Give us the right to manage our own affairs’

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"*0 there is still

a fourth point. Perhaps this
fourth point is of equal import-
ance to the first three. Certain-
ly, in my opinion, we cannot
achieve the first three without
the fourth. The fourth point is,
that while seeking more and
better job opportunities, more
and better education, and better
health, Indians also insist upon
the right to maintain their iden-
tity as Indians, to make their
own decisions, in the traditional
Indian way, to use their own
language, or not, as they choose,
to carry on their own ceremo-
nies and religious rites, or not,
as they choose. They insist on
being themselves. They do not
subscribe, in other words, to
the melting pot theory of White
Americans or Canadians.”

When I was in Prince Albert
I had the opportunity to speak
to one of the Metis who has
strongly supported the Sas-
katchewan organization. I asked
him his views on these ques-
tions and there are some of the
things he told me.

“The awareness by Canadian
people generally in respect to
what they term the Indian prob-
lem, for example, has not come
about spontaneously. There has
been at least 40 years of agita-
tion to bring about the present
awareness. This has not been
an easy struggle. It’s been an
uphill fight against consolidated
vested interests.

“The centennial year will
show something of the part
played by Indian and Metis peo-
ple generally in the. develop-
ment of Canada as we now see
it. Something we hope the cen-
tennial year will begin to ac-
complish is the revision of re-
corded history which to date is
falsified to such an extent that
it could be considered libel.

“Something has already been
done towards research correct-
ing certain aspects of Canadian
history but our educational sys-
tem today as we know it is one
in which our present system of
exploitation is being perpetuat-
ed. It’s intended for more or
less a middle-class bourgeois
society within which it is very
difficult for the Metis people to
participate, since philosophical-
ly speaking they do not judge
their people by the material
things they have but rather by
the service that they render
their own people.

“T believe that the centennial
celebrations will be cognisant
of all these things and it will be
an opportunity for greater pub-
licity than has hitherto been
possible, to inform the Canadian
citizens.”

I asked about the Metis or-
ganization in Saskatchewan.

“So far we haven’t been abie
to do too much, except to say
that it is very definitely organ-
ized. There are 10 locals estab-

lished to date on a democratic
basis with over 400 registered
members, Certain representa-
tions have already been made
to various ministers and depart-
ments in this province of Sas-
katchewan and some action has
already been taken, with reg-
ards to redressing some of the
grievances.”

What, I asked, are the main
grievances?

“Well, everybody knows that
in Northern Saskatchewan, in
fact all parts of Northern Can-
ada, we still have what is
known as colonial administra-
tion. Even in darkest Africa
there is a certain amount of
autcnomy, at least among the
settlement where some people
have their own chiefs and head
men who have something to say
about the conduct of their
community. Whereas in all parts
of Northern Canada it is still
the most primitive of colonial
administration in all its implica-
tions. Of course we never hope
for a Rhodesia or South Africa
here and I think the native peo-
ple would fight rather than sub-
mit to the conditions manifest
in Rhodesia and South Africa.

“We regard the educational
system as a key to progress. And
when we say this we don’t par-
ticularly accuse the native peo-
ple alone for their ignorance,
for there is much ignorance pre-
vailing in pale’ face

society

even to this day. I would say
that our school system is gear-
ed to perpetuate the status quo
and all it stands for.

“For a comparison I would
like to mention the United Na-
tions which at the end of Wozid
War II had only 54 nations re-
presented whereas today I be-
lieve the figure is 122, and the
increase in representation did
not come about through the
channels of orthodoxy but came
about through the efforts and
agitation of more progressive
society and they have succeed-
ed.

“This, I believe, should give
an understanding that you can-
not stop progress, that people
will continue to fight, as they
are doing in Vietnam, to get
justice and the right and privi-
lege to conduct their own af-
fairs, without interference from
the vested interests.”

The Metis concluded by say-
ing: “Today they constantly
criticize socialism and at the
same time no political party to-
day, none of them, would get to
first: base in an election which
came out flatfooted and said we
are going to abolish all the
social legislation.”

* * *

I left with the conviction that
a new era was developing in the
struggle for Indian and Métis
rights; that the world movement

The Indians of Canada pavilion at Expo 67.

The new milttancy
among the Metis

for

peace, national indepen-
dence and socialism was placing
its mark in Canada as well as
elsewhere.

It is this sort of spirit that is
represented in the Indian pa-
vilion at Expo, which should be
a must for every Canadian vis-
itor to the World’s Fair.

The signs describing Canada’s
Indian speak of the betrayal by
the whites, the alien land that
is the white school for the In-
dian children, the protest
against the type of administra-
tion that has characterized gov-
ernment policy.

A spokesman of the British.
Columbia Haidi Indians, speak-
ing of the pavilion said: “The
situation of 240,000 Indians is
something that needs to be look-
ed at. Why should we foster
complacency here when there
are so many disadvantaged,
under-educated and _ under-de-
veloped people in Canada?”

At the camp fire: around
which visitors can sit and medi-
ate there is a recording which
offers the hope that the future
Indian may grow to be “proud

-and strong in the pride of his
-heritage.”

One of the panels at Expo
reads, “Give us the right to
manage our own affairs”, -the
same theme that I heard on the
banks of the North Saskatche-
wan River in Prince Albert.

May 12, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Poge 7