The Human Condition: A call to action
By Daniel Schnee on December 15, 2021.
In 2015, the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission released a report containing 94 calls to action: a list of various acknowledgments and changes that federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous leaders could make for the betterment of Indigenous people, and indeed, all Canadians. I say all Canadians for two reasons. First, a fairer and more equitable Canada improves all of our lives, and secondly, to acknowledge Indigenous peoples’ humanity in this way helps us rid ourselves of racism, selfishness and ignorance. Though I openly confess to not being as knowledgeable about many of the issues around reconciliation as I should, I can speak on one particular vital issue: the acknowledgement of Indigenous languages, including language rights, the cultivation of such languages through school programs and the right to revert to Indigenous names erased by forced conversion to European names. How wonderful would it be to be able to take full courses in Indigenous languages and culture at university? Language study is one of the great investigations into humanity. The structure of sentences, how we categorize the relationships between objects and actions, cultural influences on language structures – a study of Plains Cree language would undoubtedly reveal fascinating information that would benefit any sort of education. Indeed, studying Cree syllabics and their partial roots in ancient East Indian scripts, or how unlike English a single consonant can represent a wide range of sounds, would be fascinating for students of any age. And how about an Indigenous Archeology course: finding and studying sites that have Indigenous, and therefore national relevance? This might also help with forensic archeology, properly unearthing remains around residential schools and such. Indeed, the deliberate repression and demonizing of such Indigenous perspectives is one of the many terrible activities of those very residential schools. An Indigenous child, like any other, learns about the world through interpretive stories, language and conversation; real or imagined experiences of the world in speech and thought, etc. To these children, the world rightfully made sense in Indigenous categories of thought, and being forced into the confusion of a foreign tongue exclusively, with foreign behaviours and foreign stories, was no less than psychological torture. The residential schools were not centres of education, if they ever began as such. They were places that severely altered the normal perceptions and behaviours of children to severely negative effect, for some to literal insanity. The very least we could do for a start is give them the opportunity to reclaim their individual heritage, since the residential schools forbade children from using their Indigenous names. The related call to action requests a five-year waiver of administration costs for residential school survivors requesting name-changes on birth certificates, passports and other official documents. I am happy to report that Alberta now offers such name changes free of charge. Countless Indigenous words – stories, poems and books – do not exist because of governmental policies deliberately designed to make sure they never would. Thus I say we should actively seek to help rebuild the languages, names and stories of Indigenous people; help in the effort to make sure their words always will exist. There are Cree language resources online. Why not start there and learn your first Cree word? I guarantee you will go on a fascinating new adventure. Dr. Daniel Schnee is an anthropologist who studies Japanese creative culture 11-10
