Aboriginal Justice delegation - Northwestern Ontario: July 2006

Christian Peacemaker Teams
Delegation to Asubpeechosewagong and Kenora, Ontario
July 27 to August 6, 2006

Beginnings:
Five delegates, (Andrew Cressman from Toronto Ontario, Ellen Johnson Arginteanu from State College PA, Garland Robertson from Austin Texas, Carol Rose and Carol Soderholm both from Chicago Illinois) gathered in Kenora Ontario on ThursdayJuly 27, to learn about the difficulties facing the native and European settler communities, including environmental concerns, sharing of the resources, racism and treaty rights. We arrived much later than anticipated, delayed by various complications (missed planes, luggage and traffic accidents clogging the TransCanada highway). This was the first of many changes in schedule, and like all the other changes, it had riches of its own. Those waiting in Kenora explored important local spots and those stranded on the highway walked, talked, enjoyed the temporary community of fellow stranded passengers and learned to make Innchucks (a traditional rock structure of Inuit origin). This was just the first installment of one of the repeated lessons that “life just is.”
When we finally gathered in Kenora, we enjoyed our first of many delicious meals and had an abbreviated introduction before finding and making our beds in the Kenora First Baptist Church.

The Lessons:
On Saturday we completed our business, dividing team chores and meal preparation. Living in community is a core part of the experience; it was spiced and enriched by our differences in backgrounds, perceptions and temperaments. Over the week we grew to support each other, stretch our communication skills and discover that we need less (material goods) to flourish than we usually think. (We were, however, blessed with all of the modern conveniences!)

Most lessons were repeated over the course of the ten days, through discussions with First Nation people, members of the white community, and absorbed through the daily routine:
– The difference in world views of the First Nation culture and European culture is profound from the different ways we see our relationships with people (collective vs. individual) and the earth (profound respect and collaboration vs something to be controlled), ways we think (cyclic vs. linear), our values (giver vs taker, collaborator vs controller) to the way we learn (First Nation people learn generally by observing European by question and answer).
– Subsequently we started (just beginning) to listen more deeply, accept what is rather than be stuck on what we planned, appreciate the wisdom of others without having to “top it.” and to recognize our ubiquitous white privilege.
– We learned again and again that the undermining of the First Nation’s culture has been systematic, intentional, and pervasive; it has had profound repercussions with increase in alienation, subsequent alcoholism, “homelessness” institutional dependence and tragic increase in rates of suicide. (there had been two in the small community of Grassy Narrows in the two weeks preceding our delegation.)
– Additionally, we came to more fully appreciate the depth of complexities that bear on the problems faced by the two communities and the difficulty in finding solutions: The impact of the different world views, the different government structures involved in the situation, the insidious presence of colonialism which arises even in well intentioned/progressive solutions, the difficulty in recognizing white privilege, as such acknowledgement would require difficult sacrifices.
– Above all we came to appreciate the beauty of the land and the patience and humor of those First Nations people we met. Being able to receive (without taking) their gifts of time and emotional sharing was a sometimes difficult, but always valuable, cross cultural experience.

The Experiences and Conversations:
Of note, in the two weeks preceding our arrival in Kenora, there were two blockades of the roads (one the Trans Canada and the other Separation bridge), conducted by outside environmental groups and a segment of the Grassy Narrows community. These blockades ended with significant police involvement and arrests, leaving the communities (both First Nation and white) divided and tense. These events affected our delegation.

Saturday, July 29. The delegation, sitting at the feet of the teacher (elder), heard the reflection of life experience of Nancy *****a woman whose journey from a 3 year old child began in the residential school system, and extended to life as elder and grandmother. She shared with us her wisdom of ages, her powerful present struggle, some of her diverse choices. .
This was the delegation’s first exposure to the residential school system. We heard and learned more about it throughout the week from others. We learned that it was a systemic, systematic way of undermining the culture, which lasted from until 1970. The children often experienced abuse at the hands of the school staff, leaving them with scars that many still deal with today. Around 50,000 children never returned to their villages, most presumed dead.

Sunday, July 30. The delegation divided up to attend different worship services, then gathered for lunch at the church with Karen Bastwell and Ian Davidson Hunt. Ian spoke to us of his extensive experience as an Ethnobotonist with the First Nation tribes, sharing with us the complexities of the problems from the profound cultural differences which paved the way for European domination to the current structure of the Ontario government with different agencies sharing responsibility for care and use of the land. Ian mentioned the profound difference in the way the First Nations teach and also regulate—they do so by “raising up the people to be responsible to each other and not by locking them up.” He quoted an Elder, who has acted as his translator, of both language and culture, as once saying “If I wanted to control, I would no longer be Anishinabe”

Monday, July 31. The morning was devoted to learning about the court system through attending the morning session of court. The morning raised questions and concerns about imposing the European legal system on the First Nations people, recognizing how differently their own culture deals with the development of understanding and executing responsibilities to each other. (Esther had shared a story about a young man, while intoxicated, who had killed another. His people sent him to an island to take care of himself and to reflect on his actions. He had a transformative experience and returned to his people a productive member.) One of the cases heard was very complicated—a terrible crime (sexual abuse of a young child) by a young Anishinabe man with multiple disabilities of his own. It brought many of the concerns to focus.

Tuesday. August 1. The delegation went to Grassy Narrows reserve and to Slant Lake, where the permanent blockade had been held. Judy DeSilva met with us and spoke with us about the history that led her people to resort to the blockade in order to be heard. She spoke of the recent blockades and the concern about the increase in police violence in reaction to the blockade. She spoke of the differences in the culture of the environmental group that had joined the blockade, but was hopeful that they went away with a respect for the First Nation people.
The delegation was able to join the NeChee center Street Patrol for both the 12 to 3 and 4 to 6:30 shifts. This experience allowed us to get first hand exposure to the homeless, the compassion of the Street Patrol and police interaction with both the street people and the NeChee staff. Although there were some questions regarding how much safety it provided the homeless during the summer, it was thought to be crucial in the winter. This particular experience also gave some of us the gift of seeing a very large bear rummaging in the back of a pick up!

Wednesday. August 2. The delegation met with the Chief of Police, Dan****-. Chief Dan talked about the challenges of policing in Kenora,. He felt that talking about racism only put people on the defensive and tried to present the material by talking about biases. He defended his staff’s behavior, while recognizing that it was not always ideal, stated that the reactions were often out of frustration and fatigue. The white police staff often have no contact with First Nation people outside of their interaction with them on the job, taking care of the problems. They are trying to establish some other contacts, such as soccer games to improve relationships. At the end of our meeting, one of the delegates hoped that he would challenge his staff to “go beyond the frustration” in their treatment of the homeless.
The delegates met with Harry***** and the staff of the Fellowship Center. Harry talked about the history of the center and its work providing services to the homeless, including daily lunch. He also talked about how they incorporated some of the Aboriginal spiritual practices in the care of the First Nation peoples

Thursday. August 3. The delegates toured the city’s murals. The city has depicted its history through a series of murals. Of note, there were virtually no First Nation’s people in the murals. Of those that there were, their faces were hidden, other than one who was in the bar room scene! Also it was remarkable that all, but one, of the murals dealt with the history since the European settlers came to the area.
Mary Alice Smith joined us for dinner and talked both about the current situation for the Anishinabe in Kenora and it’s history. She underlined how the livelihoods of the Anishinabe people has been insidiously and steadily undermined, through the environmental changes and the legal restrictions, eg., the prohibition against selling the produce of the land. How this gradual erosion of the livelihoods in addition to the cultural erosion of the residential schools and, specific to the area, the moving of the Grassy Narrow reserve in the 50’s have all created the alienation and rootless ness of the Anishinabe, which manifests in the alcoholism and homelessness. These are merely symptoms of a larger disease which the white culture only sees as the problem. Ms. Smith also discussed the recent report of the The Anishinabe Peace and Justice Commission, in which CPT had input. Mary. She emphasized that the work to be done at this point, largely involves educating the white population. She expressed hope that CPT could help make some of the recommendation of this report go forward.

Friday and Saturday, August 4 and 5. The delegation rose very early to begin a special adventure at Trout Lake. , Kaaren Olsen Dannermann had extended us an invitation to join her and others First Nation people during a week’s retreat, which was set aside for them to learn and teach the native language and ways. The delegation lost its way, and had intimate exposure to the desolation of clear-cut areas. This merely accentuated the untouched beauty of the lake and the island when we finally arrived. We were welcomed into their activities: observed the making of a birch bark canoe, using the traditional tools and methods, shown how to make a birch bark basket, involved in covering a sweat lodge for a ceremony that evening and included in the preparation of dinner for that evening. Two members of the delegation took part in the ceremonial sweat lodge that evening. On Saturday, the delegation included itself in the life of the island, helping with the wash (using a scrub board) and helping make pancakes on an outside wood stove. We met with the community for a meeting to discuss ways in which the delegates might help the community strengthen itself and increase outside support. The meeting ended abruptly with the pouring rain and the delegation returned to the other side of the leg, amidst rain, thunder and lightening.

The Action:
The delegation developed a plan for an action to take place on Thursday. We intended to honor the efforts already in existence in the area to build bridges between the European and First Nation communities, to foster understanding and promote healing. We planned on walking to the different sites, singing a celebratory song, dancing and leaving a symbolic gift.
However, for several reasons this action was cancelled. (The Elders of the community had not been available for the essential consultation and the tenderness of the community following the recent blockades increased our need for caution so that we not inadvertently stir up issues that others would then have to handle in our soon planned absence.)
From this disappointment, however, the delegation came to a decision for another action which seemed even more “right”. All delegates decided to adopt a day of fasting to coincide with the celebration of Thanksgiving in order to bring attention to the plight of the First Nation People and the long history of injustices that they have suffered. It was also agreed that Andrew Cressman would write an article for the CPT newsletter highlighting this decision and asking others to join in the fast.

The Departure:
The delegation had a beginning farewell on Saturday evening and continued the farewell, affirming the gifts of each of the participants. The delegation ended with Carol R, Carol S, Andrew C and Garland R leaving Esther in Kenora to tidy up loose ends.
We will remember this time with gratitude to each other, with immense gratitude to the Anishinabe people who shared so generously and with a reverence for the land of their people.