A First Nations Perspective
Canadian citizens are the envy of many people around the world. Relative wealth, health, peace, and stability provide opportunities beyond the reach of millions whose lives are consumed by poverty, disease, and war.
The real benefit of Canadian citizenship, though, is the shared core values that allow citizens to claim other circles of participation as part of their Canadian identity. The ability to maintain a diverse society is what makes Canada unique. I am a Canadian and an advocate for social justice and diversity, but my residency in the Treaty Six area and in Saskatchewan's Waterhen Lake Cree First Nation is what defines me most strongly. Participation in these territories is not subordinate to my Canadian citizenship but an integral part of it.
My place in Canada has been shaped by the story of my family. My Grandfather was born in 1900 as a non-status Indian who likely would have identified himself as Métis. He moved northwest with his family, probably for land and opportunity, like many others at that time. They settled near Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. It is unclear whether my grandfather knew that the Canadian government had designs on the unbroken land of the northwest, planning to make it available to European immigrants. The government gathered up the indigenous population onto reserves designated in previously signed treaties. My grandfather, by this time married to my grandmother, a unilingual Cree from Green Lake, Saskatchewan, was moved into a newly created band that had signed Treaty Six at Waterhen Lake, Saskatchewan in 1921. This community is now known as the Waterhen Lake Cree First Nation.
Gordon (third from the left) with his father and brothers, on Christmas at Waterhen Lake, 1968.
Sometimes I envy the families of my grandfather's European contemporaries who are now vast landowners and wealthy farmers. My ancestors were subsistence day-labourers who removed the rocks from the settlers' fields. Subsequent generations of settlers inherited land, wealth, and economic and political participation. My family inherited the reserve system and all of its problems. The division between Aboriginal people and settlers was tangible, government-imposed, and race-based. But I have no regrets because, unlike many who have not had to struggle to achieve their Canadian citizenship, I have and therefore I value mine. My family did not ask to be compartmentalized, marginalized, subordinated, and maligned. Such conditions were imposed upon them. Growing up in this environment has taught me about injustice. I have lived the intergenerational effects of abuse and marginalization, and I have fought for dignity and justice. I have witnessed the effects of using race, skin colour, and family of origin to suppress individual potential and citizenship; and I have fought for equal access to all avenues of Canadian citizenship. I have used the lessons of my family's experience to contribute to a better society.
This doesn't mean that I believe in a utopian society free of the complexities of diverse peoples learning to live together. It is these very struggles that make us who we are. Canadian citizenship should not be based on the mistakes of the past but on how we rectify them. While we need to remind each other of the struggles that have led to present-day Canada, we also need to be zealous in our pursuit of the ideals of Canadian democracy.
Gordon (far right) with his siblings near a construction trailer in a gravel pit near Saskatoon that served as the family's first home upon leaving the reserve in 1970.
When he was eking out a meager existence on the reserve, I doubt that my grandfather could have imagined he would have a grandson who rails against the injustice inflicted upon our people and who works diligently to tear down the system that gave rise to their suffering. I doubt that, in his near century on this earth, my grandfather could have realized the impact of his tenacity and unyielding pursuit of dignity and a place in society. I also doubt that my grandfather could have measured the impact of his story and those of countless others whose experiences comprise the Canadian story.
Gordon and his grandfather, Bruno Martell, celebrating his 89th birthday at Waterhen Lake, August 16, 1989.
To define Canadian citizenship is to experience it as a composite story of Canada's diverse peoples. Listening to their tales of triumph, pain, growth, and opportunity would help us to discover a multidimensional definition of Canadian citizenship and to understand its emergence one struggle at a time. As a Canadian citizen, I respect the flag, I feel the pride of country when I walk through Canadian military cemeteries in northern France, and I participate with zeal in the Canadian political process. I also hold dual citizenship as a First Nations Treaty citizen. I am content to walk in these two worlds and to acknowledge that there are others with equally compelling stories about their Canadian experience.
