11/8/2018 17 Comments I Am Only A WomanIn the Anishinaabe world it was from Creator’s Dream that all was created. During the First Order of Creation the four sacred elements of Water, Rock, Wind, and Fire were brought into existence; during the Second Order of Creation the plant nations were brought into existence; during the Third Order of Creation the animal nations were brought into existence. Once all else was here on our Mother Earth, doing all the things they do, and once everything was beautiful and in its place, Creator began to lower humans to the Earth. At this time, during the Fourth Order, humans were gifted with free will and the intelligence of the mind. Within the Anishinaabe tradition it is valued that all the beings before humans are more intelligent. We value that Water, a member of the First Order, was born knowing what to do; and trees, although a little bit further from Creator and born in the Second Order, also hold a lot of Creator’s knowledge and wisdom, thus they know how to stand straight with integrity. We also value that although the Animal beings are born in the Third Order, who hold less knowledge than the tree nation yet more of Creator’s knowledge than humans do, are our teachers in the way they carefully and lovingly teach their young. And we value that humans born in the Fourth Order, despite the gift of our minds, require even more teachings than all the other beings. We value that we are only human and not as intelligent as all that came before. Within this understanding I know I am only a woman. As many people know one of the main differences between Indigenous people and our knowledge philosophy and most, if not all, settler Canadians, is that Indigenous people value the Original Dream and Creator’s Laws. Another way to understand this difference is to value that Indigenous assumptions, beliefs, teachings, and rituals are intentionally and consciously designed around natural features on the Earth and the knowledge inherent. This serves to keep us rooted within Creator’s Law and the naturalistic tradition, also known as the naturalistic paradigm. The short story is that the naturalistic paradigm places natural law at its core whereas humans are placed after, but at the same time within, the broader context of all the other beings such as the four sacred elements. The humanistic paradigm is different from the naturalistic paradigm. The humanistic paradigm places humans above the natural world and above all the other beings versus after all else and within it. This includes all human creations such as our governance and economic traditions and this includes brick and mortar structures. These entities are all situated above the natural world. They are not designed to work with Creation and natural law; rather they are designed to control and monopolize the natural world. While humans are smart and able to create amazing things with the gift of our minds; our egos, greed, selfishness, and arrogance are the barriers to respecting the importance of the natural world and all that came before our arrival. This unexamined default way of being is what is meant by the Anishinaabe saying, “humans are pitiful”. As we are all beginning to learn the humanistic paradigm and all the inventions that emerge from it, is devastating our collective land and waterscapes, so much so that our water is polluted with multiple layers of different kinds of pollution: debris such as plastic and other forms of garbage; organic and inorganic chemical compounds such as dioxins, heavy metals, and pharmaceuticals; biological and sewage waste; and radioactive particles. Again, this is the result of human beings placing their needs and desires over and above all the beings within the natural world, which is a particular kind of arrogance over Creator’s Law. Creator, I think, must be sad to have gifted humans with a mind that so quickly defaults to all that is inherent in the Wendigo: Ego, greed, selfishness, and arrogance. I know I am and so are many of my friends. The problem in coming to value our own complicity in the destruction of the natural world is that most people are suffering from “cognitive paradigm paralysis” (see Ladner, 2003). What I mean by this is that many humans are unable to think conceptually about the paradigm they live within, and thus unable to think critically about the limitations of that very paradigm ‒ again the humanistic paradigm ‒ and value that there is a better and more intelligent option waiting for them to shift into. The culprit is human cognition. The mind is not as smart as we think it is. A telling example of people’s inability to understand that they are stuck within the limiting and irrational humanistic paradigm is the fact that when a brick and mortar Church, Mosque, or Synagogue is vandalized, people are disgusted and outraged and they quickly refer to it as a “hate crime”; yet when a natural sacred place that has a 5,000 year old history, such as Akikpautik and Akikodjiwan, located within the natural world of the land and waterscape of the Ottawa River is further desecrated, these same people are unable to shift conceptually and thus value that this too is indeed a hate crime. This inability to shift conceptually into the naturalistic paradigm and truly value Creation and all that came before humans, continues to harm all beings not just Indigenous nations and peoples. Akikpautik and Akikodjiwan are the very land and waterscapes where Creator placed the First Sacred Pipe, the ultimate ritual and ceremony of reconciliation. The Spirit of the West Wind gifted his son Nanaboozo with the Sacred Pipe for fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, and citizens of all nations to assist in reconciliation. Sadly, Akikpautik and Akikodjiwan are now slated for further desecration through the construction of Windmill’s Zibi condominium and retail complex, a so-called One Planet Community (now under Theia Partners and Dream Unlimited Corporation). What is particularly bizarre is that this desecration is happening just upstream from Canada’s Parliament. While I understand that I am only a woman brought to this Earth after all else and thus I am less intelligent, many know I have been on a long learning journey piecing together what Canada has done, and continues to do, to Indigenous nations and peoples. What I now know for sure is the most effective way to destroy a people is to destroy their sacred beliefs, stories, and places. It is a complete abomination that the further desecration of this sacred place of reconciliation is happening during the time of the Liberal government’s reconciliation and feminist platform. Here are a few resources if you wish to learn more about the sacredness of Akikpautik and Akikodjiwan:
© Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit. You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com
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My teacher Grandfather William CommandaI was fortunate to have spent some time with the late Algonquin Anishinaabe Grandfather William Commanda (1913 - 2011), who lived in Maniwaki Quebec and who was the last keeper of three traditional wampum belts. Grandfather Commanda taught me via the oral tradition about the significance of the Chaudière Falls, best known as Akikpautik, located in the Kiji Sìbì, now known as the Ottawa River, and adjacent to Canada’s parliament buildings. He told me why Akikpautik – which translates to “Pipe Bowl Falls” – and the islands located just downstream are sacred. Interestingly the significance of Akikpautik was observed and recorded in 1613 in Champlain’s Journals where he witnessed the Anishinaabeg ceremonially offering tobacco to the pipe bowl. [see note 1]. This was before the time when settler people imprisoned Akikpautik within the cement walls of a huge hydroelectric dam. When reading Grandfather’s face, as he told me the story, I could feel that he was sad. While many Canadians understand the Ottawa River as the border between what colonial officials created and call the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, it must be appreciated that prior to contact the river was the uniting feature of the larger Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation who reside on both sides of the river. In addition, it must be appreciated that the river, Akikpautik, and the islands are indeed the jurisdiction of the larger Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation as we have never ceded or extinguished our land and water rights. I must stress here that this includes the much larger population of the non-status and the status Algonquin. Wìsakedjàk (Nanaboozo) and His GiftsA central Anishinaabe figure and philosopher, Wìsakedjàk (also Nanaboozo), the son of the Spirit of the West Wind and Mother Earth’s first woman Winona, had many responsibilities, one of which was the naming all the beings on Mother Earth. Wìsakedjàk is also credited for bringing forth a special gift from his father, the First Sacred Pipe. As an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe community member rooted in my ancestral oral teachings I have heard that Wìsakedjàk’s footprints remain inscribed along the Ottawa River and so we know he was at Akikpautik. Many people know that Grandfather Commanda held a special vision and plan, “Asinabka the Sacred Chaudière Site”, that included re-naturalizing Pipe Bowl Falls and the three islands downstream. His plan included the removal of the large ring dam imposed, and the creation of a park, historic interpretive centre, peace building meeting site, and an Indigenous centre [see note 2 and 3]. But since capital trumps reconciliation between the Canadian state and Indigenous Nations, a well-supported development corporation known as The Windmill Development Group has momentum in moving ahead with building a “waterfront community” on this very sacred land and water space, despite sustained protests by community members, both Indigenous and settler people, as well as the opposition of most of the Algonquin Anishinaabe Chiefs in Quebec. These people want Grandfather’s plans to be implemented over more corporate destruction. Canada’s parliament buildings, the Prime Minister’s residence, the Governor General’s residence, and the entire National Capital Region reside on traditional Algonquin territory. As a result of this reality a major component of Canada’s nation-building strategy is dedicated to inventing and promoting a collective Canadian consciousness that rests on the erasure of Indigenous peoples and seizure of their territories [see note 4 and 5]. Sadly, many critical theorists realize that Canada has control and access to the resources to do this all too well. Canada's control of the resources is the very problem in that through this control they are able to manufacture a particular mindset that denies the need for valuing what is sacred. Indigenous Knowledge is in the LandFor Indigenous people our water and landscapes are very much storied as this is one way that we preserve important sacred beliefs, teachings, and knowledge for future generations to come. The short story is we want our descendants to embody and feel love for the land and the gifts it provides. For example, places such as Oiseau Rock, in Quebec, tell our story of Creation when the four sacred elements of rock, water, wind, and fire first came together. Through these stories we learn to honour the Earth for future generations. This is the very value of sacred beliefs; They are not trivial, silly, and primitive relics of the past that need to go away. In addition the location where waterways meet are valued as special meeting places in that it was through the gift of water that we were able to travel great distances to meet our relatives. One such location, situated between Quebec and Ontario, is in the Kiji Sìbì, where the Gatineau and Rideau Rivers join and where the three islands − Chaudière, Albert, and Victoria − are located downstream of the Chaudière Falls [see note 6 and 7]. Grandfather Commanda told me about the special features of Akikpautik / Chaudière Falls’ that have spiritual meaning for the Anishinaabeg, as well as for all the nearby and visiting Indigenous Nations such as the Cree and Blackfoot Nations. These features consist of a horseshoe falls, shaped as a near-circle (representing a pipe bowl); and an area where great amounts of water travel through an underwater cavern, re-emerging downstream (a pipe stem). The constriction of the river represents the narrowness of the pipe stem when it meets the bowl. Collectively, these features represent Creator’s First Sacred Pipe given to us by Wìsakedjàk [see note 8]. As I listened to Grandfather’s story my heart and mind swelled with pride and joy. This is what sacred stories and beliefs should do: fill you with the love of knowing how special you are, how special your ancestors are, and how special the land and water are. What I know for sureMeaning is not something you casually find on the ground. Rather, we are all born into meaning systems and socialized to love them. Unfortunately, power mediates the process where consequently oppressive cultures collapse sacred and moral meaning. In doing this they destroy the world. images of the sacred FallsNotes/links of interest: 1. Champlain, Samuel de. 2000. Algonquians, Hurons and Iroquois: Champlain Explores America 1603–1616. Edward Gaylord Bourne (ed.), Annie Nettleton Bourne (trans.). Dartmouth, NS: Book House Press 2. http://www.asinabka.com/geninfo.htm 3. http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/occ/2010/11-19/cpsc/02-%20report%20on%20the%20vision%20for%20the%20Askiabka.htm 4. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf 5. Gehl, L. (2014). The Truth That Wampum Tells: My Debwewin on the Algonquin Land Claims Process. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing. 6. http://albertdumont.com/the-kettle-of-boiling-waters-chaudiere-falls-algonquin-territory/ 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeFqbRBU5mk 8. Google Map Please share and like this blog. If you value my work and want to support it the donation button is below. Miigwetch. Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. She has a section 15 Charter challenge regarding the continued sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the land claims process. Her book The Truth that Wampum Tells: My Debwewin of the Algonquin Land Claims Process offers an insider-Indigenous analysis of the Algonquin land claims process in Ontario. You can reach her through, and see more of her work at www.lynngehl.com. Canada creates “chiefs” to facilitate the termination of Indigenous Nations.
2013 and 2014 mark the 250th anniversary of the 1763 Royal Proclamation and the 1764 Treaty at Niagara respectively. The Treaty at Niagara ratified the terms of the Proclamation, establishing a Nation-to-Nation constitutional agreement whereby all lands and resources would be shared. William Johnson commissioned runners of the Nipissing and Algonquin Nations, asking them to carry a printed copy of the Proclamation to all the Indigenous Nations located in the larger Great Lakes region. Along with the Proclamation the runners also offered strings of white wampum as a gesture of inviting them to the peace treaty at Niagara. As an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe I am proud of the Algonquin Nation’s role in this foundational Treaty. Regardless of this peace treaty agreement, two centuries of oppressive colonial rule has taken its toll on the Algonquin as Canada has refused to recognize its Constitutional beginnings as Nation-to-Nation with Indigenous Nations and has monopolised all our land and resources. Within this context of colonial rule, the process where some non-status Algonquin began to call themselves “chiefs” and refer to the people they keep informed about the Algonquin land claims and self-government process as “First Nations” requires clarity. After they were selected, and then so-called elected, to sit at the negotiating table with the provincial and federal governments of Ontario and Canada these non-status Algonquin began to call themselves “chiefs” and the group of Algonquin that they keep informed as “First Nations”. In this way they are not really chiefs and not really leaders of a First Nation. After all a colonial process is not the process by which someone becomes a chief, and for that matter it is not the process by which a group of people become a legitimate community let alone a First Nation. Further to this, the really peculiar thing is that these so-called chiefs sitting at the land claims and self-government table do not change. This is due to faulty election processes and a lack of participating Algonquin in that many Algonquin are apathetic to the real issues or they are too busy to be actively involved, women more so as they are busy raising children and dealing with other issues the western model of society has imposed. In addition many Algonquin have walked away entirely because they know it is a colonial process. As a result, these so-called chiefs are there for life of the so-called negotiation process. The Algonquin land claims and self-government process, as all land claims process are, is nothing more than a job creation project where a handful of people – Indigenous and non-Indigenous – collect a salary to facilitate the self-termination of the nation and nothing more. The recent Algonquin offer tabled by the provincial and federal governments of 1.3% of our traditional territory and a $300 million one-time buy-out, if ratified, is a sure indication of this, and will surely bring shame to the nation. This is how the Canadian government works, by manufacturing Indigenous complicity in their termination. This is hardly reconciliation or anything to be proud of. The Algonquin are far better off as a Nation without a land claims settlement. Also see this link: Algonquin Genocide Dr. Lynn Gehl is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. She has a section 15 Charter challenge regarding the continued sex discrimination in The Indian Act, is an outspoken critic of the Ontario Algonquin land claims and self-government process, and recently published a book titled Anishinaabeg Stories: Featuring Petroglyphs, Petrographs, and Wampum Belts. You can reach her at lynngehl@gmail.com and see more of her work at www.lynngehl.com Please like, share, and comment on this Black Face Blog. Canada Manufactures Canadians Living in Canada as I do, I encounter proud Canadians all the time, more so around the time of Canada Day celebrations. The commonly held view put forward by these proud Canadians is that Canada is the country where they were born, and that Canada is the country that welcomed their parents and grandparents with open arms and gave them their new beginning they so very much needed. Given this, they tell me. “A proud Canadian is who I am”. As an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe I experience these “proud Canadian statements” as both racist and ungrounded. Unfortunately for both of us proud Canadians are usually offended when I tell them so. I experience “proud Canadian statements” as racist because Canada the nation state was built on racist and genocidal policies that were and are harmful and disenfranchising to Indigenous peoples. As an Indigenous person I know that these racist and genocidal policies continue to exist today in the form of the Indian Act, and the Comprehensive Land Claims and the Self-Government policies. While the Indian Act imposes colonial law and poverty on Indigenous nations, the Land Claims and Self-Government policies take advantage of this same poverty and impose a negotiation process that offers very little in terms of genuine self-government and long term viability. In this way Canada pushes Indigenous people into unsustainable living conditions, and then imposes policies on them that assure their termination as distinct social political entities. When I reflect on this I realize this Canadian made genocidal process takes place in large part because most Canadians do not have the time and mind space to determine for themselves that genocide is what it is. Upon reflection, I have learned that this is the way that genocide sometimes operates – right in front of people’s eyes, yet these same people can’t see it because Canada has blinded its citizens ability to see it. Genocide in plain sight is the worst form of genocide to raise awareness about. I have found that in my process of making the invisible visible, most people get angry at me. They get angry because I am challenging their treasured ideology of Canada, the great and benevolent country. What Canadians need to realize, though, is that this emotional reaction is oftentimes the nature of new knowledge. People become emotional with new knowledge because they have become destabilised in terms of what is dear to them. While you may be emotional about my statement that I find “proud Canadian statements” racist – this does not mean I am incorrect. Indeed Canada, and all it has become, is racist and genocidal. While this may explain why I experience “proud Canadians statements” as racist, this does not explain why I also experience them as ungrounded. I perceive them as ungrounded because the story of Canada has no real cultural depth beyond that of a song, a flag, and a fictional story of two founding nations: the British and the French. Through effective strategies of nationalism, strategies that deny and supress genuine cultural meaning, when people find themselves in moments of despair they have no cultural knowledge of who they are and how to find their way home. Instead they find themselves in a dark cave where all they are able to do is drink, eat, and shop for example. In this way, while Canada may claim to respect who people are, most people void of their ancestral Indigenous knowledge which include prayer, song, dance, and ritual are particularly lonely and thus vulnerable in moments of despair. Let’s face it, nationalism is unable to provide the necessary medicine when people need it most. We are all Indigenous to the earth and we are all born into rich ancestral traditions of Indigenous cultural knowledge. Indigenous knowledge is the cultural knowledge that has shaped your ancestors since time immemorial; it is the cultural knowledge that has stood the test of time. Yet, in the process of shaping proud Canadians, Canada breaks down and dismisses this precious ancestral knowledge. In this way, “Canada the Great” actually lets proud Canadians down when they are in most need of a cultural backbone to guide them to a safe place. The Need for a Paradigm Shift Humans are in need of a huge paradigm shift, much like the one that took hold regarding the earth and the sun − that being that it is the earth that orbits the sun rather than the sun orbiting the earth. The current economic and materialistic paradigm is harming all life on earth. Indigenous people − again, we are all Indigenous to the earth − who remain rooted in their own life sustaining Indigenous knowledge are at once both the canaries suffering the most from the current paradigm, as well as the holders of the ancient Indigenous knowledge systems required for the much needed paradigm shift. The problem is that nation states such as Canada have been very successful at monopolizing people’s mindsets in a way that they are convinced that they are “people of a country” rather than “Indigenous people of the earth”. Nationalism has also been successful at convincing Canadians that Indigenous knowledge philosophy and culture is primitive, non-progressive, and thus unworthy of being respected as a valid source of knowledge. What is worse is that nationalism has been successful at convincing proud Canadians that their hard earned tax dollars are being squandered by the Indigenous people of Turtle Island. In doing this, Canada creates a blinding system where proud Canadians are unable to see the source of the environmental destruction, and the very real value of earth centred Indigenous knowledge systems. Unfortunately, because nation states are stuck in the current paradigm, and because they hold the financial power and all that it provides such as institutional power to control people, individuals who are already overworked and over tired do not have the time to do the work needed to learn the truth. Despite this we need to keep in mind that Canada will only teach you what will serve their paradigm – even if that paradigm is harming all life on earth, your children’s lives and their children’s lives included. Do not underestimate the role that state nationalism has had on your mind set and practices. Some Interesting Historical Facts about Canada
I want to share with readers some of the history that the foundation of Canada rests on. Most Canadians are unaware of this knowledge as the state’s education system opts not to teach this truth: · The 1869 Gradual Enfranchisement Act was implemented to destroy Indigenous self-government. The election of Chiefs and Councillors became the exclusive process for male band members only. · In 1869, Indigenous governance practices, such as gender balance, consensus decision making, wampum diplomacy, and restorative justice, were outlawed. · In 1869, all rules, regulations, and elected Indigenous officials were subject to confirmation by the government of Canada, whereby they could depose the leaders that they did not approve of. · Through the 1876 Indian Act, when an Indigenous woman married a White man she became a White woman and was no longer considered an Indian. As a result, she and her children had to leave their home community. · Beginning in the 1880s, Indigenous traditional culture was deemed a criminal offense. Cultural traditions criminalized consisted of prayer, song, dance, drumming, the sacred pipe, giveaways, the vision quest, the sun dance, the sweat lodge, smudging, traditional dress, and the potlatch. · Beginning in 1886, Indians could not leave their reserve community unless they obtained a pass from the Indian agent. · To reduce the effectiveness of Indigenous leaders and organizations, in 1927 it became illegal for Indians to hire lawyers or advisors to help them with their grievances against the government of Canada. · In 1936, Indian agents were granted the power to preside at, and direct, band council meetings, as well as cast the deciding vote in elections in the event of a tie. · It was not until the 1960s when Indian people could vote in Canada. If they wanted to vote before this date they had to give up being an Indian. Dr. Lynn Gehl is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. She has a section 15 Charter challenge regarding the continued sex discrimination in The Indian Act, is an outspoken critic of the Ontario Algonquin land claims and self-government process, and recently published a book titled Anishinaabeg Stories: Featuring Petroglyphs, Petrographs, and Wampum Belts. You can reach her at lynngehl@gmail.com and see more of her work at www.lynngehl.com Please like, share, and comment on this Black Face Blog. |
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