What's in, What's out in the Native world

Page 5

In these increasingly confused times, one's grasp of what is proper and correct in today's fast-changing world becomes more and more hazy. In fact, sometimes it's just downright impossible to tell what's going on.

I speak specifically about the life of Canada's Native people. With the growing political and cultural awareness that's happening in Native communities across this country, Native people, like the dominant immigration culture that surrounds them, now have fashion, social, and other politically correct trends happening alongside the other important issues of Native life, and then changing before you know it. And these trends often happen so quickly that if you're not careful, you can be caught practising last year's "ins" and create a tremendous Indigenous faux pas that could alienate you from your friends for years. So I figure, white people have magazines and newspapers that tell them what's in and what's out. Why not Native people?

So now, after years of extensive research listening to what's being said out there on the powwow trail, the bars, McDonald's, I think I have come up with a preliminary list of what the in-tune Aboriginal is saying, doing, eating, and thinking. This is by no means a complete list, just a suggested menu to follow or ignore, depending on how trendy you are.

OUT IN

- trying to be white - trying to be Naive

- telling stories and legends get rich and - watching white people writing stories,

famous from around the campfire movies, novels, etc. about us.

- Residential School - Therapy resulting from Residential school

- "I'm an Indian" - "I'm a member of the Aboriginal Native Indigenous First Nations people. (Actually, I'm Ojibway or more accurately, the Anishnawbe Nation. Just call me Drew.)

- Hunting/gathering to survive - Treaty Research

- Tonto and the Lone Ranger - Dances with Wolves

(Hmm Kemosabe, what we do now?) (Hey, Kevin, what next?)

- Following the powwow trail - Following the conference trail

- Wondering what happened to all the - Wondering what happened to all the

buffalo funding

- White liberals who want to 'understand' - White businessmen who want to invest

- Question: What's it like to be Indian? - Question: "Do you know Graham Greene?

- Trapping & seal hunting (thanks various - Welfare (thanks to various organizations)

animal rights and animal rights organizations

- Indian men dating & marrying blondes - Indian men sleeping with blondes but marrying and having children by Native women.

- W.P. Kinsella (unless it's over 20 - Any speech by Ovide Mercredi long,

minutes replaced by anything from) then it's "out" and is to be Tomson Highway)

- Cheated land agents - Cheated by court systems

- "I'm a feminist" - "I'm Matriarchal."

- Cowboys and Indians - Surrete du Quebec and Warriors

- Catholic Religion - Traditional Beliefs

Later, the best and worst dressed Native people in Canada

Editor's Note: We wish to apologize for the garblings of Drew Hayden Taylor's column, headlined What's in, what's out in the Native world, which appeared in the June 7, 1993 issue. It occurred in the editorial process through no fault of Drew's and is in no way reflection on his fine writing.)