The Aboriginal Newspaper of British Columbia & Yukon Top News - December -2001 Published December 10, 2001 Hero of Our Time Dr. Frank Calder - click here for full story Photo by Matthew Stewart Residential school survivor walks for justice Summit honors elder warrior for years of battle Drum out a new tune in the arts This is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the December 2001 issue of Raven's Eye. If you are not receiving your own copy of Raven's Eye, then you have missed out on a lot. Click here for Raven's Eye subscription information. Residential school survivor walks for justice David Wiwchar, Raven's Eye Writer, Port Alberni Crossing the Somass River was a powerful moment for Martha Joseph. The river that once served as a natural boundary preventing Joseph, the child, from going home was now a welcome sight at the end of the long journey she took as an adult seeking justice. Joseph, the only female plaintiff in the group of 31 Alberni Indian Residential School (AIRS) survivors who took the government and United Church of Canada to court in 1998, is now looking to heal wounds reopened during the three-year-long trial. Four days previous to her arrival in Alberni, the 63-year-old Gitksan grandmother started a fundraising walk from Nanaimo to the former AIRS site to raise funds for a court appeal. One of seven plaintiffs who stayed with the process until the end (two plaintiffs committed suicide and 22 settled out-of-court), Martha was the only remaining plaintiff not to receive any form of monetary settlement in the court decision. British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Donald Brenner dismissed her case saying "No damages were proven." "Judge Brenner did me wrong," said Joseph as she entered Port Alberni on the final leg of her journey. "I'm the only one who knows how much pain the residential school caused me. I never got to tell my mom how much I loved her, because I was a child and believed the people who ran the school who told me that the reason I was there was because my family didn't love me and didn't want me," she said. Joseph's arrival was timed with a Nuu-chah-nulth residential school healing project regional meeting at the newly completed Tseshaht longhouse. Tears filled her eyes as she was carried the last mile in a canoe. "This walk has really helped my healing," said Joseph. "Everything went so great along the way. It's powerful. It's awesome." According to Joseph, she sold off all of her possessions to pay her legal fees and living expenses during the trial. "This experience has helped me regain my strength," said Joseph. "What happened wasn't my fault. Now I can dust myself off and leave my shame here. It was the government's fault and they're the ones who have to live with it," she said. Top Summit honors elder warrior for years of battle Raven's Eye Staff "I'm now 86 and I'm retired and I wish I was back in your boots so I can fight!" said Dr. Frank Calder at a ceremony honoring him as one of British Columbia's elder statesmen. The First Nations Summit honored Dr. Calder during a meeting of chiefs in North Vancouver on Nov. 30. Dr. Calder was the driving force behind the famous Calder court case, as well as an early organizer of the land claims movement in the province, and founder of the Nisga'a Tribal Council. Summit member Gerald Wesley prefaced Calder's introduction by saying, "We wanted to make sure that there are role models, heroes of our lifetime, that we can look to... so we always know that strong people have sacrificed and shared their experience, have shared their skills, have shared their family time to be with us, to bring us where we are today." Dr. Calder was formally introduced by Chief Joseph Gosnell, president of Nisga'a Lisims government. Squamish Nation Chief Gibby Jacob presented Dr. Calder with a plaque and Summit member Kathryn Teneese presented a certificate of appreciation, which acknowledged the outstanding contribution Dr. Calder made to the Aboriginal people of British Columbia. "Your high standards of excellence embodies the strength, determination and perseverance of our ancestors," it read. "You have made a positive and indelible mark towards our joint efforts to protect the dignity and honor of Aboriginal heritage in British Columbia." And when Calder at last got up to speak, he surprised everyone by confessing that when he walked in the door earlier that morning, he had no idea why he was there. "This is the first I know of this event. Even when I was sitting in the corner, enjoying the meal, I wasn't told what I was invited for. I'm very overwhelmed!" Calder told the assembled Summit chiefs that he had tried to organize a united front of B.C. First Nations as far back as 1960. "To speak on what?" he said. "To speak on something that you very heartily discussed all morning and, no doubt, will continue to discuss this afternoon and tomorrow and forever, until we reach a settlement." Although he conceded his efforts at the time to unite the B.C. nations to tackle the land question were unsuccessful, he offered encouragement to the current Summit chiefs. "So I admire you people. I am very delighted that I am here because you happen to represent the nearest thing to unity for which I tried all my life to succeed in forming. I feel I've failed. I feel that, maybe I don't deserve these beautiful gifts. Maybe I talk like a defeatist in front of you people. But I'm not, because I have a lot of faith in you people. You're younger than I am and you could become just as much a fighter as I am!" His message was not altogether positive, however, and he took the chiefs to task. "I'd like to close by saying that I was very disappointed when I walked in. You see, I'm not afraid to tell you how I think." The chiefs were silent. "I walked in here and people were just walking by me and they're looking at the floor, and I seemed to feel a defeatist feeling, everybody's downhearted for some reason. "I don't like to see that, people! We are the landlords and we should be happy to take them on! We should know how to handle this... invader that is trying to put us in a place that we don't appreciate! They have a settlement to make, to us!" The man who got the ball rolling for the Nisga'a in 1955 that culminated in the Nisga'a final agreement implementation last year encouraged the other First Nations to negotiate treaties. "So when I walked through the door this morning," Dr. Calder said, "and I shook hands with Joe Gosnell, I said 'Joe, what are you and the [Nisga'a] delegates doing here-you know, I thought we'd won our case already...?' Joe said to me, 'I want to help.' He might as well have said, 'We went through hell for 22 years. We know all the bad side to negotiations. We know all the good side. We're here with the delegates and we're going to be here any time they call us, and we're going to help.' So, please people, before I sit down, don't think we won't be here because we won our treaty. We didn't get exactly what we wanted, but at least we kicked the hell out of the Department of Indian Affairs!" The chiefs appreciated that comment. "I want to congratulate all of you for the work that you have done and-please, look more happier. You have got a big fight ahead of you, and there is only one thing to know in the back of your mind: You are going to win it. And we are going to win it... So, my good friends, keep up the good work. You've got a fight on your hands. Treat it with some humor, and I'm quite sure that, by the time I'm a hundred, I'll be there to celebrate [your victory] with you!" Hero in our time Dr. Frank Calder was formally introduced to the First Nations Summit chiefs by Chief Joseph Gosnell, president of Nisga'a Lisims Government: It is indeed a great honor on my part to be standing beside a very dear, long-time colleague of ours. We've been together for many, many years, Frank and some of the colleagues that are still with us. A number of them have gone to the Great Beyond. But I would like to provide you with an insight with respect to the life that Frank Arthur Calder has led. Frank was born in Nass Harbour, one of the camps that existed many, many years ago, at the turn of the century, on Aug. 3, 1915. He is the son of one of the high-ranking chiefs within the Nisga'a Nation: Simoogit Nagwa'un, Arthur Calder, married to Louisa, whose last name was Leask. Frank was sent away to begin his formal education at one of the residential schools located here in the Fraser Valley, Coqualeetza, and some of you here may have gone and shared that short lifespan with Frank in that institution. We know that a great many of you spent some of your lives in other residential schools. Frank continued with his education in the Anglican Theological College at UBC. He graduated in 1946. He was married to Tammy on Feb. 26, 1975, and they have one son in his teenage years, named Eric. Frank served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in B.C. for 26 years. First with the CCF, then with the NDP, and then with the Social Credit Party of B.C. He is recognized as the first Canadian Native Indian to be elected to any Canadian parliament, in 1949. He is also the first Canadian Native Indian appointed a Minister of the Crown in Canada-Minister Without Portfolio, 1972 to 1973. But what Frank is most famous for is the Supreme Court action known as the Calder Case, in which a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Canada was handed down in 1973, dealing with the Nisga'a land question, a decision by that court upon which current Indian land settlements are today being considered in Canada. Frank is also the founder of the Nisga'a Tribal Council, formerly known as the Lands Committee. The tribal council was formed and came into being in 1955. Frank was president of Nisga'a Tribal Council from 1955 to 1974. He was the research director/consultant and resource person since 1974. Other honors that Dr. Calder has received: He was an inductee to Canada's First Nations Hall of Fame in 1967. He has been president-emeritus of the Nisga'a Tribal Council since 1985. He received the Aboriginal Order of Canada in 1985 and was inducted as an Officer in the Order of Canada in 1988. He received a doctorate of divinity in 1989. And more recently, he was awarded and recognized with a National Aboriginal Achievement award in 1996. Frank belongs to the Anglican Church of Canada, and he and Tammy, along with their son, Eric, currently reside in the city of Victoria. Top Drum out a new tune in the arts Brian Lin, Raven's Eye Writer, Vancouver The multiple facets and meanings of drums in the First Nations culture was in the spotlight in the "Drums of Identity" exhibition at the First Nations Creations Gallery in Vancouver, starting with an opening reception on Dec. 7. "Drums are such a big part of the First Nations art and culture," said organizer Amber-Dawn Bear Robe. "It's a strong symbol and represents our traditional roots." The pieces to be displayed at Drums of Identity will be a mixture of the traditional and the contemporary, the old and the new, the daring and the demure. An impressive list of established and emerging Aboriginal artists have each created individual pieces of art-everything from paintings to sculpture to traditional drums-that expresses what the drum means to them. Artists showcased include Kevin McKenzie, Peter Morin, Garry Todd, Richard Shorty, Leonard Beam, Janice Toulouse Shingwaak, Jerry Whitehead and George Littlechild. "Some of them will be pure art pieces; others will also have a functional purpose," said Bear Robe. "Since the drum is something most people can relate to, we want the exhibition to bring traditional First Nations art into the present day." Drums of Identity is the second exhibition presented by the First Nations Creations Cooperative. With a strong commitment to represent and promote authentic Aboriginal art, the cooperative provides artists a non-commercial venue to workshop and display their work. Bear Robe said the gallery is an important step towards cultural autonomy for all Native artists. "It also allows a freedom of expression and experimentation not found in the commercial Aboriginal art market in Vancouver," she added. The exhibition will also feature an exquisite collection of silver jewelry with an Aboriginal flare. Drums of Identity will run until Feb. 1 at the First Nations Art Cooperative, 20 Water Street, Vancouver. For more information call 604-602-9464. Top