Douglas Todd: Indigenous Canadians differentiate themselves from Native Americans by Thanksgiving

Analysis: A Native American-style “Day of Mourning” to replace Thanksgiving would not go well with many indigenous peoples in Canada.

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While a group of indigenous activists in the US has been pushing for Thanksgiving to be declared a “Day of Mourning,” First Nations people in Canada express a variety of sentiments about the fall holiday, now dedicated primarily to family, gratitude, and watching sports.

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The First Nations people interviewed by Postmedia want their fellow Canadians to continue to accept the colonial past, in which the First Nations were wiped out. But they showed no inclination to want to cancel Thanksgiving, which Canadians celebrate on October 11 and Americans on November 25. They talked about going beyond division.

Almost every year, the US media covers protesters declaring Thanksgiving a “National Day of Mourning” for the genocide and suffering of Native Americans. Although the New England-based activists in no way represent the country’s roughly four million indigenous people, their position carries weight in national discussions.

The complex and sometimes romantic origins of Thanksgiving are different in the US and Canada. But both are related to the ways in which European settlers are said to have held festivals with indigenous people to celebrate the harvest season, usually with potatoes, pumpkins, corn, and turkey.

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According to American tradition, English Pilgrim settlers shared special meals in Plymouth with the Wampanoags in the early 17th century. In Canada around the same time, according to encyclopedias, French explorer Samuel de Champlain invited local Mi’kmaq families to appreciation parties.

Harold R. Johnson, a Canadian author and former Cree and Swedish estate prosecutor, said that until recently one of the major problems with depictions of early Thanksgiving celebrations in Canada and the U.S. has been the way they make themselves look like settlers sharing their food with the indigenous people.

He believes it was the other way around. Thanksgiving images in the United States, especially, Johnson said, show settlers dressed in black “sharing food with Aboriginal people. This is a perversion. We were sharing our food with the newcomers. They may not have survived without our help. “

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Although European peasants had long held events to mark the end of the harvest season, Johnson suggests that the indigenous peoples of North America prior to contact were more advanced in appreciation ceremonies, including the potlatch. Johnson personally follows the Lakota Wapita tradition, which includes sweat lodge rituals, gift giving and offering “thanks for the answer to our prayers.”

On this Monday of Thanksgiving in Canada, Johnson said that her children and grandchildren are traveling to her home on Gabriola Island. “We will sweat as a family and share a meal together. But it is not a Wapita. It’s just that they’ll get out of college and visit. “

Johnson, author of The Cast Stone and other books, has no problem with Canadian families, indigenous and non-indigenous, clinging to different customs around Thanksgiving. “I don’t care about how others give thanks. That’s theirs. “

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Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving “was always a time before the snow came that we were able to get together as a family,” says Melissa Mbarki, a member of the Muskowekwan First Nation. MacDonald-Laurier Ins Brochure Photo /jpg

Melissa Mbarki, a member of the Muskowekwan First Nation who now lives in Edmonton, said her ancestors have long celebrated Thanksgiving.

“I come from a family that has always gotten together on Thanksgiving. It was always a time before the snow came that we were able to get together as a family. “

There is a wide range of opinions among Canada’s 1.7 million indigenous people about Thanksgiving, Mbarki said.

In the small indigenous grassroots communities, he said, “people don’t care” about criticism of the festival and its colonial origins. “They are still going to do what they have been doing for the last 100 years. But in more urban settings, you might hear from people wanting to cancel everything. “

An American-style “Day of Mourning” would not go well with most First Nations in Canada, said Mbarki, who is a Indigenous Policy Analyst for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. “We are two different countries,” he said, noting that the history of Native American contact with settlers led to a much more war than in Canada.

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“Racism is a common problem we are faced with on the other side of the border,” Mbarki said. “But is it much worse down there than up here? It is not constructive to create division among your people. What would the cancellation of Thanksgiving Day for First Nations do? He would do nothing for us. “

Chris Sankey, a Tsimshian businessman based in Prince Rupert, said that even though the indigenous peoples of North America initially cooperated, celebrated and traded with the settlers, they were “completely pushed aside and trampled on” in the years that followed.

However, Sankey doesn’t think it makes sense to condemn Thanksgiving, which for him is a time to “think about family, tradition and watch sports on TV.”

“Enjoy this rich country that we have, where indigenous peoples have openly welcomed others,” says Tsimshian businessman Chris Sankey.
“Enjoy this rich country that we have, where indigenous peoples have openly welcomed others,” says Tsimshian businessman Chris Sankey. “And acknowledge what happened in the past.” Photo by Brochure by Theme /jpg

Although Sankey can understand why some American and Canadian Indian peoples are angry at the way settlers and more recent immigrants have exploited the resources on which the Indians depended, he generally tries “not to create division in Canada. God knows there is enough of that. “

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What owner of the Blackfish group of companies, Sankey seeks more First Nations “to become part of Canada.” He does not blame contemporary Canadians for the defunct residential school system that wreaked havoc on the lives of many. “It is not the fault of the average Canadian.”

It is full of ideas on how to expose the mistakes of history and reform Canada’s political system to improve the lives of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, “to build a country together for the next seven generations.”

Sankey urges Canadians to enjoy their families and the country on Thanksgiving.

“Enjoy this rich country that we have, to which the indigenous peoples openly welcomed others. And acknowledge what happened in the past. “

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Raised in the village of Lax Kw’alaams on British Columbia’s northwest coast, Sankey said he loves that Canadians are slowly gaining awareness of indigenous history and changing repressive systems.

“I want my children to grow up with all Canadians understanding that. If we could put aside our differences and work together, we can do a lot. “

[email protected]

Twitter.com/@douglastodd

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