Friends, as yet another Aboriginal Day comes around we are left to think about what it all means.
More than simply a time set aside each year “for the natives”, as it were, there is much more to it.
As in most anything having to do with history, Aboriginal Day is based on how our ancestors chose to deal with the strangers, Mola – white man – within our traditional country, Denendeh. Here in the North, there were two main events which led to Treaties 8 and 11.
Treaty 8, first signed in 1899, was all about the right-of-way to the Klondike gold field region in the Yukon, so that money-hungry Canadians would have safe passage over Dene lands.
The other, Treaty 11, was formalized in 1921 and 1922 to make way for Imperial Oil to begin taking oil out of the ground at Norman Wells.
Of all the different types of treaties possible, both were friendship treaties, that is, more or less permission for foreigners, the Mola, to pass over Denendeh in peace.
One of the main things to remember is that there was absolutely no mention of a land transfer. To this day the idea of land settlements, modern versions of treaties, is still very much in the works.
Of the five tribes of Dene in the North, two still remain to negotiate the terms for their lands, the Akaitcho and Deh Cho.
Other than the over-riding question of lands, one other major consideration in history has to do with transfers of power, to put it simply.
In the late 1960s, the first Trudeau Government introduced its White Paper, basically having to do with making Indians into average Canadians.
In political terms, this spelled out to be overnight assimilation, from brown to white.
Needless to say, it created an uproar, resulting in one, the National Indian Brotherhood and in the North, the Dene Nation.
Another thing which happened was a transfer of responsibilities, over former treaty matters of health and education, to a newly-formed capital for the North, in Yellowknife.
To this day there has yet to be any change to these arbitrary actions.
Among other things, Aboriginal Day means a continuing of the recognition of our Peoples, based on the rights laid out by these treaties.
Mahsi, thank you.