Category: Indigenous

Kisisk�ciwan: Indigenous Voices from Where the River Flows Swiftly by Jesse Rae Archibald-Barber
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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How much, do you, as an average person, from the United States, From Canada, from Australia, from South America, from the Caribbean , how much do you know about the Indiginous population? How much do you know of the people that originally lived on your land?

In California, in fourth grade, we are taught about the mission system, of the Spanish coming and making the Indiginous peoples into slaves, bringing them into the missions, because they have no other choice. But the stories all make it sound as though there are no more Native Americans left, as though the people that still live around you, are just history, and nothing more. We are not taught of the dependents of the Olhone, that still are here, and still have much to say.  We do not recognize them.

And so, when I went to a conferences, as a young stupid 20 something, I met my first Native American, that I knew of,  and asked her what blood she was, as though that was the way to ask her what her peoples were. She replied O positive to be snarky, and let me know that the way I was asking was wrong.

In the United States we have not acknowledge, as a country, all the wrong we have done to the Native population. We have not apologized. We have not brought things forward. The Native population is on the outskirts of our mind, only seen if we got to casinos on Trible land, or if we pass through a reservation.

But in Canada, they are trying, slowly, to try to acknowledge the wrongs done.

When I went to my daughter’s graduation, the procession was lead by a First Nations representative of the peoples that the land of the school had lived on. They had First Nations people speak at the commencement. It was an amazing thing to see and hear.

And that is why it is not that amazing that this book, kisiskâciwan, has come out, to chronically the writings of the First Nations people of the Saskatchewan area. The  Cree, Saulteaux, Nakoda, Dakota, Dene, and Metis cultures.

This is quite an ambitious tome, with so many voices, streatching form the 1800, and the time of the treaties, to present day.  There are so many things said, so many quotes, that I want to include them all, but I also want you, to know why you should read this as well.

Let us start start with Atakawinin (The Gambler), with a speech he made to the Hudson Bay Company about the wrongs that had been done to him.

When one Indian takes anything from  another, we call it staling, and when we wee the present we say pay us. It is the Company, I mean.

Lieut-Gov. Morris asks “What did the COmpany steal from you?

The earth, trees, grass, stones, all which I see with my eyes.

Atahkakohp (Star Blanket) has this to say about Tready Six, in a speech he gave:

Can we stop the power of the white man from spreading over the land like the grasshoppers that a loud the sky and then fall to consume very blade of grass and every leaf on the trees in their path? I think not.

Or this quote from Payipwat, when asked by Father Hugonard to be baptized:

Oh, no. I am only going to accept half of your religion. I will belong half to the Christian religion and half to the Indian, because you may turn out to be wrong after all, and the Indian Regligion might happen to be right, and then I would have nothing to fall back upon.

And I can’t leave out this quote from Tatiana Iyotake (Sitting Bull)

I will remain what I am until I die, a hunter. And when there is no buffalo or other game, I will send my children to hunt prairie mice, for when an Indian is shut up in one place, his body becomes weak.

But this book is not just early quotes of First Nations peoples. There are quotes from the 20th and 21st century in as well.  There are folk tales, and legends retold. And there are excerpts from the likes of Maria Campbell, whose book Halfbreed, which was published in 1973, is considered the begging of modern Indigenous literature.

There is sadness, with stories of the Residency Schools, as well as children of First Nations peoples given to white parents, when the “60’s scoop happened”.

There is so much here, so much to read, and ponder, and then move on to the next selection. And since I have given early quotes, let me include some of the later quotes

Priscilla Sette has a wonderful  piece called The Strength of women: Ahkameyimowak.

Ahkameyimowak is a Cree word and embodies the strength the drives women’s o survive, flourish and work for change within their communities.

And then there is the journalist Merelda Fiddler, who writes in an essay called “Powerful Women, Powerful Stories: How I became Métis and a Journalist.

In this section of the essay she is trying to find out about a missing Indiginous woman, and her family.

“Why?” She asked. “Why would you want to tell that story? What do you hope to complain?” My answer not only convinced her, but also Boanniej’s most her and myself, that telling this story not only made sense, but was also desperately needed. The sad truth is Indigenous women’s re expect to go missing. They are expected to be victims of violence.

There are so many stories in this book. Each one a unique voice for their time. What the Universtiy of Regina has put together is simply amazing, and should be read by all, if for no other reason to see what colonization has done the Indiginous peoples.