the contributions of many others who are taking up the #150acts challenge. From that joint effort, I hope this award will inspire incredible writers, and if one happened to be from this region, even better (you know who you are!). That great literary work, whether it is a few prose or a whole novel has the power to change the world, inspire those who wouldn't otherwise had been inspired, to bring a youth to another realm of possibility. In western culture, we have done a disservice to our future, to progress itself, by not supporting the arts as it should be supported. There are men and women of all ages who are on the cusp of greatness, if only they a little bit of support from every one of us. Together, the future is ours to shape. Donate today. 9/9/2017 1 Comment #10: Watch CBC's 8th FireWab Kinew's 8th Fire series on CBC is one of my absolute favourite series that brings the message of reconciliation and truth forward to the masses. It operates in a space of education not one of guilt. This four part series provides a wide range of information on the history and current affairs of Canadian's Indigenous people; and even though it was produced five years ago the message is right on point for today. Wab Kinew, who is now a Member of Legislative Assembly in Manitoba, travelled coast to coast encouraging ways that Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Canada can mend the relationship and together develop a mutually beneficial and respectful future. The series provides the context behind the ongoing struggle to rediscover culture that was nearly extinguished and the successes of artists, business minded leaders and in particular youth to overcome an overwhelming amount of barriers. I've watched it once a year since it first aired and it reminds me of one important fact, that many Canadians, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous have a total grasp on our journey over the last 500. More importantly, I learn something new from the series every time I take the time to really listen. This year, I learned a completely new term (Part 2, 8:00) - "perenially-poor", as new gardener this term really stuck with me. The context it was used in was in relation to the Indian Act and the fact that Indigenous communities were isolated and every aspect of their lives were prescribed by that particular piece of legislation. Don't want to go too far into the content as I want you to watch the four part series, but it is really good. I have it on my iTunes so can watch or show someone anytime on my iPhone. For those not a big fan of iTunes, I suggest watching it on CBC or on YouTube. Below is a teaser, just 2 minutes of the series but an informative 2 minutes at that. 9/6/2017 0 Comments #70: When travelling, know whose land you are visiting & #71: Do more than google.Last weekend we travelled to traditional Muwekma Ohlone, Miwok and Wappo territories. Today, the territories are referred to San Francisco and Napa Valley. One of the major tourist attractions in San Francisco is the tour of Alcatraz Island, tourists generally want to see where Al Capone was imprisoned or to learn about some of the great escapes from the island... not us! We went to learn more about the 1969 Indian Occupation of the Island (traditional Ohlone territory). From November 20, 1969 to June 11, 1971 nearly eighty men, women and children occupied the island as a stand against the broken treaties, promises and lives suffered by America's Indian people. They held the island for 19 months in a non-violent act that many consider to be the renaissance of Native rights in North America. Unfortunately, Ralph and I were the only people on that particular tour. Note: I use the term "Indian" for this post because it is the term that the exhibit "We are Still Here" used and the exhibit was a collaborative effort by the Department of Indian Studies at California State University, the Richard Oakes Cultural Centre, Department of Indian Studies at San Francisco State, International Indian Tribal Council amongst several others. In Canada the term "Indian" can be misconstrued as a derogatory term and should not be used. History: When we first heard about the occupation, I did a fair bit of pre-reading on the Indigenous history in California. Canadians are taught very little about American-Indigenous relations other than a slight mention that wars had taken place. Honestly, I've always thought it would be better to have warred rather than have hundreds of years of cultural genocide. Was I ever wrong. American Indian people suffered hundreds of years of violence and brutality under Spanish and Mexican rules, and then legal enslavement under the United States government. The Spanish missions starting in the late 1600s, and Mexican rancheros in the early 1800s would use homocidal tactics to drive Indian people from what small remaining lands they held and force them into labour on those very lands. Unfortunately a common killer in all of the Americas, is disease, it had a much greater effect on the Indian population than the perpetual violence. Measles, respiratory disease, smallpox and scarlet fever killed tens of thousands in the Bay area. In 1851, there was a beacon of hope when the federal government appointed three commissioners to start the negotiation of treaties with California Indians. By 1852, 18 treaties had been negotiated with 139 tribes. The treaties set aside 7,488,000 acres of land, or approximately one-third of California, for Indian use. Then, those treaties were placed in secret files, where they remained for the next 53 years unratified (agreed upon and then hidden, I joke not!) To add salt to the wound, in 1871, the United States Congress officially declared that it would no longer negotiate treaties with American Indians opting instead to develop a policy of setting up reservations and moving the Indians to them. In 1870, in an attempt to convert the Indians to Christianity, the federal government turned over operation of the reservations to Methodists, Baptists, and other churches. Further, to education the Indian out of the remaining population an elementary school system was developed and in 1881, school attendance was made mandatory. In comparison to Canada, attendance was not as heavily enforced so many did not attend or openly revolted through arson and physical altercations with the school staff. In terms of human rights, it was the enactment of the 14th Amendment in 1868 that basic human rights were restored to American Indian people. 140 year later, Canada extended those very rights under the Canadian Human Rights Act in 2008. That doesn't mean that human rights violations do not take place for both American and Canadian Indigenous people, only that there is now an ability to make complaints of discrimination to the respective Human Rights Commissions. Since the 1900s in the United Station, treaties have been negotiated and rejected; reservations established, dissolved, then reinstated. Thus the Indigenous population remain arguably to this day in a state of unrest. Occupation: The occupation was a land claim. The organizers cited the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) between the United States and the Sioux, that states that all retired, abandoned and out-of-use federal lands would be returned. With the closing of the Alcatraz penitentiary in 1963, the federal government declared the island as surplus federal property and was for all purposes "abandoned". A group of university students, realizing the opportunity and legal foundation, created a movement called Red Power and organized for a night time crossing to the island. Once established on the island a (humorous but serious) proclamation was sent to the U.S. government which stated the following: We, the native Americans, re-claim the land known as Alcatraz Island in the name of all American Indians by right of discovery. We wish to be fair and honorable in our dealings with the Caucasian inhabitants of this land, and hereby offer the following treaty: We will purchase said Alcatraz Island for 24 dollars in glass beads and red cloth, a precedent set by the white man's purchase of a similar island about 300 years ago. We know that $24 in trade goods for these sixteen acres is more than was paid when Manhattan Island was sold, but we know that land values have risen over the years. Our offer of $1.24 per acre is greater than the 47 cents per acre the white men are now paying the California Indians for their land. We will give to the inhabitants of this land a portion of that land for their own, to be held in trust by the American Indian Government for as long as the sun shall rise and the rivers go down to the sea -- to be administered by the Bureau of Caucasian Affairs (BCA). We will further guide the inhabitants in the proper way of living. We will offer them our religion, our education, our life-ways, in order to help them achieve our level of civilization and thus raise them and all their white brothers up from their savage and unhappy state. We offer this treaty in good faith and wish to be fair and honorable in our dealings with all white men. We feel that this so-called Alcatraz Island is more than suitable as and Indian Reservation, as determined by the white man's own standards. By this we mean that this place resembles most Indian reservations, in that:
Despite blocked by the Coast Guard, cut off from supplies and power and losing the media attention over time, the activists re-energized many American Indian tribes across the Nation and abroad. It was a bold statement to reverse Western practices of land cessation and is celebrated annually with unThanksgiving Day with a sunrise ceremony on the island until this very day. Having a permanent display on the island and remnants of the occupation preserved for historical education is a win in itself. It is rare to see recognition of Indigenous people, other than a romanticized version, portrayed in high volume tourist areas in America. Our tour of Napa proved that point, when asked which specific Indian tribe's territory does each winery sit upon, not a single guide could answer, despite there being an active archaeological site in Napa town centre and an even more active tribal council in the area.
Wherever you go, find out who's territory you stand upon and go further by challenging those who should know. Each winery will be receiving a letter from me suggesting the they add that recognition to all of the educational and tasting tours, in partnership with the Suscol Intertribal Council. |
About me
I grew up in Athabasca, AB and have spent the majority of my life in Northern Alberta or Montreal, PQ. My husband has been in Fort McMurray since the 70s and continues to love this town and all that it has to offer. We are avid outdoor enthusiasts, spending our summer weekends quadding and camping. As Opimian members we thoroughly enjoy wine pairings and tastings and are working on our wine collection. Ralph is a carpenter by trade and has framed more houses in Fort McMurray than I could count and knows the city inside and out. I work all throughout the region from the NWT to Janvier for the tribal council. My passion is doodling and photography which is featured throughout the website (various mediums), writing, Indigenous studies, and learning in general. Categories |