• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
CanadianIndians’DichotomyofCulturalPreservation,andSubstanceAbuseIssues
ByRexA.Crouch
 
Before a recent road trip across Canada with a prolonged stay in the Yukon I had a preconceivednotion of the Canadian First Nations. First Nations is a Canadian politically correct termdeveloped in the 1980s to mean Indian Bands, and does not include the Inuit, nor Métis as theyare different in culture, region, and linguistics. Another variation between the Indians of theUnited States, and Canada is that First Nations are formed in clans whereas in the United StatesIndians are formed in tribes. This preconceived notion I had of the First Nations was one of anoble and proud people still practicing their ancient cultures and possibly melding their cultureswith those of the 21st century. Traveling traditional tourist routes in Canada may not expose youto the ancient cultural practices of the First Nations, nor the endemic social, and substance abuseissues they endure—leaving the beaten the path is a requirement.Finding Indians publically inebriated, open meth addicts, users of other hard drugs, and Indians participating in street gangs was the last thing I expected to find from the First Nations. Whileolder Indians seemed predisposed to using alcohol, younger Indians were found using narcoticsas well as alcohol. The village of Ross River, Yukon was a tiny forgotten town, nearly a half daydrive from anywhere. Ross River began as a trading post, and with the completion of thehighway ‘being a gravel road’ most people left, and the remaining population was predominatelyIndian. The village now consists of some small houses, trailers, a convenience store, gas station,and a restaurant/hotel with supplies trucked in daily. Other than nebulous mining opportunities,there was little work to be found in the general area. Looking around the town I found that many people had a bottle in hand. I pondered how a group of people with no apparent income couldafford to stay drunk, and queried where they bought their booze as there wasn’t a liquor storearound. This wasn’t the right question to ask, and garnered hateful stares. I later learned that their alcohol was a black market product, and there were no legal sales in town. In Dawson City I meta lady who was the first public school teacher in Ross River. She speculated that most childrenshe taught were now dead. She further explained that drunken knife fights are common, but notas common as a person passing out from excessive drinking in the cold. In a land where thewinter temperatures dip down to -40 degrees Celsius, passing out drunk results in death. Shefurther explained that illiteracy was common when she first arrived in Ross River, and without ateacher it was most likely that the vast majority was still illiterate. Farther south in Whitehorse Ifound a drunk Indian man in the Canadian Super Store taking a nap on one of the patio furnituredisplays. A short while later I saw a Canadian Mounted Police officer taking the Indian out of thestore. Leaving the store I found some First Nations gangbangers in the parking lot selling drugs.One young girl with them, maybe 17 or 18 years old was complaining bitterly that her mother had tossed her in the drunk tank for “two whole days.” I couldn’t remember when I last heard theterm “drunk tank” and it wasn’t said by a little girl.I really wondered where my preconceived notions came from, and why the First Nations that Ihad been presented thus far had degenerated into what I was observing.Leaving this area I went to Carcross, Yukon, and began camping. A short while later I wasgreeted by an angry Indian who brought his Director of Cultural Heritage with him. As it turnsout I was camping on ancient healing grounds, and the land where I was camping was in the process of being turned over to the Carcross Clan who had demonstrated the land to have ancient
 
cultural artifacts. The Director of Cultural Heritage is a person, typically a white person, hired bythe clan to represent the clan to the local government, and write grants for the clan. After I madeit clear that no disrespect was intended, that I was leaving, but didn’t understand why their approach was so aggressive and hostile, some dialog began. I learned of racial tensions betweenFirst Nations, and white people in the area. As it was explained to me, a lot goes back to earlymining and lumber industries, and how white people once treated Indians. This Indian’s namewas Willy. He now understood that I brought a certain level of respect for the First Nations, and became more open in his dialog, and the Director of Cultural Heritage departed the area. Willy provided a tour and showed me where sweat huts had once been built for healing rituals. Heexplained how pains are removed during the ceremony, and are bound to a tree in the middle of the sweat hut and how the circle is closed with willows. After seeing a healing circle I could seethem everywhere—they are obvious when you know what you are looking at. After spending acouple of hours with Willy I felt comfortable enough to explain to him that what he was showingme, was what I had expected to find in the First Nations, and asked him about the alcohol anddrug abuse I had been observing. He explained to me that members of the First Nations receivecompensations, and grants from the Canadian government, and that some use the money likehim, to protect culturally important land, and others have turned to drugs. He blamed the use of drugs on white people, and specifically mining companies for bringing the diversity, as well asthe drugs and alcohol with them making the abuse possible. In vacillation to some extent, I believe that people are responsible for their own actions, and doubt that white people or miningcompanies forced any Indian to use drugs. As he was taking the time to share a side of the story Ihad not been exposed to yet, I diligently kept my opinions to myself. Not all Indians hadsuccumb to alcohol or drug abuse; there were still many who believed in their traditional ways of life, and they were still farther from the beaten path than most travelers see. Although he had areason why Indians had become substance abusers he did not have any clear idea of how toresolve the problem, and thought of it as embarrassing as a whole for the First Nations. Heexplained that most of his friends are illiterate, but he had shown then how to establish hardrock mining claims on their land which helped them protect their land from development. Thisrequired a yearly renewal, but they merely had to copy the documents from the previous year,and this provided protection under the Canadian legal system. While I had suspected that thecultures had blended, I was impressed with how they were using of the Canadian mining laws to protect lands they found important. He showed me where a white person had came-in once and began chopping down trees for a lumber company until they had him stopped. In another location adjacent to the First Nations properties he showed me where whites wanted to build afence that would cut through animal paths used by caribou and bears, and further explained howthis fence would disrupt a wildlife corridor. In yet another location a miner tore through healingcircles with a bulldozer. For those Indians concerned for the land, and its cultural meanings, itwas easy to see how there could be contempt for white people. Learning a lot this day, I left theCarcross Clan land as promised, and moved about 40 miles west into an ancient volcanic calderaadjacent to a mining camp where I met other Indians; not only indigenous to the immediate area but as from as far away as the Swampy Cree Clan from Saskatchewan.Some there believed that drug and alcohol use was brought by the white men, others believed in personal responsibility, all concurred that the compensation and grant payments from thegovernment facilitated the abuse. There were mixed emotions on protecting culturally sacred places because, as it was explained to me, given the wording of the laws, with little effort, but
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...