#nitassinan

For the upcoming Truth and Reconciliation Day (Sept 30), I wanted to share some Indigenous films made by various Indigenous directors, starring actors from many Indigenous communities, that speaks of their stories and experiences.

L’inhumain (2021) - directed by Jason Brennan (Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg), Genre: horror/thriller. Viewing: tout.tv platform.

A rare French-language Indigenous genre film, L’inhumain is the directorial debut of Anishinaabe producer and writer Jason Brennan. It’s a thrilling and evocative parable about the dangers of feeding the monster inside, and faithfully portrays an Anishinaabe Wendigo story. Starring Samian, an Indigenous neurosurgeon by the name of Mathieu who has had to leave his community at a young age because of school. After many years, Matt has somewhat rebuilt his life away from the community. Although he’s got a great family and a successful job, he’s still trying to fill the void left by having left behind his culture, his roots, and his family. In attempts to fill this void, he’s giving in to many different vices and the slippery slope has led him to fall prey to the Wendigo.

Angry Inuk (2016) directed by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuk from Iqaluit, Nunavut). Genre: documentary. Viewing: National Film Board of Canada platform.

In her award-winning documentary, director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril joins a new tech-savvy generation of Inuit as they campaign to challenge long-established perceptions of seal hunting. Armed with social media and their own sense of humour and justice, this group is bringing its own voice into the conversation and presenting themselves to the world as a modern people in dire need of a sustainable economy.

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril is also the co-creator of the drama comedy series North of North, now available on CBC and Netflix in Canada.

Call Me Human (Je m’appelle humain) (2020), directed by Kim O’Bomsawin (Abenaki) Genre:documentary. Viewing:tout.tv platform

Innu writer Joséphine Bacon is part of a generation that has lived through significant changes in Indigenous traditions and colonialist displacement. Born in the Innu community of Pessamit, Bacon was sent to residential school at the age of five and spent fourteen years of her life there. Now, with charm, grace, and quiet tenacity, she is leading a movement to preserve her people’s language and culture.

This endearing film moves with Bacon across Canada — Montreal, Pessamit, and the tundra. In each place she visits, Bacon shares reflections and stories, backdropped by the film’s stunning cinematography. The contrasts between city and wilderness mirror Bacon’s upbringing, creating a poignant sense of the displacement she and her generation experienced. At the same time, the film offers a moving, inspirational meditation on the interconnectedness of language, earth, spirituality, and culture.

Dear Flora (2022) directed by Sonia Bonspille Boileau (Mohawk). Genre: Drama. Viewing: tout.tv platform, APTN Lumi platform, Apple Tv rent/buy

The Dear Flora drama series portrays the inherent resilience of two Anishinaabe siblings who endured their childhood in a Quebec residential school in the 1960s. The film explores their present-day challenges as they grapple with the lingering effects of their past.

Beans (2020) director: Tracey Deer (Mohawk). Genre: drama. Viewing: CBC gem, Apple TV rent/buy.

For today is Truth and Reconciliation Day in Canada, many folks have the day off. I hope for people to take some time today to read on residential school testimonies, reflect on the children lost and the survivors left to deal with the scars, and their children who feel the intergenerational trauma.

We are weaker when we don’t let others shine in their brilliant cultures and wisdoms, and no country is strong without the active involvement and respectful considerations of the needs and worldviews of Indigenous, Métis, and Inuit peoples.

As I can’t do extended trips or walks outside right now, I’m taking some time to listen to Gord Downie’s Secret Path album, and choosing from one of the titles I have in my library.

I have had the honor of meeting both Stephen Kakfwi (Northern Dene, former premier of the NorthWest Territories/former National Chief of the Dene Nation, representing Chiefs of Treaties 8 and 11, always an activist for his homeland and people, and a residential school survivor) and his wife Dr. Marie Wilson (former Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner) during my congregation’s reconciliation service. Kakfwi was warm and full of good humor, and we talked a bit of his home Fort Good Hope, North West Territories, and the beauty of our homes in the boreal forests. It was too short a meeting to get in depth, but I was grateful to have met him. Dr. Wilson was an amazing presence, and if I could have an extended tea with them, I’d adore every second. Seeing my sash, she asked if I was an impacted family member. I honestly told her no, but as a French Canadian, it’s important for me to be involved. While I may have distant ancestors, it’s my present job to listen to their descendants and reach out and connect respectfully.

Dr. Wilson’s book is a must-read for those that want a perspective on how to go about reconciliation as an obligation and gift. Her chapter, Part VI: Humility - Quebec struck hard with me as a folk practitioner and how I go about understanding my maiden province’s history and impact on Indigenous peoples.

If you want to donate to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and adjacent projects, follow the link below!

Please note that the term “Eastern Métis” in this case refers to a social movement that involves individual and organizational claims to being “Eastern Métis,” “Québec Métis,” “Acadian-Métis,” “Mi’kmaq-Métis,” “Algonquin-Métis,” and increasingly, false claims to being Algonquin, Mi’kmaq, Abenaki, Huron-Wendat, and other First Nation peoples whose territories are located in this region.

Hi there,

As someone who is actively attempting to build a modern, inclusive spiritual practice around my ancestry and our rich cultural and religious folk traditions in Quebec and Acadie, seeing this happen angers me. WE already have these beautifully musical, lively cultures full of folktales, spirits, and prayers, heck, we still have the woven ceinture fléchée, something we SHARE with various Indigenous and Métis cultures. You don't need to go shopping for a new identity.

Through the 1970s to today, especially from 2000 to today, there has been an explosive uptick of people in Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes claiming to be Métis. This is often because mostly white French settler Canadians are finding distant Indigenous (or supposedly Indigenous; some have been debunked) ancestors from the 1600s to the 1800s and are now claiming an Indigenous or Métis identity. Worse, they are going to Canadian courts to “fight” for their rights under the Indian Act to hunt, fish, and stay in “traditional lands” that their ancestors were apparently always a part of. They rake in what little funding there is for their own self-serving individualism at the detriment of Indigenous and actual Métis sovereignty, and also committing tax fraud, issuing out their own status cards even!

What it really is, is a vehemence towards living, actual Indigenous nations and the Métis Nation, and attempting to claim rights and tax exemptions. Where were these folks when the residential schools' mass graves started being unearthed, when the 60s Scoop happened, with even now many communities have no potable water? If they didn't know about their ancestry, chances are their every-day life wouldn't change. Every time someone from those groups gets interviewed, they can NEVER really explain the community they’re a part of. They say “it’s complicated”, and they refer to themselves only as individuals with mixed blood, and THAT is what makes them “Eastern Métis”. Worse still, many of them started off as a ‘white rights', white supremacist groups. I see them pop up in news articles about celebrating long-standing friendships between Acadians and Mi'kmaq people, and it sickens me that the news reporters didn't do any further digging.

My own family tree is right within one of those groups’ supposed claims. Peter McLeod Sr. And his wife, Marie Madeleine Manitukueu Tshirnish (died before 1860) are a frequent apparition. It sickens me that they are using this lineage to justify their greed as I’m learning the history that my family went through. When I research into my lineage, I can’t help but try to imagine what must have happened to Marie Madeleine, marrying into a Scottish household that was destroying her land with reckless tree cutting and saw mills. How her daughter Angèle married a settler and farmed. I'm still trying to learn about the Ilnuatsh's people's perception of Peter McLeod Jr., supposed founder of Chicoutimi.

I also think of Angèle’s descendants, like my 4th great grand-father, who was exploring and guiding hunters and tourists through the woods, interacting with  Pekuakamiulnuatsh communities along the way (though I don't know to what degree and with what attitude). And his son clear-cutting the woods in his paper pulp factories. As I want to visit Mashteuiatsh yet again this October to appreciate their amazing Ilnu museum, to enjoy learning about their plant knowledge through their garden tours, and consulting their library, I grow more nervous of even approaching them for more information and see if I can foster community connections. It feels wrong now, even when I tell myself that cultural appreciation is encouraged.

I am no stranger to the initial feeling of ‘wow’ at finding my Indigenous roots in my tree. I get it. But you GOTTA move past it. It’s a complex emotional process, especially when you’re intelligent enough to recognize how colonialism still happens today. For me, the 1800s don’t seem that long ago. I still don’t have a right to claim what’s not mine. I have not had a link to Mashteuiatsh as a community growing up. My extended family lives within Saguenay, not thinking twice about the Ilnuatsh people living there. I don’t live nearby, and I can’t exactly just show up and expect to make friends. But I’d like to. I want to learn Nehlueun and to be humbly present and learn about the Ilnu culture, and most importantly, dedicate time to try to understand their current issues, and support in any way I can. I'm not perfect either. I want to be able to know my ancestors' names, and light a candle for them, remember them in a way that won't be like what these people are doing. Sadly it’s not that simple. And you, race-shifters, are making it so much worse.

Here is a comprehensive list of all these organisations for everyone to consult, so you can watch out for their books, essays, and flag them for what they are: frauds. Don’t support them. You’re probably wondering why I’m sharing a list if that’s going to push people towards them. I need to share it because when I am researching a website source, a reconciliation article on a news website, an essay or a book on history or folklore, they insidiously still manage to find their way in to blabber on and on about their rights. Don’t fall for it. If you see them in a source or bibliography while you’re researching Quebecois and Acadian folk ways, run.

For those interested in further reading, as I will be, here's a great book on this topic. Darryl Leroux is an associate professor at St. Mary's University in Halifax. His work focuses on racism and colonialism among descendants of French settlers.

Darryl Leroux’s book, Distorted Descent: White Claims to Indigenous Identity, 2019.

He is also the co-creator Raceshifting.com, where he monitors these groups and what they're trying to do in court.

Also, support Indigenous authors and artists with this website! I'll be perusing for books myself from Ilnuatsh authors.

For Indigenous peoples history month (June), I set up my altar as my anchor for introspection and connection. I’ve got Saint Anne’s shrine (patron saint of voyageurs and a beloved saint in many Indigenous and Métis catholic communities), Saint Anthony of Padua (seeking lost memories, understanding and love of others), Saint Kateri Tekakwitha (for honing that reconciliation and truth telling in history), my Nehlueun language notebook, my reconciliation journal, and a few titles from Indigenous authors: “You are the Medicine” by Asha Frost, and “Spirit Talker: Indigenous Stories and Teachings From a Mi’kmaq Psychic Medium” by Shawn Leonard.

For reconciliation titles, I recommend:

Stoneface: a Defiant Dene by Stephen Kakfwi

North of Nowhere: Songs of a Truth and Reconciliation Comissioner by Marie Wilson

Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada by Michelle Good