CHIEF JOE ALPHONSE

ECONOMIC SUCCESS STARTS BY INVESTING IN PEOPLE

Indigenous Knowledge should be applied to prevent effects of climate change

CHIEF JOE ALPHONSE, OBC

If you want to invest – invest in our people. A local economy cannot thrive without a healthy population to support it. Often the economy is written and spoken about as if it is its own entity, separate and apart from communities. From a more holistic, Indigenous perspective, we know that one cannot exist without the other. We cannot speak about wildlife without also considering the economy (resource extraction), social environment, physical environment, the political landscape and spiritual well-being. Perhaps the first flaw in any initiative is to see it as isolated.

The Tsilhqot’in People come from a long line of warriors. Our history is not only a history of residential schools, but also a history of smallpox and threats from settlers to take our land and mistreat our people. We pride ourselves on our strength and resilience.

As the Tsilhqot’in Nation brings more opportunities to the territory, we are faced with the challenge of demonstrating our strength – not only as warriors this time, but as resilient. To be resilient is to adapt in a way that respects who you are and where you have come from. Our people have survived a mountain of historical and intergenerational trauma that has led to devastating social issues within our families and communities.

Some of you reading this article will know the Cariboo-Chilcotin region of British Columbia from the ongoing tragedies that happen in its hub city of Williams Lake. This summer we had a public shooting at the Williams Lake Stampede that was gang related and directly related to people in our nation. The day after the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a young Tsilhqot’in man died in police custody in Williams Lake. These incidents were just the ones reported in the media. Suicide, homicide, overdose deaths and abuse are common in our communities.

If you want to invest – invest in our people. To expect a local economy to flourish with social issues such as those faced by our communities is to expect a canoe to float in a dry riverbed. We cannot forget that an economic initiative is only as good as the people that hold it up.

The Tsilhqot’in National Government has been part of many social projects in Williams Lake to improve the well-being of our people. This includes an Indigenous court, a first-of-its-kind First Nations Wellness Centre and a Youth Foundry in Williams Lake. This Indigenous “circle of care” provides support from those not yet born, all the way to our Elders.

The Tsilhqot’in Nation has been finding creative ways to bring training for housing and infrastructure projects directly to the Tsilhqot’in People. Recently, Nicola Valley Institute of Technology partnered with the Tsilhqot’in National Government to bring carpentry training to the territory. Many graduates from this course then became employed with the Tsilhqot’in Construction Management Co. to build new homes in their communities.

Our people are exercising their resilience by taking the steps needed to heal and move forward. We have to meet our people where they are at and offer the resources they need on their journey. This may look like family or community supports, or it could look like flexible in-community training. Our economy depends on the strength and resilience of our communities. If anyone is going to invest in the Tsilhqot’in Nation – the first place to start is with our people. ç

Chief Joe Alphonse, OBC, from Tsilhqot’in Nation, has been Tribal Chairman of the Tŝilhqot’in National Government since 2010 and elected Chief of the Tl’etinqox-t’in Government since 2009.

IF YOU WANT TO INVEST – INVEST IN OUR PEOPLE. TO EXPECT A LOCAL ECONOMY TO FLOURISH WITH SOCIAL ISSUES SUCH AS THOSE FACED BY OUR COMMUNITIES IS TO EXPECT A CANOE TO FLOAT IN A DRY RIVERBED

SOVEREIGNTY AND INDIGENEITY

The complexities of family, identity, laws and citizenship

MERLE ALEXANDER

Igot Indigeneity on my mind these days. Maybe there is a soul song there. There probably isn’t an Indigenous person in Canada that isn’t provocatively discussing “who we are and who we ain’t” these days.

Any given week, I am asked: “Is it Indigenous, Aboriginal or First Nations? What do you like to be called?” “What do ‘the Natives’ (if they’re really out of touch) like to be called?” My answer is I prefer to be affirmed as Heiltsuk-Tsimshian. Most First Nations citizens prefer to be connected to their Nation of origin. I certainly don’t say, “Call me an Indian under the Indian Act because that is what my status card says.” As Audrey Lorde famously said, “The Masters’ tools do not dismantle the Masters’ house.”

In fact, my status card tells the wrong family history of a proper genealogy. I am a registered member of the Kitasoo Xai’xais, but my Mom’s biological Dad was Heiltsuk, and her Mom’s parents were Heiltsuk and Gitxaaxla. So, I could have just as easily be considered Heiltsuk. Our family was registered as Kitasoo Xai’xais because my Grandma remarried my Papa who is from Klemtu. Clear? Good.

Of course, here I am writing about registration to a First Nation as though that is our law. It ain’t. The legal truth is that First Nations have pre-existing and continuing legal orders that determine our rights of belonging to our Nations. These same legal orders determine that it is not some entitlement; citizenship is a reciprocal legal obligation that the citizen owes to his/her/their Nation. There is a lot to unpack in those few sentences. Let me break it down for you.

There is nothing unique about the right of any human community to determine who is a member of the collective. Who is part of your family, what you owe to your family to maintain your standing, your rights, your seniority and your leadership are all determined by a beautiful and elegant body of what people used to call “customary law,” and now in my world call “Indigenous legal orders.” Truth is, family is not just some analogy: Familial rights are the very core, foundation and basis of Nationhood.

Using the infamous Section 6 of the Indian Act as the way we determine to which Nation I belong is a deeply

TRUTH IS, FAMILY IS NOT JUST SOME ANALOGY: FAMILIAL RIGHTS ARE THE VERY CORE, FOUNDATION AND BASIS OF NATIONHOOD

Merle Alexander is principal of Miller Titerle + Co.'s Indigenous Law Group • SUBMITTED TO THIS DAY, MARRIAGE OF A 6(2) TO A NONSTATUS INDIVIDUAL RESULTS IN A LOSS OF ANY CITIZENSHIP TO A FIRST NATION

impoverished approach to my First Nation citizenship. The Indian Act membership provisions are designed to eliminate Indians under the Indian Act; to breed us out of existence.

If I relied upon that Indian Act and had married non-status, my two extraordinary sons, Eli and Liam, would have had no First Nation. My Mom married non-status, and that act under the Indian Act initially made me born without First Nation citizenship and stole hers. Bill C-31 then categorized me as a section 6(2). To this day, marriage of a 6(2) to a non-status individual results in a loss of any citizenship to a First Nation.

As the Creator would have it, I fell in love with my wife, Tamara, and she too is a 6(2) (Saulteau First Nations). Strangely, because of the impoverished view of the forefathers of the Indian Act, our sons are categorized now as 6(1). Apparently marrying status is considered to be to your detriment, and Indians needed protection and wardship of the Crown, so their “status” can now be passed to two generations. Their status is better than ours.

The water isn’t any clearer is it? Simply put, using a colonial tool will breed out the Indians from the Nation, the same way residential schools were designed to kill the Indian in the child. It hurts just typing it.

Using our law, where do I stand? Very interesting question, I ask.

I really know the Creator acts in deliberate ways. Earlier this year, I attended the Hailzaqv Big House on invitation of family and Chief Marilyn Slett. To say it was an honour is not enough. Maybe there is a Hailzaqv word that would apply. As a surprise to me, my Nationhood was uplifted there. I was called with my family forward, blanketed, met the Elders of my family with hugs and kisses and told: “This is your Nation, you belong here.” A happy tear just came across my face just thinking about it.

The Big House is our Parliament. Our laws apply there and on that day, the Hailzaqv claimed me as one of their own. I attorn to that law. I was always Hailzaqv. Klemtu has two names: Kitasoo in Tsimshian and Xai’xais in Hailzaqv. The facts had just not caught up with the uplifting of our laws.

Four years ago now, my Uncle, also in the Kitasoo Xai’xais Big House at a potlatch, bestowed upon me the inheritance of his name Lagax'niitsk. I am not yet a hereditary chief, I must follow our laws and protocols and hold my own potlatch. I will need to be adopted into the Orca family to become an Orca Chief. I will then have two family crests: Raven and Orca. That is our law, and I will follow our laws.

Think about how one path of law initially deprived me of my status, while my citizenship and our law uplifted me, gave me belonging and offers a future of great status and responsibility to our Nation. I do not believe in coincidences; we are all at a crossroads. ç

Merle Alexander is Heiltsuk-Tsimshian, and principal of the Indigenous Law Group at Miller Titerle + Co.

INDIGENOUS REPRESENTATION IN FILM

The opportunity for identity ownership on and off the screen

CATHERINE LAFFERTY

There is a new film coming out and it’s gaining a lot of hype. Based on the novel Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Killings and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann, this non-fiction work takes us on a dark journey at a time when land grabs were at their peak in the U.S., with no law enforcement.

It was at a time when the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls may have truly first begun.

Women from the Osage Tribe were being murdered by their white husbands for access to the land. “It’s a heartbreaking story but one that needs to be told,” says Jillian Dion, who plays Minnie, the sister of the lead character, played by Lily Gladstone. Both star alongside big celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Brendan Fraser. Dion says the film, produced and directed by Martin Scorsese, was a very positive experience. “It was just amazing working with and learning from such seasoned veterans,” she says, adding that there was a huge emphasis put on accurate representation.

Dion gave an exclusive interview to Mákook pi Sélim over the phone recently on the topic of Indigenous representation in film, and how especially important it is in a film that focuses on so many issues that impacted Indigenous Peoples then and now.

Dion, who is from Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta and is now based in Vancouver, says she never thought acting would be the path she would

take. But while in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the Gathering of Nations with her family, her dad encouraged her to go to an open casting call – and it changed her life.

“I hadn’t done anything like that before and I was a little bit nervous,” she says.

It turned out to be what she describes as “serendipitous.” And now, she’s about to star alongside some of the biggest names in Hollywood. As for what’s next, Dion is excited about the film coming out and how it could open the doors even wider for her acting career. “I guess it’s a mystery right now but I’m hoping for the most and I’m trying my hardest to obtain the best,” she says.

Kelvin Redvers knows all about the importance of Indigenous representation in film – from the business side of the industry. He is the founder of IndigiFilm, a Dene-owned and operated production company.

“The more Indigenous media that’s out there, the more Indigenous content, I think the better. And it’s just really starting to grow, to gain steam,” he says.

Redvers got into the business to be able to oversee the business and creative side of filmmaking from an Indigenous perspective.

He made headlines around the world for wearing his moccasins to the Cannes Film Festival last year, and for not being allowed inside due to the festival’s stringent formal dress code. “I had the tuxedo with the bowtie and the moccasins and was really surprised that the main security guy was so aggressive with kicking me out,” he says.

He was also surprised by the public response to it: “I really didn’t think the story would explode the way it did.” The story was covered by publications including The Hollywood Reporter and Vogue, and in countries as far away as Bosnia and Vietnam. After the incident, Redvers met with Cannes organizers. Coming out of the meeting, he says he hopes they will make changes to their policies and “make sure that they include some kind of awareness for cultural wear.”

In hindsight, Redvers references the late actress Sacheen Littlefeather. “To her through the Oscars in the 1970s, formal for her was wearing moccasins, so this isn’t anything new,”

ABOVE: Actress Jillian Dion plays a role in an upcoming film based on the murders of members of Osage

Nation • SUBMITTED

TOP: Based on David Grann’s bestselling book, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts the murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation •

APPLE STUDIOS

he says. Not much has changed, he says, but “hopefully we’re turning a corner.”

Now based in Vancouver, Redvers says it’s a good place to be in terms of the film community. Yet his roots are in the Northwest Territories, where he recently took a fall moose-hunting trip. “I still keep my roots to the Northwest Territories pretty strong,” he says, adding that he goes home two to three times a year to spend time with family and on the land. “I feel quite comfortable in both worlds, living [in] downtown Vancouver or being in my family’s cabin in the woods or paddling down a quiet river,” he says. Back in the big city, Redvers will be doing pitch meetings with broadcasters in the coming months and finishing up a feature film with his growing business. “We have the complete capacity to tell our own stories and to both be able to handle the creative and the business end.” ç

Catherine Lafferty is a northern Indigenous freelance writer and author. She is a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. WE HAVE THE COMPLETE CAPACITY TO TELL OUR OWN STORIES AND TO BOTH BE ABLE TO HANDLE THE CREATIVE AND THE BUSINESS END ˆ Kelvin Redvers Founder IndigiFilm

Kelvin Redvers is the founder of IndigiFilm • SUBMITTED