BOOKS

BOOKS Indigenous history delivered with flair and insights

by Charlie Smith

The recent discovery of unmarked graves on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School has shaken the country. It has also generated far more public interest in Indigenous history.

This year, in a nod to reconciliation, Vancouver Public Library staff have been placing books on this subject in prominent locations within the branches. This week, I’m shining a light on two of my favourites.

BROTHERHOOD TO NATIONHOOD: GEORGE MANUEL AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN INDIAN MOVEMENT By Peter McFarlane with Doreen Manuel This year, Between the Lines rereleased an updated edition of McFarlane’s unvarnished 1993 biography of the famed B.C. Indigenous leader George Manuel. This giant in Indigenous politics was instrumental in the creation of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and the World Council of Indigenous Peoples, and the evolution of the National Indian Brotherhood, which shone a light on the abusive residential-school system.

“I always knew that mom was an enormous part of dad’s work in the early days, especially her fundraising skills,” Manuel’s daughter Doreen writes in the book. “She was the one who brought back the craft and traditions of tanning hides, buckskin work, feather work, and beadwork to the Secwepemc. None of that existed after the harsh effects of colonization from the nearby Kamloops residential school.”

Several Manuel family members, including George, attended the now-infamous school. In fact, George Manuel described it as “the laboratory and the production line of the colonial system”. Hunger was a constant companion, along with diseases such as tuberculosis. Students who turned their backs on their families and their traditions were treated as “success stories”, according to Brotherhood to Nationhood, “and once the children’s pride in their Indianness was stamped out, it was an easy task to undermine their traditional culture and values”.

As a young adult, Manuel was barred from most restaurants and hotels due to discrimination, as well as all beer parlours. Yet through the sheer force of his intellect, ability to inspire others, and remarkable energy, Manuel played a leading role in blocking the imposition of a federal government white paper in 1969. It proposed eliminating Indigenous peoples’ unique legal status and converting reserve lands to private property. Brotherhood to Nationhood also highlights how Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere influenced Manuel to organize Indigenous peoples around the world. That set the stage for the eventual adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, which has since been enshrined in B.C. law. This lively biography offers a colourful account of his heroic struggle for justice.

AT THE BRIDGE: JAMES TEIT AND AN ANTHROPOLOGY OF BELONGING By Wendy Wickwire Every time a statue of John A. Macdonald is vandalized, someone somewhere will say, “Well, they were all racists at that time.”

In fact, not all the settlers were racist, as demonstrated by UVic history professor emeritus Wendy Wickwire’s erudite and engaging 2019 book, At the Bridge: James Teit and an Anthropology of Belonging.

Teit arrived in B.C. in 1884 as a 19-yearold from Scotland, eventually settling in Spences Bridge. He married a Nlaka’pamux woman, Lucy Antko, and they created a ranch in the Twaal Valley. Antko lost her Indian status as a result of the marriage, but because they lived so close to her community, Teit formed strong bonds with the Indigenous people and learned their language.

Over time, he documented their lives, even recording stories and songs, and worked as a translator and adviser in their efforts to recover their stolen land. Teit also collaborated with a famous anthropologist of the era, Franz Boas, who studied Indigenous peoples on behalf of museums. Wickwire makes a compelling case that Teit has never received his due in the world of anthropology, despite his prodigious output.

“When he wrote about traditional hunting practices, he wrote as a hunter who spent years with the Nlaka’pamux and Tahltan hunters,” she states in her book. “When he wrote about local food practices, he wrote as one who had walked the land with its local foragers. When he wrote about sweathouse tradition, he wrote as one who used the sweathouse as his neighbours did. When he wrote of attitudes toward death and dying, he wrote as one who sat with his friends in their dying moments.” At the Bridge also illuminates how the longtime deputy superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs, Duncan Campbell Scott, rebuffed efforts by Teit and others to lift the ban on potlaches. In 1916, Teit travelled with chiefs from the B.C. Interior to Ottawa, where he met Scott in person for the first time.

“Teit’s prominent role in the political arena was undoubtedly a factor in his later marginalization by the discipline of anthropology, where such activism had little currency,” Wickwire writes. g

NOTICE OF INTENT

RE: LIQUOR CONTROL AND LICENSING ACT APPLICATION FOR A NEW LIQUOR PRIMARY LICENCE AND CHANGE OF HOURS

A.N.A.F. #298 has applied to transition from a private liquor primary club licence to a public liquor primary licence and change of operating hours at 3917 Main Street, Vancouver. Person capacity will be 150 persons inside. Hours of liquor service will change to 9 AM to 1 AM Sunday to Thursday and 9 AM to 2 AM on Fridays and Saturdays.

Residents and owners of businesses located within a 0.5 mile (0.8 km) radius of the proposed site may comment on this proposal by: 1) Writing to:

THE GENERAL MANAGER C/O Senior Licensing Analyst LIQUOR AND CANNABIS REGULATION BRANCH PO BOX 9292 Victoria, BC V8W 9J8 2) Email to: lcrb.sla@gov.bc.ca

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