From September 2016 to April 2017 I attended Langara Reconciliation Carving Cohort. This was my online journey- a collection of research, thoughts, feelings, work and anything that would aid me and others to help the next 7 generations.
"It was in 1850 that the wagon train of the Brulé and Poirier families
reached Canada, after they decided to travel north to remain with the
“Crown” rather than stay below the newly decided 49th parallel border
after the Oregon Treaty was signed in 1846.
Ellen, the daughter Mary Ann mentions above, married Joseph Poirier, a
voyageur from Quebec (the man for whom Ecolé Poirier is named) and
raised a large family, in a cabin by the Sooke River and later a home on
Grant Road. http://www.sookenewsmirror.com/community/303481881.html
WARNING NOTE: Some information detailed on
our website may stir up or trigger unpleasant feelings or thoughts. The
Indian Residential School Survivors Society encourages you to take time
to care for your Mental and Emotional wellbeing. Please contact “The
Indian Residential School Survivors Society” toll-free 1.800.721.0066 or 24hr Crises Line 1.866.925.4419 if you require further emotional support or assistance.
http://irsss.ca/
The Indian Residential School Survivor Society (IRSSS) is a provincial
organization with a twenty year history of providing services to Indian
Residential School Survivors.
Indian Residential School Survivors and Family 1-866-925-4419
*Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day
for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of his or her
residential school experience.
For more information on the program, please refer to the FNHA website at: http://www.fnha.ca/about/news-and-events/news/indian-residential-school-support-program
"So
we were writing around Stanley Parke and this is where I recieved the
wonderful news. It was the day I received the email I was accepted to
the TRC Carving Cohort at Langara. Powerful place and such great news. I
cried. I was so happy. I need this so bad. I want it so much."
What I have heard is many many "Canadians" still have no idea what really happened in the Residential schools, the true scope of it, how it affected and is still affecting so many people. They do not know that the children had to go or their parents would be jailed, they do not know that as soon as they got there, their hair was cut, and they were beaten if they spoke their language, that they were molested and never learned to parent. Then when they went home they couldn't speak the language, felt lost, didn't know how to care for their children and that has led to more problems of their children being stolen again by the welfare systems or put in jails.
This isn't true for all of course and many were/ARE amazingly resilient precious souls that survived and overcame these horrific crimes again children. It was a WAR ON CHILDREN...FOR 150 YEARS. It didn't happen hundreds or thousands of years ago, it is Canada's life time.
Re-Think Canada...the last school closed in 1996, that is very recent... More children died in the Residential schools than the actual war...think about that? How do we reconcile with that?
The schools are really slow to teach what happened and older people in there 50's 60's they just don't want to go there. It is really sad, causes big arguments and that's just in non-indigenous or indigenous families that are in denial that they are part indigenous. And that's a big part of it, people were scared to even acknowledge it because of the consequences.
Everyone is reconciling with something as my instructor Dr. Justin Wilson says, in my Reconciliation Carving course. In the course we have dealt with really difficult issues but in the afternoons we carve so it's like art therapy. We need a lot more art therapy, a LOT more education about the TRUTH, and people need to realize a lot of BC is Unceded Territories...so recognizing treaties doesn't work for some and then because they ignore (Christy Clark and greedy corporations) treaties it's a bunch of bs.
And here's the gist of it, children keep taking their lives...if we don't reconcile it will continue. I pray people will take it upon themselves to actually educate themselves. It's not easy, I thought I knew the truth but it was just a tiny bit, then I got a glimpse, it was horrific, it's like the holocaust.
And this is the Truth, it's about land, Canada stole the land, the took the land put the people on reserves, sold it to settlers , and they don't want to give it back and if you fight it your kids end up in the welfare system or you go to jail...so Canada's wonderful legacy (Vomit) will continue until people learn, accept and take action.... can we do it, I don't know.
Do I want us to, of course, for my child, our children and children's children...but if we don't ....think about the consequences...it's not positive...it will be dark...I know I know,....you don't want to go there...I hear it all the tiime and you know what else...I think history is just repeating itself.. over and over... to post or not to post, if I post this truth, what will be my consequences....but if I don't then I am guilty of letting this evilness continue
Okay so remember I talked about Art Therapy. This week we are supposed to have a 3 page story an some designs for our panel ready. These are just some sketches I was fooling around with...I had a vision...
Suddenly, she puts her paw up and with a big claw to her mouth excuses herself.
She wanders away and takes a big poop. She poops out that nasty evil Indian Agent.
She's safe, the kids are safe and everyone is happy.
Here's are some other designs I have been playing with. They are based on another vision I had about the caterpillar and the moon. I have a story, I will share it later.
And just one last comment...some think it's not their problem or that
it's just the children that were affected and stuff like that but I
heard something really sad the other day and I just don't know what to
do but share it with you. Apparently an elder died. I don't know if they
passed away or actually died by suicide. What I heard was she had moved
out of her home into her brother's home and was living on the couch.
Her own son was heavily addicted and was stealing from her. Imagine
being her. Imagine that's your mom, your sister, aunt, grandma,
child,...imagine
And I am sure this isn't an isolated
incident, it's happening in indigenous homes and non-indigenous. There's
a lot of pain, abuse, sadness and we have to face the truth and
reconcile and make our so called government accountable...the suicides
must stop. We need healing, compassion, love, we need WATER and to STOP
KILLING OUR MOTHER with mining, pipelines, fish farms, LNG. We need to
cut the head off the black snake like Alice in Wonderland did to the
Jabberwocky.
Yesterday was really f*cking hard for me. I am not going to beat around the bush and I am sorry if the language disturbs you.
It's about time we all got really disturbed there is so much nasty stuff going on and has gone on. People have had a peak into the evilness of Residential Schools but nobody wants to go there(with their mind). I am talking about people who didn't attend or have no relatives that attended.
We saw and heard really HORRIFIC things yesterday.
They tried to prepare us...but I didn't really have the tools to be ready for what was coming. The elder (while he hates to be called that) -I'm going to call him Wise One- he had prepared himself in a special way because he actually lived this through this and so did his family.
I cried, cried, CRIED! I WANTED TO GO OUT SIDE AND SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wanted to puke out all the evilness and hurt.
I made it through, and I was only a bystander, I didn't experience this personally but it felt like it. I have great empathy for these friends, these loving souls, when they hurt I hurt.
We were told not to take this stuff with us. Don't pick up someone else's bundle(?) baggage, I was told to think of it as going on a a long canoe journey. Some parts would be very VERY hard and we would have to STRUGGLE through but once we did, we would get to the next village and people would be there to feed and care of us.
So I survived, I came home, I was safe. It never happened to me. It just felt like it did. HOW CAN PEOPLE BE SO EVIL TO OTHERS????????????????
They learned, they learned it when they were children. I have always said, "monsters make monsters", if you never learned love then how can you give, but it goes deeper.
It has to do with people feeling superior. They used to believe the that Indigenous people were not human. They had deep GREED in their core and when they saw all this land, they wanted it and they figure out how to take it for themselves. They would KILL THE INDIAN!!
Isn't that horrible. I KNOW you probably don't want to read this, maybe you won't but if you do, then you are brave and you have a heart and soul and your willing to be enlightened.
Do you see I mentioned the term Indigenous.
Someone is my class enlightened me yesterday.
You see I didn't realize I wasn't using some labels/terms correctly.
First Nations, Metis, metis, Inuit, Aborignal, Indigenous...do you know the difference and WHY they are important but why they shouldn't be.
First Nations is a term and all these terms were created by the government, they define the person by the amount of blood they have...if you are 51% then you are can have status and you get a card saying that, If not, you don't.
I will break the rest down in a bit.
But the reason it's all so important is that it comes down to land rights, it is the INDIGENOUS people that were living here before the Europeans(Settlers) came and killed them with disease and Residential schools, it was and IS their land.
Residential schools were horrible evil systems that ripped children away from loving, abundant homes and forced them into violence. Propaganda promoted the idea that they were doing some huge favor but in reality it was the government RIPPING THE OFF OF THEIR LAND. And it is to this day.
But it's been buried. Hidden, they don't want us to know this dark nasty evil secret BECAUSE they are STILL doing it.
There are so many Indigenous people in the Child Welfare system and Judicial system it's programed that way to keep them out of the way, WITHOUT RIGHTS, KNOWLEDGE, HEALTH, JUSTICE so that their land can continue to be STOLEN, DESTROYED, POLLUTED, SOLD.
It's true. Sadly it is really true but everyone is in denial because it's too F*UCKING ugly to acknowledge.
I am sorry for venting here but I am OUTRAGED and so should YOU!
You know in a PERFECT world we don't need labels, labels are really horrible and cause so many problems BUT that said INDIGENOUS PEOPLES MUST KEEP THE LABELS OR THE GOVERNMENT WILL CONTINUE TO EXPLOIT THEM AND THEIR LAND.
I know, I know I am yelling with my big font but I feel like I need to wake everyone up because we have been lost in the dark and now it's time to find our way out of the forest.
So who is considered First Nations- this is the conversation I had yesterday because I was told I was using the term wrong when using it to refer to myself. (I said I had First Nations in me...) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Nations
This is what Wikipedia says, it's a very long article, I have glanced through it but will read it more in detail later and you should too.
Now if you look on the Government of Canada website this is what it says, "First Nations people" refers to Status and non-status "Indian"
peoples in Canada. Many communities also use the term "First Nation" in
the name of their community. Currently, there are 617 First Nation
communities, which represent more than 50 nations or cultural groups and
50 Aboriginal languages.
According to the 2011 National Household Survey, more than 1.4
million people in Canada identify themselves as an Aboriginal person, or
4% of the population. 50% percent are registered Indians, 30% are
Métis, 15% are non-status Indians and 4% are Inuit. Over half of
Aboriginal people live in urban centres.
Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada's (AANDC's) responsibilities
and its partnerships with First Nation people and communities range
from negotiating land claim and self-government agreements to providing
social services, education and economic development. These activities
support AANDC's mandate and vision, and help to maintain and strengthen the relationship between the Government of Canada and First Nations people. READ MORE HERE https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100013791/1100100013795\
This this the take away from that article but please read it all.
"Bottom line: First Nation people have done much to reclaim
their identity by striving to become independent and
self-sufficient. This is a good way to go about things for now. Perhaps the biggest problem with all of this is that we fight
over it and people's feelings get hurt. I have always maintained that we
should call people what they want to be called, and if I make a mistake
when I refer to someone's name, I ask that they please "guide me gently
to a higher understanding" like the elders do. I never meant to offend
anyone and I hope we can teach each other about these things in a good
way."
Today, CBC Aboriginal will be renamed CBC Indigenous, and CBC's Aboriginal Digital Unit will become the Indigenous Digital Unit.
While we understand that there is no truly all-encompassing term,
Indigenous is fast becoming the preferred way to refer to First Nations,
Inuit and Métis peoples.
In adopting this change, we join the ranks of many individuals,
groups, organizations, universities and governments — both nationally
and globally — who have chosen to use the term Indigenous.
Aboriginal vs. Indigenous
In 1982, the Canadian government adopted the legal term "Aboriginal
peoples of Canada" in the Constitution Act, referring to the
Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.
While the term Aboriginal increased in popularity in the '80s and
'90s, Indigenous began to take over, often chosen by Indigenous people —
as opposed to designated by someone else.
And while I am lost and trying to figure this out and people are upset because someone used a term that they feel is incorrect, people are fighting about who's who, how much blood makes you qualify for a title, the title is only important because it's a way for the government of Canada to categorize you and decide who it can abuse...
People are fighting within families, people denying they have any Indigenous blood when the truth is we are all indigenous to this earth but you can't say that because then you may have more rights or NO RIGHTS and it's a real sad F*cking mess.
So this THANKSGIVING think long and hard and hopefully promise yourself to educate yourself and your children and family about all of this, go gently if you must but have the conversations...
What was that Thanksgiving really about. It was giving thanks because the Indigenous peoples living here before the Europeans arrived to take over and claim what was NOT theirs, they were giving Thanks because the Indigenous people saved their "starving" asses.
This painting is a complete lie, but look how powerful it was. Media is POWERFUL. SOCIAL MEDIA IS POWERFUL. ART IS POWERFUL. Embrace it and share the TRUTH.
But we have never been taught that. Instead through art and written words and violence we have been fed a horrific concoction of lies and those lies were fed to each generation and they will continue unless you TAKE ACTION now and ENLIGHTEN yourself.
DON'T BE FOOLED any longer.
Because if you don't, if you don't, we face a much darker future. That's the Truth. Indigenous people have something deep inside that says 'PROTECT MOTHER EARTH' and they will do what they have to to do it.
The governments have tried to "kill " that in them, they are still trying but it's STRONG! IT'S SO STRONG, so there is hope, I feel it.
I feel sad and mad and go through so many emotions, and I have had to do so much research and I am learning new things all the time about my history, my family's history and deep inside a little voice, I am sure it's my Great Great Grandma and my Great Grandma, and my mom, they are pushing me, pushing me to find and learn the truth and to share it. And that's what I am doing, the best way I know how.
Last night when I got home, I felt traumatized. I took a long bath and I had a vision. I saw things that encouraged me, a story, maybe it's a series of paintings, maybe it's a carving...some how I need to do them and share them.
It's weird I can not really find a stat on how many Indigenous people were here before contact with Europeans, I remember reading that in South America or maybe Mesoamerica something like 9 million indigenous people died of disease, you see, they don't want us to know so this info is not easy to find and that tells you something right there. The fact that all their art, clothes, homes were destroyed or stolen shows they were trying to wipe them all out and they are still trying...and it goes back to greed.
My final point here is ART is POWERFUL! Tell your story through art. What every injustices you have suffered or are suffering, put your energy into art and tell it and hopefully it will survive, and it will tell the TRUTH many many years from now.
Tell your story and tell the truth, not some trumped up shit that has been fed to us through a lying government and people who were sick, sick their minds and souls....who CREATED A WAR OF 150 YEARS AGAINST CHILDREN!! And it is still going on!!!!!!!!!!!!!! just in a different format. The time for Truth is now and if we are to Reconcile let it be with our families, friends, people you meet on the street, on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, the power of SOCIAL MEDIA to tell the Truth, share it and let's give thanks this Thanksgiving that we have to power to access it.
Please use that power, use the power of art, let's reconcile with ourselves, let's reconcile with the truth how ever dark and ugly it is and let's change it, change it for a better future, for our children and children's childrens future.
Because if we don't...if we don't ....I don't want to think about that future...it's too dark and too scary...just like the past we just came from and the present that so many INDIGENOUS people are living RIGHT NOW!!
There's so much more I want to say, like we need some of these for John A. MacDonald- A-standing for ULTIMATE A-HOLE but I actually have to get ready because I am going to share a Thanksgiving dinner with my family, and this doesn't usually happen for us.
In fact it's been 12 years since I've been to this family member's home.. I am going to give thanks, thanks that we will be together, thanks that we have food to eat and we are safe, thanks I have not suffered as others have, thanks that I have the ability to learn and share the truth, thanks that I am an artist and create and hopefully I can share a message that will live on long after I am gone. Thanks that I can share the truth and others will hopefully learn and end the evilness that is happening NOW and prevent it from happening again in the future. That's what I am giving thanks for this Thanksgiving.
CBC Calgary
"Dumb Indian." "Drug addict." "Welfare mom." These harsh slurs
emblazoned over portraits of Indigenous people are part of
an in-your-face art project meant to challenge racist attitudes in
Lethbridge, Alta.
The side-by-side portraits of First Nations and Métis people
appeared on buses, transit shelters and billboards through the month of
September, as well as at CASA, the city's new multidisciplinary arts
centre.
On the left, each person scowls at the camera under words with negative stereotypes.
On the right, the same people are shown smiling with their
actual names and biographical information:"teacher," "baker,"
"university graduate," "great-grandmother," "Blackfoot
instructor," "all-star basketball player," "Canadian quarter-horse
champion."Read More Here
IINNII, a
Lethbridge-based artist-run-centre, proudly presents its inaugural
exhibition Perception: Lethbridge featuring the work of contemporary
Winnipeg multi-media artist KC Adams.
Perception:
Lethbridge is a series of photographic diptychs portraying individuals
of First Nations or Metis ancestry from our community. Consisting of
seventeen large format photographs, displayed on commercial billboards,
public transit, in bus shelters and on CASA’s outdoor digital display
throughout the month of September 2016.
Artist Statement
I am a social practice artist, interested in social and economic issues faced by North America’s consumerist culture. My focus has been the investigation of the dynamic relationship between nature (the living) and technology (progress). I create aestheticized work that questions our present and future, I encourage my audience to think about how they can take action, in their own way, to affect social and environmental change. I create work that represents the human struggle to control our environment as well as the relationship we have over our excessive habit of consumption and conformity. Raised in a culture that emphasizes the wonders of technology yet still romanticizes nature and the natural world; I make sense of our present and future through my engaging work. I start with an idea and then choose a medium that best represents that idea. In the past I have worked in video, installation, drawing, painting, photography, ceramics, printmaking and kinetic art.
Read More Here. http://www.kcadams.net/AboutKCAdams.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Power of Words
