15) INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DAY: AN IMPORTANT SYMBOLIC CHANGE

 

By Kimball Cariou

 

            There has been considerable media attention to a recent decision by Seattle City Council to support a proposal from indigenous activists to rename Columbus Day, traditionally celebrated as a U.S. federal holiday on the second Monday of October. In Seattle and Minneapolis, this is now Indigenous Peoples' Day.

 

            Columbus Day marks the arrival in the western hemisphere of Christopher Columbus, the Italian‑born sailor who led a three‑ship expedition across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492. In the popular understanding encouraged by governments and the education system, this is usually considered the so‑called "discovery of America".

 

            In reality, of course, the "Americas" were first discovered by the human beings who arrived in Turtle Island from Asia at least 14,000 years ago, and possibly as long as 40,000 years. These ancient travellers are the ancestors of the indigenous and Aboriginal peoples who spread throughout the hemisphere, using sophisticated skills and knowledge to create hundreds of societies and languages. An estimated 70‑110 million people lived in this hemisphere at the time of Columbus ‑ whose voyage came hundreds of years after various other Europeans, such as Nordic explorers who established settlements in Newfoundland, and Portuguese fishing fleets. There is also credible evidence that some ships arrived on the west coast from destinations in east Asia during the centuries prior to Columbus.

 

            There is strong justification to recognize "Italian Heritage Days", considering the many contributions by this community. But the arrival of Columbus marked a horrifying conquest of the so‑called "New World". In their search for gold, silver and other treasures of the original peoples, the conquistadores and their fellow invaders from England, France and elsewhere conducted a well‑documented and ruthless slaughter. Plunder, murder and disease on a shocking scale led to the extermination of some indigenous peoples, an overall population decline of about 80% by around 1900, and permanent poverty for most of the survivors. As Communist Party leader Tim Buck said from the dock during his 1931 trial on trumped up "sedition" charges, the bourgeois state in Canada was created "first to enforce the robbers' will on the suppressed Indians, and later on the working class."

 

            To this day, Aboriginal peoples in Canada face lower standards of living, shorter life expectancies, and sharper repression of their democratic and civil rights than the rest of the population. Renaming a holiday will not change this oppression.

 

            But it would be simplistic to view this move from one single perspective. The struggle for recognition of the inherent rights of indigenous peoples has been gaining momentum for over a century. This struggle takes place simultaneously in the political arena, in the courts, in the realm of popular culture, and so on. Every step forward, large or small, contributes to the overall progress of this epic campaign.

 

            In this sense, symbolic gestures can reflect wider social trends. For example, the name change of the Strait of Georgia and associated waterways to "Salish Sea" is a welcome reminder that those of us in southwest British Columbia live in the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples.

 

            On the Prairies, the defeat of the Métis Resistance of 1885, and the brutal hanging of Louis Riel in a Regina barracks, marked the beginning of decades during which the Métis people (including some of my ancestors) were driven to the margins of society, living in extreme poverty and not allowed to organize or speak out.

 

            This began to change by the 1930s, but the racist legacy of the Canadian state's military victory at Batoche lives on. Decades of grassroots community organizing has won important social progress, and the Métis are recognized by the Canadian Constitution as one of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada.

 

            But the Métis still face stubborn resistance against even symbolic moves to recognize our crucial role in history. Manitoba finally declared "Louis Riel Day" on the third Monday in February, which is the "Family Day" statutory holiday in some other provinces. But Riel's birthday, October 22, 1844, which is highly significant for the Métis, is still ignored by mainstream Canadian society. Just as telling, Métis people and our allies have rarely succeeded in having streets, buildings, parks and other public places named after our heroes. Riel and his military commander Gabriel Dumont are still considered "traitors" for their armed resistance against the Canadian state's theft of Métis lands, and therefore unfit to be honoured. So like many others, I dream of a time when I can celebrate Louis Riel Day by walking down Jim Brady Avenue in Regina, to relax at Gabriel Dumont Park, looking at statues of these leaders.

 

            Yes, symbols do matter. The declaration of Indigenous Peoples Day in Seattle will not eliminate the terrible poverty faced by Native Americans. But this is one more step along the road to a society in which the legacy of colonialism is truly eradicated (though never forgotten), and in which equality is a reality rather than a dream.

 

            (An earlier version of this commentary was published in Radical Desi magazine.)

 

 (The above article is from the November 16-30, 2014, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)