The Aboriginal Newspaper of British
Columbia & Yukon
Top news for May - 2001
Published May 14, 2001
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Photo Credit: Brad Crowfoot |
Elections BC want the First Nations vote to count
Aboriginal artist to shine at BC Festival of Arts
Indigenous youth make connectionsThis is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the May 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.
Elections BC want the First Nations vote to countBy Brian Lin
Raven's Eye Writer
VICTORIAThe candidates in the upcoming provincial election want your vote. That's why from columns in newspapers to sound bytes on television, they are taking every opportunity to highlight their platforms and make promises of a brighter future. They know one thing for sure: every vote counts.
That is exactly the message Pat Burns of Elections BC is trying to send out to the Aboriginal communities in British Columbia. As the first Aboriginal liaison officer in the province, Burns has gone to great lengths to contact all First Nation communities and friendship centres.
It's a tough job. The biggest lesson she has learned so far is many Aboriginal people simply don't see the point.
"There are several pockets of deep-set resistance to voting among certain bands or areas," said Burns. However, she also knows her job is crucial because in certain ridings, "Aboriginals have the power to sway the vote," she added.
This is something Aboriginal political leaders have known for a long time.
"We basically got Dave Barret's government elected in 1972," said First Nations Summit co-chair Bill Wilson, referring to the First Nations support that helped elect the former B.C. premier. Wilson thinks that while efforts to establish Aboriginal people's inherent right to self-government are under way, the fact remains that white people are still making all the major decisions affecting Aboriginal lives.
"I couldn't care less about white men's political parties," said Wilson, "but we are governed by non-Indians and have benefited very little from the way non-Indian people administer our affairs." He believes that Aboriginal people have a responsibility to "get out there and express our needs and desires," and this election is a perfect way to do just that.
However, both Wilson and Burns will tell you that most Native people are at best apathetic about voting, and everything from geography to education to historical burdens contributes to a tradition of low Native voter turn-outs.
Geographically, many reserves are too far from voting places, and a lack of transportation translates into minimal political participation. The Lytton Band in Boston Bar, for example, is situated on the west side of the Fraser River and has a population of about 300. Every May, the spring ice breaks up and the ferry the residents rely on becomes too dangerous to operate. Fortunately, this year the dangers of spring ice have lessened and the band councillor is attempting to request an on-reserve voting place. Similar situations across B.C. have long helped silence the Native voice in B.C. politics.
Some Native people don't vote because they don't know enough about the electoral process or because of a lack of literacy. Burns tries to overcome this obstacle by "translating" crucial information about how to vote into simple language and to speak to district election officers to make sure they are knowledgeable enough about the Aboriginal communities in their riding.
"Voter Education Kits" are also given to fifth -rade kids to take home so they can help inform their parents who may not speak or read English.
The biggest obstacle, however, is history. Aboriginal people weren't allowed to vote provincially until 1948 and didn't participate in the federal election until 1960. On top of that, many Native leaders believe it's against the principle of self-government and an endorsement of the white man's political system by taking part in elections. Others think it simply makes no difference because the white government has never helped them.
Don Moses, president of the All Nations Party of British Columbia, says these are all good reasons, but he continues to encourage First Nations people to "speak up and be more expressive as Canadian citizens" despite that their past support for the NDP may have done little good to their daily lives.
Meanwhile, he joins four other Aboriginal candidates in his party to try to capture the Native vote by presenting a "solid and open platform." He's optimistic that First Nations people will vote First Nations.
"How can an Aboriginal person vote NDP when their track record has been all talk and no action and the Liberals want to deny even more than what we have now?" said Moses, who is running against the chief of his band in the Yale-Lillooet riding.
Moses had hoped to recruit 12 candidates, but was only able to find five: Dan Case in Cariboo South, Tony Goulet in Cariboo North, Emsily Boulton in North Coast, Joe Amos in Skeena and Moses himself in Yale-Lillooet.
"I was asked to just appoint candidates," he said, "but I don't think that's the way to go. There should be a legitimate support base, then the riding selects their candidates and the party endorses them."
Of the five candidates in his party, Moses said, Emsily Boulton has the best chance of winning the election in the North Coast riding, which has 40 per cent Aboriginal population.
Moses thinks both the wavering support of the NDP in the Native community and the efforts to encourage First Nations people to vote will help his party tremendously, but he's not concerned about Aboriginal candidates from other parties benefiting from the potentially higher turn-out, provided the candidate is well-qualified.
"Look at Eddie John," he said. "We think he has the quality to be a good MLA. We wish him the best and expect him to do well in his constituency."
Wilson takes it a step further in saying that if the Aboriginal candidate is but a token to the mainstream party, he would support non-Aboriginal candidates who do care about First Nations issues.
In the Vancouver-Mt. Pleasant riding, where many poor Aboriginal people reside, Wilson said the person to vote for is obviously Jenny Kwan. "That's a no-brainer," said Wilson, "because she's represented the riding extremely well." He compares Kwan to the Liberal's Aboriginal candidate Gail Sparrow, who was recently criticized by the Aboriginal Political Action Committee for failing to show up at the riding's candidates' forum. He said if an Aboriginal candidate shows little or no concern for the Native community, "even if she's my sister I wouldn't vote for her."
For this election, Wilson hopes the voter turnout statistics will demonstrate the potential of the Aboriginal vote, but in the long run, he agrees with Burns that the ultimate goal is getting Aboriginal people involved in the electoral process, even those who aren't old enough to vote now.
"Half of the Aboriginal population is youth," said Burns. "We're doing it for kids."
For more information on how to register to vote and where your voting station is, call Election BC's toll-free hotline at 1-800-661-8683.
Aboriginal artist to shine at BC Festival of Arts
By Brian Lin
Raven's Eye Writer
FORT ST. JOHNAboriginal artists are finding a plethora of opportunities to showcase their talents and to meet peers who share similar passions and experiences in local art festivals, like the one held recently at the Chief Atahm School on the Adams Lake Indian Band.
Held on March 24, the festival attracted Aboriginal writers, storytellers, performers, photographers, visual artists, carvers, sculptors, many of whom are multi-talented and have practiced both traditional and contemporary art forms.
The vibrant diversity of Aboriginal artists at these local art festivals convinced Keith Matthew of the strong inter-relation between art and Aboriginal culture. The mission of this newly appointed interior representative of the Indigenous Arts Service Organization (IASO) is to highlight these talents. "We're actively encouraging Aboriginal artists to step forward into the mainstream and make a statement that we are here as First Nations artists and communities," said Matthew.
To do just that, the IASO was contracted this year by the BC Festival of the Arts (BCFA) to hold juried regional art festivals with the hope that they would encourage emerging artists to show off their work, be it literature, drama, music or visual arts. Festivals were held in Moberly Lake, Twassan, Chase and most recently in Chetwynd.
A total of 55 Aboriginal artists were selected from these festivals. They will represent the Aboriginal communities of B.C. to perform in different venues during the festival of arts, to be held at the city of Fort St. John from May 24 to June 3.
The BCFA is the largest multi-disciplinary event in Western Canada, however, according to Tracey Jack, IASO's provincial coordinator, it has had difficulties in the past finding sufficient Aboriginal artists to participate.
Claudette Billy, regional event assistant of the IASO, said the organization has been instrumental in bringing Aboriginal arts to the BCFA.
"We are very thankful this type of programming is available," said Billy, herself a selected artist from the regional festival in Chase. "Without IASO's regional art festivals, emerging artists would not have the opportunity to display their work."
Other Aboriginal artists selected in the four regional festivals include Dennis Saddleman, Joanne Mansfield, Donna Baynes, Robyn Kruger and James Johnny.
For more information on the BCFA, call 250-920-4118 or visit their web site at http://www.bcfestivalofthearts.bc.ca/.
Indigenous youth make connections
By Troy Hunter
Raven's Eye Writer
VICTORIANow in its third year of overseas internships, the Pacific Peoples' Partnership (PPP) is looking for 10 First Nations youth age 18 to 30 to take up six-month positions in the South Pacific. The deadline for applications to the internship program is May 31. To be eligible, applicants need to meet the criteria set by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade that includes the following: applicants must be less than 30 years of age, unemployed or underemployed, and not in school.
In addition, PPP has initiated a project to reach out to British Columbia's First Nation youth and to meet with Indigenous youth from the Pacific Islands.
"We are bringing together Indigenous youth to share ideas on cultural sustainability in the new millennium," said Vanessa Nevin, a Micmac youth who is PPP's youth-to-youth project co-ordinator. "Nowadays, we are getting disconnected from our culture because of television. We are disconnected from the culture and also disconnected from our Elders. Elder involvement in the project is integral as the youth are going to be the Elders in the future."
As part of the youth-to-youth project, Indigenous youth will take part in a tour of selected areas in British Columbia. Noted author Zohl dé Ishtar will be coming from Australia and will be bringing with her six Indigenous Australian women, of which two are Elders. The Kapululangu Women's Law and Culture Centre has sponsored the Australian delegation. The purpose for their visit is to connect with Indigenous Canadians, Hawaiian and other Pacific peoples as they work toward the revitalization of cultural practices. These women from the Wirrimanu (Balgo) community will be traveling to both Hawaii and British Columbia. They are from a tribal group that lived in Australia's desert without "European" contact until the 1940s.
Wirrimanu people are renowned for the strength of their cultural heritage and traditionally-oriented ways of living. They are best known by their law-based artworks (acrylic on canvas). Their dancing and songs are held in equal esteem and they have traveled internationally to such places as the Cook Islands where they performed in the South Pacific Arts Festival. The women Elders established Kapululangu in 1999 to assist Wirrimanu women to maintain and revitalize their traditional cultural practices and values in the context of their contemporary society. Kapululangu women are custodians of some of Australia's strongest law and, while they will not share the most intimate details of their law, they wish to exchange and share some of their knowledge with other Indigenous peoples across the world.
Other Pacific youth that will be joining the youth-to-youth tour include journalist Lice (pronounced Liethey) Movono, who is a 21-year-old Fijian woman who was affected by last year's coup. Also participating is Sam Obed, an Indigenous youth from Vanuatu, who works with the Vanuatu Cultural Centre and has been part of video productions concerning youth issues. Clay Hawk, 26, is a Maori man from New Zealand and is involved with tourism. Turarangi Tarapu, 28, is a Maori from the Cook Islands and a member of the Orama Cultural Dance Group. They will join keynote speaker Nanaia Mahuta, 30, who is Maori woman, the youngest member of the New Zealand parliament, elected at age 26.
The youth-to-youth tour will take place between June 9 and June 28. Communities to be visited include Alert Bay, Cowichan, Port Alberni, Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, Vernon and Kamloops. Local friendship centres and First Nations will be hosting the visitors. All-day youth seminars are planned for June 16 in Victoria and June 23 in Kelowna with the evenings open for cultural sharing.
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