All My Relations Have Native Canadians been forgotten? by Dan Ennis In a recent print editorial it is stated that we all have reasons to get involved in the St. Croix anniversary (the commemoration of French explorer Jacques Cartier’s arrival in Canada) and by extension Canada Day celebrations, that there have been winners and losers, and that this anniversary is a time of celebration, for others an occasion for somber commemoration, and that it is a milestone by which we can judge where we stand today. Even though Indians are mentioned in the piece, I cannot help but think the opinion was written with only non-Indians in mind. Given the fact that Indian people have been deliberately and callously overlooked (not seen) for the past 500 years, my thinking should not come as a surprise to anyone. ____________________________________ ... how do I celebrate or commemorate this transplanted European anniversary? ____________________________________ In my musings after having read the opinion, I thought, as an Indian person, how do I celebrate or commemorate this transplanted European anniversary? An anniversary that, if not for the kindness of Indian people, probably would not have been necessary to observe. And if Indian people had been more like the Europeans and had inflicted upon those first Europeans the same fate as what Europeans inflicted upon the Beothuk - an Indian tribe of Newfoundland - only a few decades later, the need for this debate would have been rendered moot. How do I, as an Indian person, celebrate or commemorate the genocide of the Beothuk, Huron, Saco, Abanaki and on and on right across this country? It is like Germans asking Jews to help celebrate the Dachau, Auschwitz, Majdanek and Treblinka death camps. As a so-called “loser” how do I celebrate the loss of my identity as a human being, as a Wulustukyeg (a tribe native to the province of New Brunswick)? How do I celebrate the loss of my homeland? How do I commemorate the loss of my traditional spiritual ways and the traditional spiritual teachings? How do I commemorate the loss of my language? How do I commemorate the loss of my ability to pass on our traditional teachings, language, etcetera, to the Seventh Generation? How do I celebrate the loss of my culture? How do I celebrate the loss of the sacred burial site of my Ancestors? How do I commemorate the loss of my milestones which reach back thousands and thousands of years and generations? I ask these questions from my heart. Painful but necessary questions in my ongoing effort to get our European brothers to honestly face the legacy of the past and to honestly and truthfully address injustices in the present. Our Elders teach that in order for people to move to an equal, healthy, peaceful and just future, that those people must first take four steps in order to reach the starting point. First step: to recognize the truth of their past actions, no matter how ugly. Second: to acknowledge the truth, no matter how painful. Third: to accept that truth, no matter the cost. Fourth and final step: an honest, equal, healing and peaceful reconciliation can now begin. Failing this, all of the words of our Euro-Canadian brothers on honestly facing the legacy of the past and addressing injustice in the present will continue to ring very hollow to me, the Ancestors, the People and the Seventh Generation. ____________________________________ But before anyone responds, I would ask that they first weigh their response from a reversed perspective. ____________________________________ I end with the words of Chief Seattle, Duwamish: “To us, the ashes of our ancestors are sacred, and their sacred resting place is hallowed ground. We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The Earth is not his brother, but his enemy... and when he has conquered it he moves on. “He leaves his father's graves, and his children's birthright is forgotten. And when the last redman shall have perished, and the memory of my people has become a myth among the white man, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my people. The white man will never be alone in my People's homeland.” I humbly and respectfully ask anyone who cares to respond to help me in my question on how I as an Indian person should celebrate or commemorate my losses. But before anyone responds, I would ask that they first weigh their response from a reversed perspective. Meaning that the 500-year scenario be reversed. That my people had invaded Europe and my people had inflicted similar diseases and losses upon Europeans which could be comparable to what occurred here on our beloved Turtle Island. These words from my heart are from the Ancestors. All My Relations, Dan Ennis Dan's son Jim wishes to also include a poem composed by his father. For This I Am Grateful Ho Great Spirit! I give thanks for this day. This precious gift of another day. Another growing. Another opportunity for growth. Another opportunity to grow and develop from my experiences. Another opportunity to be of service. Another opportunity to love and know and respect and accept myself just as I am. Another opportunity to be happy, to pursue happiness, seek happiness and to share happiness. Another opportunity to enter into the womb of our Sacred Earth Mother. To enter the womb of love, the womb of peace. The Great Mystery, to enter the Great Silence. For this I am grateful I come before you on this day in ceremony Sacred healing ceremony of gratefulness and thankfulness for life, all of life, all of the many gifts of life. That just for today there will be no anger in my life, no anger in my life, no anger in my life, For anyone, anything, any word, any sight, any thought Just no anger in my life. And there will be no anxiety in my life, anxiety that can potentially bring on anger. For this I am grateful Just for today there will be no worry in my life There will be concern for many different things especially in regards to the health of my immediate family, my family and my extended family and my own health. For me, I have absolute and complete faith in the healing powers of the healers who have come into my life since I put my health and whole being out of balance. For this I am grateful Just for today I will remember and honor my parents, my teachers and my elders, Beginning with my mother and my father, my two grandmothers and my two grandfathers. Remember and honor them for passing on to me a bloodline. A bloodline that is me today, a bloodline that is buried so deeply and firmly within the soil of the Wulustuk River valley as to be indistinguishable one from the other I am the Wulustuk and the Wulustuk is me! For this I am grateful A bloodline that is me today A bloodline that is buried so deeply and firmly within the soil of Turtle Island as to be indistinguishable one from the other I am Turtle Island and Turtle Island is me For this I am grateful Remember and honor them for passing on to me a lineage A lineage that is buried so deeply and firmly within the soul of Mother Earth as to be indistinguishable one from the other I am Mother Earth and Mother Earth is me For this I am grateful Just for today I will express my thankfulness and gratefulness for life, all of life and all of the many gifts in life And for my life and all of the many gifts in my life. I give thanks for this opportunity to be able to participate in this sacred ceremony which is being conducted to remember, honor, respect and protect our Sacred Earth Mother, the Ancestors, the People and the Seventh Generation. I give thanks for my sisters and for my brothers who are here sharing. I give thanks for this sacred ceremony that helps me to recognize, acknowledge, accept and to give thanks for what I am. A creation of Great Creator A human being, a Wulustukyeg guardian of our Sacred Earth Mother. And in this recognition I am able to recognize my oneness My oneness with Great Creator I am one with Great Creator. I am one with Creation, I am one with the universe, I am one with the universal mind, I am one with Mother Earth, I am one with the Great Mystery, I am one with the Great Silence For this I am grateful I give thanks for this Sacred ceremony that helps me to recognize my oneness with Great Creator for that in turn helps me to recognize that I am light, that I am life, that I am love, that I am peace That I am strength, that I am courage, that I am awareness, that I am forgiveness, that I am beauty, that I am perfection, that I am purity, that I am positive self-esteem, that I am self-confident, that I am healing, that I am healed, that I am healthy, that I am a healer. That I am joy, that I am happiness, that I am smile, that I am laughter, that I am song, that I am music, that I am balance, that I am harmony, that I am compassion, that I am respect, that I am wisdom, that I am unconditional love That I am whole, that I am complete, that I am oneness That I am one, that we are one That We Are One With Great Creator! For this I am grateful - Dan Ennis Dan Ennis is the former Grand Chief of the Wulustuk Grand Council. He is a 60+ Traditional Elder who was born on and lives with his family on the Tobique Indian reservation in New Brunswick. (The reservation system is the brainchild of the government of Canada, which was originally set up to create conditions so desperate and severe as to cause the annihilation of all of our people.) He has been published in numerous newspapers, columns and magazines. He has had a radio show as well as several TV interviews. He has also been asked to speak at many universities, both locally and internationally. This website: Copyright © 2004 Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed in Urban Mozaik Magazine are not necessarily those of Urban Mozaik Magazine and the publisher cannot be held responsible for them. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.