{"id":89,"date":"2024-09-17T12:35:34","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T16:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/chapter\/session-9-2\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T14:14:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T19:14:36","slug":"session-9-2","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/chapter\/session-9-2\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 9: Indigenous Resilience ~ Reclamation ~ Resistance","rendered":"Chapter 9: Indigenous Resilience ~ Reclamation ~ Resistance"},"content":{"raw":"<h3><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nAs I started writing this chapter, I had to first think about the themes that comprise not only this chapter, but the remaining chapters. These themes are very important and central to how this journey of <em>Indigenous teachings<\/em> becomes etched into the mind, body, and spirit -- and, more importantly, how it may resonate, long after the course ends.\r\n\r\nI used the term \u2018etched,\u2019 and it\u2019s quite appropriate, which I will explain momentarily. I am particularly drawn to all photographs of the communal drum; I also cherish these photos very deeply, and I see the drum and dedicated drummers at Indigenous gatherings across Turtle Island. The Mi\u2019kmaq term for <strong>gathering<\/strong> is <strong>M<em>awi\u2019omi<\/em><\/strong>. In this chapter, I use select ceremonial drumming photos to signify the three main themes of resilience, reclamation, and resistance.\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\"><strong>Topics at a Glance<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Indigenous Resilience<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Reclamation<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Resistance<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nI draw your attention to Figure 36, which was taken in 2019 at the first Indigenous Artisan Market in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.\r\n\r\n<strong>Figure 36<\/strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Drummers Calling the Ancestors ~ Resilience<\/em>\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2025\/11\/Figure_36_Drummers.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-697\" \/>\r\n\r\nWhen you look at this photo, what do you see, hear, feel, and understand?\r\n\r\nThere is much happening here; your interpretations and experiences with the image are uniquely yours. It was only through a deeper exploration of my own photograph that I saw the \u2018etchings\u2019 behind the young woman recording the song. These etchings are known as petroglyphs. \u201cPetroglyphs are carvings that are incised, abraded, or ground by means of stone tools upon cliff walls, boulders, and flat bedrock surfaces\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca\/en\/article\/pictographs-and-petroglyphs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2023<\/a>). While the replication needs verification, the design is distinctly Mi\u2019kmaq.\r\n\r\nWhile beyond the scope of this text to examine Mi\u2019kmaq petroglyphs and information relating to these archeological discoveries, we do know that these etchings usually \u201cinclude animals, anthropomorphic figures, hunting and fishing scenes, footprints and fingerprints, and ornamental designs that are also found on Mi\u2019kmaq clothes\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca\/en\/article\/pictographs-and-petroglyphs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2023<\/a>). Hence, we see two panels, one with the distinct design, and on the other panel, a person wearing traditional clothing with the design woven throughout. Lastly, research into the Mi\u2019kmaq peoples show that they occupied parts on Mi\u2019kmak\u2019i between 10,000 to 13,000 years ago. Petroglyphs are one way to understand the story of the ancestors. A fascinating documentary that discusses the preservation of knowledge relating to Mi\u2019kmaq peoples and artifacts can be found in the CBC Land and Sea production called <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WU25FefT9U0&amp;t=950s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Mi'kmaq Journey<\/a><\/em>.\r\n\r\n\u201cDrummers Calling the Ancestors ~ Resilience\u201d represents the link between the present and the past. The traditional drumming songs during a Mawi\u2019omi or Powwow are powerful, and one can sense the presence of the spirits. When we gather, we honour \u2018all our relations.\u2019 We not only come to honour, see loved ones we may not have seen for a long time, and be immersed in cultural ways, but we also come to heal. Indigenous peoples have endured much over the millennia. Let us now explore this concept of resilience.\r\n<h3><strong>Indigenous Resilience<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nBefore examining some concrete examples of <strong>resilience<\/strong>, we should define <em>resilience<\/em>. Although it's from the Australian context, I found this contemporary definition and work of its authors exceptionally insightful:\r\n\r\n\u201cContemporary definitions of resilience refer to an individual\u2019s positive adaptation to the experience of adversity. Indigenous resilience is a complex phenomenon which relies on the positive adaptation of the individual, the community, and the environment to adversity. Indigenous Peoples of Australia, like most other Indigenous populations globally, experience higher levels of adversity than non-indigenous people with a greatly disproportionate burden of disease, disability, premature mortality, and pervasive health inequalities over many decades\u201d (Usher et al., 2021).\r\n\r\nThe definition is appropriate to Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island, but what makes their work, <em>Indigenous resilience in Australia: A scoping review using a reflective decolonizing collective dialogue<\/em>, significant is the inclusion of Indigenous insights and narrative. The authors go on to state,\r\n\r\n\u201cCurrent understandings of these concepts (resilience, adaptation, adversity), largely framed in Western understandings, are unquestioningly accepted, reframed for, yet not by, Indigenous peoples, and then are unchallenged when imposed on Indigenous peoples\u201d (Usher et al., 2021).\r\n\r\nThe authors found, in a review of 'Indigenist' literature, that the conception of Indigenous resilience extends beyond Western frameworks and concepts. They highlight that,\r\n\r\n\u201c. . . Importantly, many studies confirm adversity is linked to the enduring legacies of colonization, continuous and cumulative transgenerational grief and loss, structural inequities, racism, and discrimination. These external factors of adversity are unique to Aboriginal populations, as are the protective factors that entail strengthening connection to culture (including language reclamation), community, ancestry, and land (including management and economic development) which contribute to individual and collective resilience. These findings suggest that Aboriginal community resilience is strengthened through the collective experience of adversity, such as transgenerational grief and loss, and the resulting support structures and shared resources that are developed and maintained through cultural practices to strengthen the bonds and mutual reciprocity to participate in transformative strategies to address adversity\u201d (Usher et al., 2021).\r\n\r\nAn important contribution from the Canadian context comes from the 2010 article by Patricia D. McGuire titled <em>Exploring Resilience and Indigenous Ways of Knowing<\/em>. McGuire, also known as Kishebakabaykwe, who traces the contributions of other Indigenous scholars -- some of whom have published research reports for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation -- writes,\r\n\r\n<em>\u201c<\/em>Resilience, as a social theory term, dates from the 1970s (Dion-Stout and Kipling, 2003). The definition of resilience is elusive as it can mean many things. The common meanings are \u201cthe ability to rebound from challenges in everyday life\u201d (Wesley-Esquimaux, 2009) and to recover from and survive adversarial conditions. Fleming and Ledogar (2008) call it a positive adaption to life despite harsh conditions. Andersson and Ledogar (2008) describe resilience as a positive lens through which to view Aboriginal communities.\r\n\r\nExploring resilience is based on community strengths, although Newhouse (2006) cautions that resilience can also be based on ideas about survival of the fittest. If the concept of resilience is used as a social lens on Aboriginal communities, Merritt (2007) argues, then, it must be defined from an indigenous context. To this end, Durie (2006) defined indigenous resilience as 'Superimposed on adversity and historic marginalization, indigenous resilience is a reflection of an innate determination by indigenous peoples to succeed. Resilience is the polar opposite of rigidity. It provides an alternate perspective to the more usual scenarios that emphasize indigenous disadvantage and allows the indigenous challenge to be reconfigured as a search for success rather than an explanation of failure' (quoted in Valaskakis et al., 2009).\r\n\r\nIndigenous resilience in this context is based on indigenous people(s)\u2019 innate capacities and focuses on success rather than overcoming challenges. In 2009, Wesley-Esquimaux contended that indigenous resilience has to be considered as a reawakening of the social and cultural resiliencies that indigenous peoples used to sustain them throughout other challenges<em>\u201d<\/em> (pp. 120-121).\r\n\r\nThere are many scholarly articles on the topic of Indigenous resilience; in fact, there are too many to highlight here. However, I teach an upper-level Indigenous course on <em>Indigenous Health, Healing, and Wellness<\/em>, and I have found a course text, <em>Introduction to Determinants of First Nation, Inuit, and Metis Peoples\u2019 Health in Canada<\/em> (de Leeuw, Stout, Larstone, &amp; Sutherland, 2022) that covers a broad spectrum of writings on resilience, especially as it relates to individual and community health. The text is a compilation of works from various authors. I present one quote from Johnson, Smith, and Beck (2022), who write about First Nations systems innovations as an example of resilience. They write,\r\n\r\n\u201cDespite continuing to be impacted by colonialism and oppression, First Nations have demonstrated remarkable resilience and ceaseless efforts to exercise <strong>self-determination<\/strong>. First Nations and other Indigenous people in BC, Canada, and internationally have advanced a multitude of efforts and strategies to make decisions for themselves, reclaim control through unity, and develop strategic partnerships to increase involvement is decision-making\u201d (Johnson, Smith, &amp; Beck, 2022, p. 253).\r\n\r\nThere is one other author, a member of the Kainai Nation, Blackfoot Confederacy, whose works speak directly to Indigenous resilience -- as it's directly embedded in ways of knowing and being. In an article titled \"In the Spirit of Dr. Betty Bastien: Conceptualizing Ontological Responsibilities through the lens of Blackfoot Resilience,\" Dr. Gabrielle Lindstrom, along with co-author Robert Weasel Head, (2023) write,\r\n\r\n<em>\u201c. . . <\/em>a detailed review of the literature gave way to a distinct view of Blackfoot resilience as being a genealogical connection to the land in conjunction with strong leadership. Moreover, various themes emerged that helped to contextualize a deeper understanding of Indigenous resilience, including the importance of land, culture, relationships, language, leadership, sovereignty, identity, history, and community, as being key themes.\r\n\r\n. . . research has illuminated how the impacts of colonization on Indigenous people, namely, intergenerational\/historical trauma\/oppression created through settler colonialism policies and processes are often the driving factor in attempts to better understand Indigenous notions of resilience. In other words, Indigenous resilience is often conceptualized as a response to colonization as opposed to an ontologically rooted state of existence (Lindstrom, 2023). Indigenous resistance to ongoing settler colonialism through the practice of Indigenous cultural lifeways, worldviews, and cultural transmission are demonstrative of the enduring nature of Indigenous perseverance as Indigenous nations are not homogenous and have differences in how they interpret the world based on ecological location and social structure\u201d (Lindstrom and Head, 2023).\r\n\r\nLastly, Dr. Lindstrom, an Indigenous scholar at Mount Royal University in Calgary, writes,\r\n\r\n\u201cThe beauty of human experience resides in our ability to learn and make meaning from these experiences not from a privatized space that forces us to suffer alone, but rather, within a holistic network of relations that fosters a recognition of a suffering that is shared, of a strength that is cultivated through dialogue and story-sharing, of a resilience that is fostered in a reciprocal exchange of compassion\u201d (Lindstrom, 2023, p. 191).\r\n\r\nIf you wish to explore more of Dr. Lindstrom\u2019s work, I have included a <em>TEDx Talks<\/em> link under the <em>Special Topics<\/em> section at the end of the chapter.\r\n\r\nTo conclude this exploration, I provide the following <em>Government of Canada<\/em> link to a short, but highly illuminating video that explores several key topics, including resilience:\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=22XoQgAfXBE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Resilience | Mentorship | Hope | Canada | Indigenous Women | Speak up<\/a>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>What did you take away from this?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What did you learn about resilience?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What role do women play in advancing resilience, reclamation, and resistance?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nLet us now look at the next key topic of our chapter.\r\n<h3><strong>Reclamation<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nI use the word <strong>reclamation<\/strong>, but there are many other similar words that I came across when researching for this section. A standard, Euro-centric Western definition (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?sca_esv=7534dc616f2a754b&amp;sca_upv=1&amp;q=reclamation&amp;si=AKbGX_okpkrXRdHQwZu4Fe0iRe3uLj2kV8Zv2h3JxX3Mu1-rAxd7FRg9CxBlvVJNqJg3zJ8MDEvyC19ZPa0lpU8vA2Z8XfXSPHpaDd8PfMDCyeVGauE9xZA%3D&amp;expnd=1&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiqn7bLrqGFAxW7MlkF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oxford Dictionary, 2024<\/a>) reads:\r\n\r\n\u201crec\u00b7la\u00b7ma\u00b7tion \/\u02ccrekl\u0259\u02c8m\u0101SH(\u0259)n\/\r\n\r\n<em>noun<\/em>:\u00a0reclamation;\u00a0plural noun:\u00a0reclamations\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>the process of claiming something back or of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?sa=X&amp;sca_esv=7534dc616f2a754b&amp;sca_upv=1&amp;biw=2560&amp;bih=1258&amp;q=reasserting&amp;si=AKbGX_q4mkMHy1Nmq4yITjHYVzepxBqVsFOss5hDn71pcUxCUCc824QPEw2-SUC4_RVW7gElJtGXor-V2eKnvIvh1jf5arJHRsEDdv0IK5V_R741QHUBl1k%3D&amp;expnd=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reasserting<\/a> a right.\u00a0 Usage: 'the reclamation of our shared history'\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nOther words (synonyms) from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/thesaurus\/reclamation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2024<\/a> include:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>recovery<\/li>\r\n \t<li>recapture<\/li>\r\n \t<li>retrieval<\/li>\r\n \t<li>rescue<\/li>\r\n \t<li>repossession<\/li>\r\n \t<li>replenishment<\/li>\r\n \t<li>recoupment<\/li>\r\n \t<li>redemption<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nWe will explore what reclamation means from an Indigenous perspective, and important linked words like <em>resurgence, revitalization, restoring, reimaging, recentering, reframing,<\/em> and <em>returning<\/em> are appearing in our present-day narratives. Figures 37 and 38 are images that show these <strong>cultural reclamations<\/strong> that are happening on campuses and communities across Kanata.\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Figure 37<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>Mawi\u2019omi at the University of Prince Edward Island, 2016 ~ Reclamation<\/em><\/p>\r\n<img src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture1-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"975\" height=\"650\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-86 size-full\" style=\"font-size: 1em\" \/>\r\n\r\n<strong>Figure 38<\/strong>\r\n\r\n<em>National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Prince Edward Island, 2023 ~ Reclamation<\/em>\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture2-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"975\" height=\"731\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-87 size-full\" style=\"font-size: 1em\" \/>\r\n\r\nIn my survey of Indigenous reclamation literatures, I discovered a host of areas in which Indigenous scholarship and contributions are taking place once the \u2018reclamation floodgates\u2019 have been fully opened. These include:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>language revitalization (McIvor &amp; Anisman, 2018; McIvor, 2020);<\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">sustainable self-determination (Corntassel &amp; Bryce, 2011);<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">restoring Indigenous knowledge in practice and policy (Alfred, 2015);<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"> land, water, and environment (Twance, 2019; Liboiron, 2021; Leonard, 2023);<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"> governance and empowerment (Palmater, 2015);<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"> climate change and adaptation (K\u0131nay, Wang, Augustine, P., &amp; Aug<\/span><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">ustine, M., 2023);<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"> education and pedagogy (Kirkness &amp; Barnhardt, 1991; Battiste, 2019; Anthony\u2010Stevens &amp; Gallegos Buitron, 2023; Pratt &amp; Bodnaresko, 2023);<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">research (Kovach, 2021; Smith, 2021; Wilson, 2020);<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">food sovereignty (Robin, 2019);<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">storytelling (Archibald, 2008);<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">art and perform<\/span><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">ance (Taylor, 1996; Charles, 2020);<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"> humour (Taylor, 2012), and;<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li>above all else, <em style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">Indigenous Teachings<\/em><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nAs one can see from the above survey, there are waves of Indigenous knowledges heading in all directions. Many deal specifically with Indigenous peoples\u2019 efforts to reclaim those ways of being, knowing, and doing, but at the same time, exposing others to the legacies and futures of colonization practices that go unchecked.\r\n\r\nThere are many fascinating works and articles on reclamation; let me share one that I thought spoke about looking forward, while still very much in the present and still honouring our past. In an Indigeneity contribution, \"Global Futurisms: Prophetic Practices of Reclamation, Liberation, and Transcendence\" by Timot\u00e9o I. Montoya II from the 2024 book,\u00a0<em>A Companion to Contemporary Art in a Global Framework<\/em>, edited by Jane Chin Davidson and Amelia Jones, the author states,\r\n\r\n\u201cNo longer enchanted with the Eurocentric and white supremacist-informed notions of 'universal' human qualities and progress-oriented metanarratives of Western colonial society perpetuated through Western science, colonial nation states, corporations, and other Western institutions (such as museums, schools, and political organizations), postmodernism in its critical forms seeks relativist ways of understanding the world by exploring the immanent, or individual and subjective frames of experience. With a skeptical orientation toward modernist idealism, which understood and defined reality through the seeking of universal truths (that were often inseparable from Eurocentrism), critical postmodernism came to reflect and be defined by novel present frames such as those held by Black, Indigenous, Asian, and other peoples of the global majority. These diverse present frames hold new potential understandings of the world liberated from modernist metanarratives. By exploring these immanent subjective frames through art and cultural theory, a plurality of perspectives that decentered Western colonial society begin to come into view and can be explored\u201d (Montoya, 2024, p. 245).\r\n\r\nWith a good, healthy exploration of reclamation, I present a few links to solidify the learning, which will no doubt create more reflections:\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nativeartsandcultures.org\/nacf-releases-native-arts-and-culture-resilience-reclamation-and-relevance-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NACF Releases Report on <em>Native Arts and Culture: Resilience, Reclamation, and Relevance<\/em><\/a> (see the video of the same name on <em>Native Arts and Culture Foundation<\/em> website)\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/thunder-bay\/what-does-indigenous-pride-look-like-thunder-bay-1.6882682\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stories of reclaiming, owning and living Indigenous ways of being in Thunder Bay<\/a> (CBC News, 2023)\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WBze1WHZtSM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Studying to preserve Indigenous language<\/a> (CBC News, 2019)\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>What were the main messages from each reporting?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How does this make you feel?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>To what extent are these reclamation initiatives representative of what is happening across Turtle Island?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>In your opinion, how long will it take before full reclamation is a reality?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nThere is no linear pathway to Indigenous reclamation; that is, from the information presented in the last chapters and until this point in your reading, one doesn\u2019t necessarily follow a chronological order of, let\u2019s say, trauma <b>\u2192<\/b> healing <b>\u2192<\/b> resilience <b>\u2192<\/b> and reclamation. It can start with resistance, which we will examine next.\r\n<h3><strong>Resistance<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nI introduce this section\u00a0with a famous Indigenous leader quote: \u201cIf we must die, we die defending our rights.\u201d \u2013Sitting Bull\r\n\r\nSitting Bull (1831-1890) was an Indigenous Hunkpapa Lakota leader from the North American Great Plains, South Dakota, United States. The quote \u201creferences the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn and Sitting Bull\u2019s final surrender and murder at the age of 59 years in 1890 by Indian Agency Police at Standing Rock Reservation\u201d (Oster, 2004). Standing Rock is also the site of recent Indigenous resistance and protest. Indigenous peoples within Canada have been in a constant state of <strong>resistance<\/strong>. Our history of Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations contains as many examples of resisting colonization as there were buffalo that graced the Great Plains. I direct you to Chapter 6: <em>Resistance I \u2014 1750s to 1870s<\/em> and Chapter 8: <em>Resistance II \u2014 Red River and Saskatchewan<\/em> in a open source textbook titled <a href=\"https:\/\/histindigenouspeoples.pressbooks.tru.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Histories of Indigenous Peoples and Canada<\/a> -- which looks specifically at resistance movements in the historical context.\r\n\r\nDid you know that Indigenous peoples on both sides of the border, Canada and the United States, fought for these nation-states in the two World Wars, despite all that happened to their peoples during the last century and a half?\r\n\r\nIn 2005, I was part of a first-ever delegation of Veterans Affairs Canada staff, Indigenous War Veterans, youth, and cultural performers travelling overseas to France and Belgium for the 'Aboriginal Spiritual Journey: Calling Home Ceremony.' The purpose of the journey and special ceremony was to call home the spirits of all Indigenous peoples who gave their lives, and whose spirits were left behind in Europe (see Figure 39).\r\n\r\n<strong>Figure 39<\/strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Indigenous War Veterans participating in the 'Calling Home Ceremony<\/em>,' <em>France, 2005<\/em>\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Veterans.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-88 size-full\" \/>\r\n\r\nDid you know that it was after the Second World War in 1945 that <strong>Indigenous war veterans <\/strong>returned home to intolerable discrimination and appalling treatment, even after playing a significant role in Canada\u2019s war effort?\r\n\r\nIn the text, <em>Keeping the land: Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, reconciliation and Canadian law<\/em>, which examines government\u2019s position respecting Indian lands, Dr. Rachel Ariss, Associate Professor, Legal Studies, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and Indigenous community leader John Cutfeet stated that Aboriginal activism has played an important part in the shifting legal and social landscapes of Aboriginal peoples and communities over time\u201d (Ariss &amp; Cutfeet, 2012, pp. 9-10). Ariss &amp; Cutfeet (2012) explained that \u201cthe contemporary movement for Aboriginal rights begins with the return of Aboriginal veterans from World War II\u2026.Aboriginal service people were discriminated against on the basis of Indian status by the federal government bureaucracies in terms of benefits paid to their dependents while overseas, as well as in the benefits they received as veterans on their return\u201d (p.10). The authors added that during this time, 1940s and 1950s, the Canadian public became aware of the significant contributions of Aboriginal veterans to the war effort but also became cognizant of the broader issues of discrimination, inequality, and human rights violations (Ariss &amp; Cutfeet, p.10). The authors concluded that these \"combined factors created some openness to re-thinking aspects of relating to Indians and Indian lands\u201d (Ariss &amp; Cutfeet, 2012, p. 10).\r\n\r\n<strong>Resistance is invariably linked to rights<\/strong>. As the opening quote to this section pronounces, even if one must die, Indigenous rights must be protected. One Indigenous filmmaker, Alanis Obomsawin, spent an entire career ensuring that these resistance movements were documented. Her more well-known <em>National Film Board<\/em> (NFB) documentaries include:\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/incident_at_restigouche\/\">Incident at <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/incident_at_restigouche\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Restigouche<\/a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/kanehsatake_270_years_of_resistance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance<\/a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/rocks_at_whiskey_trench\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rocks at Whiskey Trench<\/a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/trick_or_treaty\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trick or Treaty?<\/a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/is_the_crown_at_war_with_us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Is the Crown at war with us<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/is_the_crown_at_war_with_us\/\">?<\/a>\r\n\r\nIn an interview with NFB Pause, she shares her thoughts on the making of <em>Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance<\/em>, 25 years after its release in 2018:\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/nfb-pause-ep9-25-years-after-kanehsatake\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alanis Obomsawin on Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance<\/a>\r\n\r\nAs a warrior and Abenaki film director, whose works have garnered international attention, the following describes Alanis and her contribution:\r\n\r\n\u201cOne of the most acclaimed Indigenous directors in the world, Alanis Obomsawin came to cinema from performance and storytelling. Hired by the <em>NFB<\/em> as a consultant in 1967, she has created an extraordinary body of work\u201450 films and counting\u2014including landmark documentaries like <em>Incident at Restigouche<\/em> (1984) and <em>Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance<\/em> (1993). The Abenaki director has received numerous international honours and her work was showcased in a 2008 retrospective at New York\u2019s Museum of Modern Art. 'My main interest all my life has been education,' says Obomsawin, 'because that\u2019s where you develop yourself, where you learn to hate, or to love'\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/directors\/alanis-obomsawin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>National Film Board<\/em>, 2024<\/a>).\r\n\r\nThere is an award in her honour, named the <em>Alanis Obomsawin Award for Commitment to Community and Resistance<\/em><em>.<\/em> The following is a brief description:\r\n\r\n\u201cIt was\u00a0first inaugurated in 2011 by Cinema Politica and given to John Greyson. The creation of this award was inspired by Ms. Obomsawin's awe-inspiring and unstoppable dedication to social justice and political documentary.\r\n\r\nThe AOACCR award\u00a0is meant to celebrate the efforts and talents of a filmmaker who has shown a commitment to community and resistance in documentary filmmaking through the ways in which they showcase the stories of underrepresented and\/or marginalized communities engaged in struggle. The award also honours a filmmaker whose dedication to social justice is connected to, but goes beyond filmmaking practices and who actively participates in civil society, engages in collective action and uses film as a platform for progressive and radical social and political transformation\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cinemapolitica.org\/blog\/network\/alanis-obomsawin-award-extended-call-nominations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cinema Politica, 2015<\/a>).\r\n\r\nThere are two areas I would like to explore with you before leaving the topic of resistance. Below, you will find a link to an article with well-done commentary, and then, followed by a <a href=\"https:\/\/chatelaine.com\/living\/resistance-150-indigenous-artists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video<\/a> (see the end of the article by Michelle Cyca, 2017) on a resistance movement to 'Canada 150,' which was organized to celebrate Canada's 150 years of existence. It will also serve to highlight the main points we have learned to this point in the textbook, including the fight of Indigenous peoples in this chapter to reclaim and resist.\r\n\r\nThe article:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/chatelaine.com\/living\/resistance-150-indigenous-artists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Resistance 150: Indigenous artists challenge Canadians to reckon with our history<\/a>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>How do you feel about this?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What role does resistance play in illuminating the 'truth'?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Do you think it's more important to celebrate or resist? Please explain.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nNow, I would like to get your thoughts on the Melina Laboucan-Massimo article on Lessons from Wesahkecahk that you read. As with the other readings from the <em>Manual for Decolonization<\/em>, I thought I'd provide a passage and get your response; or conversely, if you have a passage that resonated with you, please do share. Here is what I viewed as an important point, and more specifically, what creates the impetus for 'resisting.' Laboucan-Massimo begins,\r\n\r\n\u201cOur prophecies speak of a time when the blue sky and waters turn black and green things turn brown and die; when animals and fish disappear and birds drop from the sky. This devastation will come as a result of mankind\u2019s greed and disrespect of Mother Earth. This time is upon us.\r\n\r\nThe Alberta tar sands are scarring the earth \u2013 polluting and draining watersheds, poisoning the air, and destroying the land I call home. The landscape is drastically changing from a once pristine and beautiful boreal forest to an increasingly industrial and toxic terrain. Animals and fish have become sick with tumours, and caribou are now listed as an endangered species. People are no longer safe to harvest traditional medicines, teas or berries because they have become contaminated \u2013 and even though we fear that our medicines have turned into poison, we continue to forage (and forge) the path ahead. People young and old have started to die of rare forms of cancers that we have never seen before. I come from a community where, until my generation, my family was able to live sustainably off the land.\r\n\r\nThe tar sands are not an isolated incident; neo-colonialism in the form of resource extraction is happening across Turtle Island and throughout Mother Earth. Today the earth is being contaminated and destroyed at an unparalleled rate, and people and animals alike are being sacrificed for the benefit of the greedy few.\r\n\r\nWe are not only in an ecological crisis; we are in a moral human crisis. All around the world, we see people\u2019s homes and traditional territories being turned into industrialized landscapes. We see people\u2019s clean drinking water being overtaken and turned into toxic dumpsites for industrial facilities. It is painful to see the devastation to the land. It reaches a deep part in your spirit \u2013 a feeling of indescribable grief\u201d (Laboucan-Massimo, 2017, p. 37).\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>How do you feel about this?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What may Melina have been experiencing physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually at the time?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Where does resistance or the act of resisting come from?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Why don't others feel this intensity of thoughts and emotions as Melina does?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Do you think the author will see her vision come to fruition? Her vision is summarized as follows: \"People from diverse backgrounds and creeds will truly begin to work together in honesty and respect \u2013 with a deep sense of solidarity with one another. It is a time when people from the Four Directions will come together to work for justice, peace, freedom, and recognition of the Great Spirit and the sacredness of our Mother Earth. This time, my friends, is upon us\" (p. 40).<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nIndigenous resistance, like most topics covered in this textbook, is a course in and of itself. In fact, the IKERAS Faculty offers a course titled <em>Indigenous Resistance and Decolonization.<\/em> For now, know that resistance will be inevitable if Indigenous peoples\u2019 rights and treaties are violated. We will examine this further in the next chapter, under social activism.\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\"><strong>Key Terms and Concepts from the Chapter<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>gathering\/Mawi'omi<\/li>\r\n \t<li>resilience<\/li>\r\n \t<li>striving for self-determination<\/li>\r\n \t<li>reclamation<\/li>\r\n \t<li>cultural reclamations<\/li>\r\n \t<li>resistance<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Indigenous war veterans<\/li>\r\n \t<li>the importance of rights<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\"><strong>Important Readings\/Viewings for Next Class<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Kanahus Manuel's article \u2013 <em>A Manual for Decolonization<\/em> (pp. 42-46)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Special Topics of Interest<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong><em>Resilience: <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EHeaqQ4aSRk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Transforming Through Resilience | Gabrielle Lindstrom | TEDxYYC<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong><em>Reclamation: <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/indigenous-cinema\/?&amp;film_lang=en&amp;sort=year:desc,title&amp;year_min=1939&amp;year_max=2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Indigenous Cinema<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong><em>Resistance: <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/powwow_at_duck_lake\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Powwow at Duck Lake<\/a><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Cultural\u00a0Competency Supplemental Tutorials<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=swgz8nocENw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ulali - All My Relations<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>References<\/strong>\r\n\r\nAlfred, T. (2015). Cultural strength: Restoring the place of indigenous knowledge in practice and policy.\u00a0<em>Australian Aboriginal Studies<\/em>, (1), 3-11.\r\n\r\nAnthony\u2010Stevens, V., &amp; Gallegos Buitron, E. (2023). Indigenous Mexican Teachers and Decolonial Thinking: Enacting Pedagogies of Reclamation.\u00a0<em>Anthropology &amp; Education Quarterly<\/em>,\u00a0<em>54<\/em>(2), 144-164.\r\n\r\nAriss, R., &amp; Cutfeet, J. (2012). Keeping the land: Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, reconciliation and Canadian law. Fernwood Publishing.\r\n\r\nArchibald, J. A. (2008).\u00a0<em>Indigenous storywork: Educating the heart, mind, body, and spirit<\/em>. UBC press.\r\n\r\nBattiste, M. (2014). Decolonizing education: Nourishing the learning spirit.\u00a0<em>Alberta Journal of Educational Research<\/em>,\u00a0<em>60<\/em>(3), 615-618.\r\n\r\nCharles, R. (2020). A reclamation of space: This is an assertion... not a defence. Burnaby, BC: Simon Fraser University.\r\n\r\nCorntassel, J., &amp; Bryce, C. (2011). Practicing sustainable self-determination: Indigenous approaches to cultural restoration and revitalization.\u00a0<em>Brown J. World Aff.<\/em>,\u00a0<em>18<\/em>, 151.\r\n\r\nde Leeuw, S., Stout, R., Larstone, R., &amp; Sutherland, J. (2022).\u00a0<em>Introduction to determinants of first nations, Inuit, and M\u00e9tis peoples\u2019 health in Canada<\/em>. Canadian Scholars\u2019 Press.\r\n\r\nJohnson, H., Smith, D. B., &amp; Beck, L. (2022). Systems Innovation through First Nations Self-Determination.\u00a0<em>Introduction to Determinants of First Nations, Inuit, and M\u00e9tis Peoples\u2019 Health in Canada<\/em>, 250.\r\n\r\nK\u0131nay, P., Wang, X. X., Augustine, P. J., &amp; Augustine, M. (2023). Reporting evidence on the environmental and health impacts of climate change on Indigenous Peoples of Atlantic Canada: A systematic review.\u00a0<em>Environmental Research: Climate<\/em>.\r\n\r\nKirkness, V. J., &amp; Barnhardt, R. (1991). First Nations and higher education: The four R's\u2014Respect, relevance, reciprocity, responsibility.\u00a0<em>Journal of American Indian Education<\/em>, 1-15.\r\n\r\nKovach, M. (2021).\u00a0<em>Indigenous methodologies: Characteristics, conversations, and contexts<\/em>. University of Toronto press.\r\n\r\nLeonard, K., David-Chavez, D., Smiles, D., Jennings, L., \u02bbAnolani Alegado, R., Tsinnajinnie, L., ... &amp; Gomez, A. (2023). Water Back: A review centering rematriation and indigenous water research sovereignty.\u00a0<em>Water Alternatives<\/em>,\u00a0<em>16<\/em>(2), 374-428.\r\n\r\nLiboiron, M. (2021).\u00a0<em>Pollution is colonialism<\/em>. Duke University Press.\r\n\r\nLindstrom, G. (2023).\u00a0<em>Resisting racism through a pedagogy of resilience<\/em>. Manuscript submitted for publication.\r\n\r\nLindstrom, G., &amp; Head, R. W. (2023). In the Spirit of Dr. Betty Bastien: Conceptualizing Ontological Responsibilities through the lens of Blackfoot Resilience.\u00a0<em>Qeios<\/em>.\r\n\r\nMcGuire\u2013Kishebakabaykwe, P. D. (2010). Exploring resilience and Indigenous ways of knowing.\u00a0<em>Pimatisiwin: A Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health<\/em>,\u00a0<em>8<\/em>(2), 117-131.\r\n\r\nMcIvor, O., &amp; Anisman, A. (2018). Keeping our languages alive: Strategies for Indigenous language revitalization and maintenance. In\u00a0<em>Handbook of cultural security<\/em>\u00a0(pp. 90-109). Edward Elgar Publishing.\r\n\r\nMcIvor, O. (2020). Indigenous language revitalization and applied linguistics: Parallel histories, shared futures?. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 40, 78-96\r\n\r\nMontoya, T. I. (2023). INDIGENEITY: Global Futurisms: Prophetic Practices of Reclamation, Liberation, and Transcendence.\u00a0<em>A Companion to Contemporary Art in a Global Framework<\/em>, 239-254.\r\n\r\nOstler, J. (2004).\u00a0<em>The plains Sioux and US colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee<\/em>. Cambridge University Press.\r\n\r\nPalmater, P. (2015).\u00a0<em>Indigenous nationhood: Empowering grassroots citizens<\/em>. Fernwood Publishing.\r\n\r\nPratt, Y. P., &amp; Bodnaresko, S. (2023).\u00a0<em>Truth and reconciliation through education: Stories of decolonizing practices<\/em>. Brush Education.\r\n\r\nRobin, T. (2019). Our hands at work: Indigenous food sovereignty in Western Canada.\u00a0<em>Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development<\/em>,\u00a0<em>9<\/em>(B), 85-99.\r\n\r\nTaylor, D. H. (1996). Alive and well: Native theatre in Canada.\u00a0<em>Journal of Canadian Studies<\/em>,\u00a0<em>31<\/em>(3), 29-37.\r\n\r\nTaylor, D. H. (2012). <em>Me funny<\/em>. D &amp; M Publishers.\r\n\r\nTwance, M. (2019). Learning from land and water: Exploring mazinaabikiniganan as Indigenous epistemology.\u00a0<em>Environmental Education Research<\/em>,\u00a0<em>25<\/em>(9), 1319-1333.\r\n\r\nUsher, K., Jackson, D., Walker, R., Durkin, J., Smallwood, R., Robinson, M., ... &amp; Marriott, R. (2021). Indigenous resilience in Australia: A scoping review using a reflective decolonizing collective dialogue.\u00a0<em>Frontiers in Public Health<\/em>,\u00a0<em>9<\/em>, 630601.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2021.630601\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2021.630601<\/a>\r\n\r\nWilson, S. (2020).\u00a0<em>Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods<\/em>. Fernwood publishing.","rendered":"<h3><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>As I started writing this chapter, I had to first think about the themes that comprise not only this chapter, but the remaining chapters. These themes are very important and central to how this journey of <em>Indigenous teachings<\/em> becomes etched into the mind, body, and spirit &#8212; and, more importantly, how it may resonate, long after the course ends.<\/p>\n<p>I used the term \u2018etched,\u2019 and it\u2019s quite appropriate, which I will explain momentarily. I am particularly drawn to all photographs of the communal drum; I also cherish these photos very deeply, and I see the drum and dedicated drummers at Indigenous gatherings across Turtle Island. The Mi\u2019kmaq term for <strong>gathering<\/strong> is <strong>M<em>awi\u2019omi<\/em><\/strong>. In this chapter, I use select ceremonial drumming photos to signify the three main themes of resilience, reclamation, and resistance.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\"><strong>Topics at a Glance<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ul>\n<li>Indigenous Resilience<\/li>\n<li>Reclamation<\/li>\n<li>Resistance<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>I draw your attention to Figure 36, which was taken in 2019 at the first Indigenous Artisan Market in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Figure 36<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Drummers Calling the Ancestors ~ Resilience<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2025\/11\/Figure_36_Drummers.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-697\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2025\/11\/Figure_36_Drummers.png 2560w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2025\/11\/Figure_36_Drummers-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2025\/11\/Figure_36_Drummers-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2025\/11\/Figure_36_Drummers-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2025\/11\/Figure_36_Drummers-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2025\/11\/Figure_36_Drummers-2048x1366.png 2048w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2025\/11\/Figure_36_Drummers-65x43.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2025\/11\/Figure_36_Drummers-225x150.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2025\/11\/Figure_36_Drummers-350x233.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When you look at this photo, what do you see, hear, feel, and understand?<\/p>\n<p>There is much happening here; your interpretations and experiences with the image are uniquely yours. It was only through a deeper exploration of my own photograph that I saw the \u2018etchings\u2019 behind the young woman recording the song. These etchings are known as petroglyphs. \u201cPetroglyphs are carvings that are incised, abraded, or ground by means of stone tools upon cliff walls, boulders, and flat bedrock surfaces\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca\/en\/article\/pictographs-and-petroglyphs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2023<\/a>). While the replication needs verification, the design is distinctly Mi\u2019kmaq.<\/p>\n<p>While beyond the scope of this text to examine Mi\u2019kmaq petroglyphs and information relating to these archeological discoveries, we do know that these etchings usually \u201cinclude animals, anthropomorphic figures, hunting and fishing scenes, footprints and fingerprints, and ornamental designs that are also found on Mi\u2019kmaq clothes\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca\/en\/article\/pictographs-and-petroglyphs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2023<\/a>). Hence, we see two panels, one with the distinct design, and on the other panel, a person wearing traditional clothing with the design woven throughout. Lastly, research into the Mi\u2019kmaq peoples show that they occupied parts on Mi\u2019kmak\u2019i between 10,000 to 13,000 years ago. Petroglyphs are one way to understand the story of the ancestors. A fascinating documentary that discusses the preservation of knowledge relating to Mi\u2019kmaq peoples and artifacts can be found in the CBC Land and Sea production called <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WU25FefT9U0&amp;t=950s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Mi&#8217;kmaq Journey<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDrummers Calling the Ancestors ~ Resilience\u201d represents the link between the present and the past. The traditional drumming songs during a Mawi\u2019omi or Powwow are powerful, and one can sense the presence of the spirits. When we gather, we honour \u2018all our relations.\u2019 We not only come to honour, see loved ones we may not have seen for a long time, and be immersed in cultural ways, but we also come to heal. Indigenous peoples have endured much over the millennia. Let us now explore this concept of resilience.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Indigenous Resilience<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Before examining some concrete examples of <strong>resilience<\/strong>, we should define <em>resilience<\/em>. Although it&#8217;s from the Australian context, I found this contemporary definition and work of its authors exceptionally insightful:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cContemporary definitions of resilience refer to an individual\u2019s positive adaptation to the experience of adversity. Indigenous resilience is a complex phenomenon which relies on the positive adaptation of the individual, the community, and the environment to adversity. Indigenous Peoples of Australia, like most other Indigenous populations globally, experience higher levels of adversity than non-indigenous people with a greatly disproportionate burden of disease, disability, premature mortality, and pervasive health inequalities over many decades\u201d (Usher et al., 2021).<\/p>\n<p>The definition is appropriate to Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island, but what makes their work, <em>Indigenous resilience in Australia: A scoping review using a reflective decolonizing collective dialogue<\/em>, significant is the inclusion of Indigenous insights and narrative. The authors go on to state,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCurrent understandings of these concepts (resilience, adaptation, adversity), largely framed in Western understandings, are unquestioningly accepted, reframed for, yet not by, Indigenous peoples, and then are unchallenged when imposed on Indigenous peoples\u201d (Usher et al., 2021).<\/p>\n<p>The authors found, in a review of &#8216;Indigenist&#8217; literature, that the conception of Indigenous resilience extends beyond Western frameworks and concepts. They highlight that,<\/p>\n<p>\u201c. . . Importantly, many studies confirm adversity is linked to the enduring legacies of colonization, continuous and cumulative transgenerational grief and loss, structural inequities, racism, and discrimination. These external factors of adversity are unique to Aboriginal populations, as are the protective factors that entail strengthening connection to culture (including language reclamation), community, ancestry, and land (including management and economic development) which contribute to individual and collective resilience. These findings suggest that Aboriginal community resilience is strengthened through the collective experience of adversity, such as transgenerational grief and loss, and the resulting support structures and shared resources that are developed and maintained through cultural practices to strengthen the bonds and mutual reciprocity to participate in transformative strategies to address adversity\u201d (Usher et al., 2021).<\/p>\n<p>An important contribution from the Canadian context comes from the 2010 article by Patricia D. McGuire titled <em>Exploring Resilience and Indigenous Ways of Knowing<\/em>. McGuire, also known as Kishebakabaykwe, who traces the contributions of other Indigenous scholars &#8212; some of whom have published research reports for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation &#8212; writes,<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c<\/em>Resilience, as a social theory term, dates from the 1970s (Dion-Stout and Kipling, 2003). The definition of resilience is elusive as it can mean many things. The common meanings are \u201cthe ability to rebound from challenges in everyday life\u201d (Wesley-Esquimaux, 2009) and to recover from and survive adversarial conditions. Fleming and Ledogar (2008) call it a positive adaption to life despite harsh conditions. Andersson and Ledogar (2008) describe resilience as a positive lens through which to view Aboriginal communities.<\/p>\n<p>Exploring resilience is based on community strengths, although Newhouse (2006) cautions that resilience can also be based on ideas about survival of the fittest. If the concept of resilience is used as a social lens on Aboriginal communities, Merritt (2007) argues, then, it must be defined from an indigenous context. To this end, Durie (2006) defined indigenous resilience as &#8216;Superimposed on adversity and historic marginalization, indigenous resilience is a reflection of an innate determination by indigenous peoples to succeed. Resilience is the polar opposite of rigidity. It provides an alternate perspective to the more usual scenarios that emphasize indigenous disadvantage and allows the indigenous challenge to be reconfigured as a search for success rather than an explanation of failure&#8217; (quoted in Valaskakis et al., 2009).<\/p>\n<p>Indigenous resilience in this context is based on indigenous people(s)\u2019 innate capacities and focuses on success rather than overcoming challenges. In 2009, Wesley-Esquimaux contended that indigenous resilience has to be considered as a reawakening of the social and cultural resiliencies that indigenous peoples used to sustain them throughout other challenges<em>\u201d<\/em> (pp. 120-121).<\/p>\n<p>There are many scholarly articles on the topic of Indigenous resilience; in fact, there are too many to highlight here. However, I teach an upper-level Indigenous course on <em>Indigenous Health, Healing, and Wellness<\/em>, and I have found a course text, <em>Introduction to Determinants of First Nation, Inuit, and Metis Peoples\u2019 Health in Canada<\/em> (de Leeuw, Stout, Larstone, &amp; Sutherland, 2022) that covers a broad spectrum of writings on resilience, especially as it relates to individual and community health. The text is a compilation of works from various authors. I present one quote from Johnson, Smith, and Beck (2022), who write about First Nations systems innovations as an example of resilience. They write,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDespite continuing to be impacted by colonialism and oppression, First Nations have demonstrated remarkable resilience and ceaseless efforts to exercise <strong>self-determination<\/strong>. First Nations and other Indigenous people in BC, Canada, and internationally have advanced a multitude of efforts and strategies to make decisions for themselves, reclaim control through unity, and develop strategic partnerships to increase involvement is decision-making\u201d (Johnson, Smith, &amp; Beck, 2022, p. 253).<\/p>\n<p>There is one other author, a member of the Kainai Nation, Blackfoot Confederacy, whose works speak directly to Indigenous resilience &#8212; as it&#8217;s directly embedded in ways of knowing and being. In an article titled &#8220;In the Spirit of Dr. Betty Bastien: Conceptualizing Ontological Responsibilities through the lens of Blackfoot Resilience,&#8221; Dr. Gabrielle Lindstrom, along with co-author Robert Weasel Head, (2023) write,<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c. . . <\/em>a detailed review of the literature gave way to a distinct view of Blackfoot resilience as being a genealogical connection to the land in conjunction with strong leadership. Moreover, various themes emerged that helped to contextualize a deeper understanding of Indigenous resilience, including the importance of land, culture, relationships, language, leadership, sovereignty, identity, history, and community, as being key themes.<\/p>\n<p>. . . research has illuminated how the impacts of colonization on Indigenous people, namely, intergenerational\/historical trauma\/oppression created through settler colonialism policies and processes are often the driving factor in attempts to better understand Indigenous notions of resilience. In other words, Indigenous resilience is often conceptualized as a response to colonization as opposed to an ontologically rooted state of existence (Lindstrom, 2023). Indigenous resistance to ongoing settler colonialism through the practice of Indigenous cultural lifeways, worldviews, and cultural transmission are demonstrative of the enduring nature of Indigenous perseverance as Indigenous nations are not homogenous and have differences in how they interpret the world based on ecological location and social structure\u201d (Lindstrom and Head, 2023).<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, Dr. Lindstrom, an Indigenous scholar at Mount Royal University in Calgary, writes,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe beauty of human experience resides in our ability to learn and make meaning from these experiences not from a privatized space that forces us to suffer alone, but rather, within a holistic network of relations that fosters a recognition of a suffering that is shared, of a strength that is cultivated through dialogue and story-sharing, of a resilience that is fostered in a reciprocal exchange of compassion\u201d (Lindstrom, 2023, p. 191).<\/p>\n<p>If you wish to explore more of Dr. Lindstrom\u2019s work, I have included a <em>TEDx Talks<\/em> link under the <em>Special Topics<\/em> section at the end of the chapter.<\/p>\n<p>To conclude this exploration, I provide the following <em>Government of Canada<\/em> link to a short, but highly illuminating video that explores several key topics, including resilience:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=22XoQgAfXBE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Resilience | Mentorship | Hope | Canada | Indigenous Women | Speak up<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What did you take away from this?<\/li>\n<li>What did you learn about resilience?<\/li>\n<li>What role do women play in advancing resilience, reclamation, and resistance?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let us now look at the next key topic of our chapter.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Reclamation<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>I use the word <strong>reclamation<\/strong>, but there are many other similar words that I came across when researching for this section. A standard, Euro-centric Western definition (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?sca_esv=7534dc616f2a754b&amp;sca_upv=1&amp;q=reclamation&amp;si=AKbGX_okpkrXRdHQwZu4Fe0iRe3uLj2kV8Zv2h3JxX3Mu1-rAxd7FRg9CxBlvVJNqJg3zJ8MDEvyC19ZPa0lpU8vA2Z8XfXSPHpaDd8PfMDCyeVGauE9xZA%3D&amp;expnd=1&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiqn7bLrqGFAxW7MlkF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oxford Dictionary, 2024<\/a>) reads:<\/p>\n<p>\u201crec\u00b7la\u00b7ma\u00b7tion \/\u02ccrekl\u0259\u02c8m\u0101SH(\u0259)n\/<\/p>\n<p><em>noun<\/em>:\u00a0reclamation;\u00a0plural noun:\u00a0reclamations<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>the process of claiming something back or of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?sa=X&amp;sca_esv=7534dc616f2a754b&amp;sca_upv=1&amp;biw=2560&amp;bih=1258&amp;q=reasserting&amp;si=AKbGX_q4mkMHy1Nmq4yITjHYVzepxBqVsFOss5hDn71pcUxCUCc824QPEw2-SUC4_RVW7gElJtGXor-V2eKnvIvh1jf5arJHRsEDdv0IK5V_R741QHUBl1k%3D&amp;expnd=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reasserting<\/a> a right.\u00a0 Usage: &#8216;the reclamation of our shared history&#8217;\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Other words (synonyms) from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/thesaurus\/reclamation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2024<\/a> include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>recovery<\/li>\n<li>recapture<\/li>\n<li>retrieval<\/li>\n<li>rescue<\/li>\n<li>repossession<\/li>\n<li>replenishment<\/li>\n<li>recoupment<\/li>\n<li>redemption<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We will explore what reclamation means from an Indigenous perspective, and important linked words like <em>resurgence, revitalization, restoring, reimaging, recentering, reframing,<\/em> and <em>returning<\/em> are appearing in our present-day narratives. Figures 37 and 38 are images that show these <strong>cultural reclamations<\/strong> that are happening on campuses and communities across Kanata.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Figure 37<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>Mawi\u2019omi at the University of Prince Edward Island, 2016 ~ Reclamation<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture1-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"975\" height=\"650\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-86 size-full\" style=\"font-size: 1em\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture1-2.png 975w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture1-2-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture1-2-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture1-2-65x43.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture1-2-225x150.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture1-2-350x233.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 975px) 100vw, 975px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Figure 38<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Prince Edward Island, 2023 ~ Reclamation<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture2-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"975\" height=\"731\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-87 size-full\" style=\"font-size: 1em\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture2-2.png 975w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture2-2-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture2-2-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture2-2-65x49.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture2-2-225x169.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Picture2-2-350x262.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 975px) 100vw, 975px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In my survey of Indigenous reclamation literatures, I discovered a host of areas in which Indigenous scholarship and contributions are taking place once the \u2018reclamation floodgates\u2019 have been fully opened. These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>language revitalization (McIvor &amp; Anisman, 2018; McIvor, 2020);<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">sustainable self-determination (Corntassel &amp; Bryce, 2011);<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">restoring Indigenous knowledge in practice and policy (Alfred, 2015);<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"> land, water, and environment (Twance, 2019; Liboiron, 2021; Leonard, 2023);<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"> governance and empowerment (Palmater, 2015);<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"> climate change and adaptation (K\u0131nay, Wang, Augustine, P., &amp; Aug<\/span><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">ustine, M., 2023);<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"> education and pedagogy (Kirkness &amp; Barnhardt, 1991; Battiste, 2019; Anthony\u2010Stevens &amp; Gallegos Buitron, 2023; Pratt &amp; Bodnaresko, 2023);<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">research (Kovach, 2021; Smith, 2021; Wilson, 2020);<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">food sovereignty (Robin, 2019);<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">storytelling (Archibald, 2008);<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">art and perform<\/span><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">ance (Taylor, 1996; Charles, 2020);<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"> humour (Taylor, 2012), and;<\/span><\/li>\n<li>above all else, <em style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">Indigenous Teachings<\/em><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As one can see from the above survey, there are waves of Indigenous knowledges heading in all directions. Many deal specifically with Indigenous peoples\u2019 efforts to reclaim those ways of being, knowing, and doing, but at the same time, exposing others to the legacies and futures of colonization practices that go unchecked.<\/p>\n<p>There are many fascinating works and articles on reclamation; let me share one that I thought spoke about looking forward, while still very much in the present and still honouring our past. In an Indigeneity contribution, &#8220;Global Futurisms: Prophetic Practices of Reclamation, Liberation, and Transcendence&#8221; by Timot\u00e9o I. Montoya II from the 2024 book,\u00a0<em>A Companion to Contemporary Art in a Global Framework<\/em>, edited by Jane Chin Davidson and Amelia Jones, the author states,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo longer enchanted with the Eurocentric and white supremacist-informed notions of &#8216;universal&#8217; human qualities and progress-oriented metanarratives of Western colonial society perpetuated through Western science, colonial nation states, corporations, and other Western institutions (such as museums, schools, and political organizations), postmodernism in its critical forms seeks relativist ways of understanding the world by exploring the immanent, or individual and subjective frames of experience. With a skeptical orientation toward modernist idealism, which understood and defined reality through the seeking of universal truths (that were often inseparable from Eurocentrism), critical postmodernism came to reflect and be defined by novel present frames such as those held by Black, Indigenous, Asian, and other peoples of the global majority. These diverse present frames hold new potential understandings of the world liberated from modernist metanarratives. By exploring these immanent subjective frames through art and cultural theory, a plurality of perspectives that decentered Western colonial society begin to come into view and can be explored\u201d (Montoya, 2024, p. 245).<\/p>\n<p>With a good, healthy exploration of reclamation, I present a few links to solidify the learning, which will no doubt create more reflections:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nativeartsandcultures.org\/nacf-releases-native-arts-and-culture-resilience-reclamation-and-relevance-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NACF Releases Report on <em>Native Arts and Culture: Resilience, Reclamation, and Relevance<\/em><\/a> (see the video of the same name on <em>Native Arts and Culture Foundation<\/em> website)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/thunder-bay\/what-does-indigenous-pride-look-like-thunder-bay-1.6882682\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stories of reclaiming, owning and living Indigenous ways of being in Thunder Bay<\/a> (CBC News, 2023)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WBze1WHZtSM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Studying to preserve Indigenous language<\/a> (CBC News, 2019)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What were the main messages from each reporting?<\/li>\n<li>How does this make you feel?<\/li>\n<li>To what extent are these reclamation initiatives representative of what is happening across Turtle Island?<\/li>\n<li>In your opinion, how long will it take before full reclamation is a reality?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There is no linear pathway to Indigenous reclamation; that is, from the information presented in the last chapters and until this point in your reading, one doesn\u2019t necessarily follow a chronological order of, let\u2019s say, trauma <b>\u2192<\/b> healing <b>\u2192<\/b> resilience <b>\u2192<\/b> and reclamation. It can start with resistance, which we will examine next.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Resistance<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>I introduce this section\u00a0with a famous Indigenous leader quote: \u201cIf we must die, we die defending our rights.\u201d \u2013Sitting Bull<\/p>\n<p>Sitting Bull (1831-1890) was an Indigenous Hunkpapa Lakota leader from the North American Great Plains, South Dakota, United States. The quote \u201creferences the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn and Sitting Bull\u2019s final surrender and murder at the age of 59 years in 1890 by Indian Agency Police at Standing Rock Reservation\u201d (Oster, 2004). Standing Rock is also the site of recent Indigenous resistance and protest. Indigenous peoples within Canada have been in a constant state of <strong>resistance<\/strong>. Our history of Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations contains as many examples of resisting colonization as there were buffalo that graced the Great Plains. I direct you to Chapter 6: <em>Resistance I \u2014 1750s to 1870s<\/em> and Chapter 8: <em>Resistance II \u2014 Red River and Saskatchewan<\/em> in a open source textbook titled <a href=\"https:\/\/histindigenouspeoples.pressbooks.tru.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Histories of Indigenous Peoples and Canada<\/a> &#8212; which looks specifically at resistance movements in the historical context.<\/p>\n<p>Did you know that Indigenous peoples on both sides of the border, Canada and the United States, fought for these nation-states in the two World Wars, despite all that happened to their peoples during the last century and a half?<\/p>\n<p>In 2005, I was part of a first-ever delegation of Veterans Affairs Canada staff, Indigenous War Veterans, youth, and cultural performers travelling overseas to France and Belgium for the &#8216;Aboriginal Spiritual Journey: Calling Home Ceremony.&#8217; The purpose of the journey and special ceremony was to call home the spirits of all Indigenous peoples who gave their lives, and whose spirits were left behind in Europe (see Figure 39).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Figure 39<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Indigenous War Veterans participating in the &#8216;Calling Home Ceremony<\/em>,&#8217; <em>France, 2005<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Veterans.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-88 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Veterans.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Veterans-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Veterans-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Veterans-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Veterans-65x49.jpg 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Veterans-225x169.jpg 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2024\/09\/Veterans-350x263.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Did you know that it was after the Second World War in 1945 that <strong>Indigenous war veterans <\/strong>returned home to intolerable discrimination and appalling treatment, even after playing a significant role in Canada\u2019s war effort?<\/p>\n<p>In the text, <em>Keeping the land: Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, reconciliation and Canadian law<\/em>, which examines government\u2019s position respecting Indian lands, Dr. Rachel Ariss, Associate Professor, Legal Studies, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and Indigenous community leader John Cutfeet stated that Aboriginal activism has played an important part in the shifting legal and social landscapes of Aboriginal peoples and communities over time\u201d (Ariss &amp; Cutfeet, 2012, pp. 9-10). Ariss &amp; Cutfeet (2012) explained that \u201cthe contemporary movement for Aboriginal rights begins with the return of Aboriginal veterans from World War II\u2026.Aboriginal service people were discriminated against on the basis of Indian status by the federal government bureaucracies in terms of benefits paid to their dependents while overseas, as well as in the benefits they received as veterans on their return\u201d (p.10). The authors added that during this time, 1940s and 1950s, the Canadian public became aware of the significant contributions of Aboriginal veterans to the war effort but also became cognizant of the broader issues of discrimination, inequality, and human rights violations (Ariss &amp; Cutfeet, p.10). The authors concluded that these &#8220;combined factors created some openness to re-thinking aspects of relating to Indians and Indian lands\u201d (Ariss &amp; Cutfeet, 2012, p. 10).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Resistance is invariably linked to rights<\/strong>. As the opening quote to this section pronounces, even if one must die, Indigenous rights must be protected. One Indigenous filmmaker, Alanis Obomsawin, spent an entire career ensuring that these resistance movements were documented. Her more well-known <em>National Film Board<\/em> (NFB) documentaries include:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/incident_at_restigouche\/\">Incident at <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/incident_at_restigouche\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Restigouche<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/kanehsatake_270_years_of_resistance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/rocks_at_whiskey_trench\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rocks at Whiskey Trench<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/trick_or_treaty\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trick or Treaty?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/is_the_crown_at_war_with_us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Is the Crown at war with us<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/is_the_crown_at_war_with_us\/\">?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In an interview with NFB Pause, she shares her thoughts on the making of <em>Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance<\/em>, 25 years after its release in 2018:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/nfb-pause-ep9-25-years-after-kanehsatake\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alanis Obomsawin on Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As a warrior and Abenaki film director, whose works have garnered international attention, the following describes Alanis and her contribution:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the most acclaimed Indigenous directors in the world, Alanis Obomsawin came to cinema from performance and storytelling. Hired by the <em>NFB<\/em> as a consultant in 1967, she has created an extraordinary body of work\u201450 films and counting\u2014including landmark documentaries like <em>Incident at Restigouche<\/em> (1984) and <em>Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance<\/em> (1993). The Abenaki director has received numerous international honours and her work was showcased in a 2008 retrospective at New York\u2019s Museum of Modern Art. &#8216;My main interest all my life has been education,&#8217; says Obomsawin, &#8216;because that\u2019s where you develop yourself, where you learn to hate, or to love&#8217;\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/directors\/alanis-obomsawin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>National Film Board<\/em>, 2024<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>There is an award in her honour, named the <em>Alanis Obomsawin Award for Commitment to Community and Resistance<\/em><em>.<\/em> The following is a brief description:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was\u00a0first inaugurated in 2011 by Cinema Politica and given to John Greyson. The creation of this award was inspired by Ms. Obomsawin&#8217;s awe-inspiring and unstoppable dedication to social justice and political documentary.<\/p>\n<p>The AOACCR award\u00a0is meant to celebrate the efforts and talents of a filmmaker who has shown a commitment to community and resistance in documentary filmmaking through the ways in which they showcase the stories of underrepresented and\/or marginalized communities engaged in struggle. The award also honours a filmmaker whose dedication to social justice is connected to, but goes beyond filmmaking practices and who actively participates in civil society, engages in collective action and uses film as a platform for progressive and radical social and political transformation\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cinemapolitica.org\/blog\/network\/alanis-obomsawin-award-extended-call-nominations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cinema Politica, 2015<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>There are two areas I would like to explore with you before leaving the topic of resistance. Below, you will find a link to an article with well-done commentary, and then, followed by a <a href=\"https:\/\/chatelaine.com\/living\/resistance-150-indigenous-artists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video<\/a> (see the end of the article by Michelle Cyca, 2017) on a resistance movement to &#8216;Canada 150,&#8217; which was organized to celebrate Canada&#8217;s 150 years of existence. It will also serve to highlight the main points we have learned to this point in the textbook, including the fight of Indigenous peoples in this chapter to reclaim and resist.<\/p>\n<p>The article:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/chatelaine.com\/living\/resistance-150-indigenous-artists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Resistance 150: Indigenous artists challenge Canadians to reckon with our history<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How do you feel about this?<\/li>\n<li>What role does resistance play in illuminating the &#8216;truth&#8217;?<\/li>\n<li>Do you think it&#8217;s more important to celebrate or resist? Please explain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now, I would like to get your thoughts on the Melina Laboucan-Massimo article on Lessons from Wesahkecahk that you read. As with the other readings from the <em>Manual for Decolonization<\/em>, I thought I&#8217;d provide a passage and get your response; or conversely, if you have a passage that resonated with you, please do share. Here is what I viewed as an important point, and more specifically, what creates the impetus for &#8216;resisting.&#8217; Laboucan-Massimo begins,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur prophecies speak of a time when the blue sky and waters turn black and green things turn brown and die; when animals and fish disappear and birds drop from the sky. This devastation will come as a result of mankind\u2019s greed and disrespect of Mother Earth. This time is upon us.<\/p>\n<p>The Alberta tar sands are scarring the earth \u2013 polluting and draining watersheds, poisoning the air, and destroying the land I call home. The landscape is drastically changing from a once pristine and beautiful boreal forest to an increasingly industrial and toxic terrain. Animals and fish have become sick with tumours, and caribou are now listed as an endangered species. People are no longer safe to harvest traditional medicines, teas or berries because they have become contaminated \u2013 and even though we fear that our medicines have turned into poison, we continue to forage (and forge) the path ahead. People young and old have started to die of rare forms of cancers that we have never seen before. I come from a community where, until my generation, my family was able to live sustainably off the land.<\/p>\n<p>The tar sands are not an isolated incident; neo-colonialism in the form of resource extraction is happening across Turtle Island and throughout Mother Earth. Today the earth is being contaminated and destroyed at an unparalleled rate, and people and animals alike are being sacrificed for the benefit of the greedy few.<\/p>\n<p>We are not only in an ecological crisis; we are in a moral human crisis. All around the world, we see people\u2019s homes and traditional territories being turned into industrialized landscapes. We see people\u2019s clean drinking water being overtaken and turned into toxic dumpsites for industrial facilities. It is painful to see the devastation to the land. It reaches a deep part in your spirit \u2013 a feeling of indescribable grief\u201d (Laboucan-Massimo, 2017, p. 37).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How do you feel about this?<\/li>\n<li>What may Melina have been experiencing physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually at the time?<\/li>\n<li>Where does resistance or the act of resisting come from?<\/li>\n<li>Why don&#8217;t others feel this intensity of thoughts and emotions as Melina does?<\/li>\n<li>Do you think the author will see her vision come to fruition? Her vision is summarized as follows: &#8220;People from diverse backgrounds and creeds will truly begin to work together in honesty and respect \u2013 with a deep sense of solidarity with one another. It is a time when people from the Four Directions will come together to work for justice, peace, freedom, and recognition of the Great Spirit and the sacredness of our Mother Earth. This time, my friends, is upon us&#8221; (p. 40).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Indigenous resistance, like most topics covered in this textbook, is a course in and of itself. In fact, the IKERAS Faculty offers a course titled <em>Indigenous Resistance and Decolonization.<\/em> For now, know that resistance will be inevitable if Indigenous peoples\u2019 rights and treaties are violated. We will examine this further in the next chapter, under social activism.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\"><strong>Key Terms and Concepts from the Chapter<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ul>\n<li>gathering\/Mawi&#8217;omi<\/li>\n<li>resilience<\/li>\n<li>striving for self-determination<\/li>\n<li>reclamation<\/li>\n<li>cultural reclamations<\/li>\n<li>resistance<\/li>\n<li>Indigenous war veterans<\/li>\n<li>the importance of rights<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\"><strong>Important Readings\/Viewings for Next Class<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ul>\n<li>Kanahus Manuel&#8217;s article \u2013 <em>A Manual for Decolonization<\/em> (pp. 42-46)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<p><strong>Special Topics of Interest<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Resilience: <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EHeaqQ4aSRk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Transforming Through Resilience | Gabrielle Lindstrom | TEDxYYC<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Reclamation: <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/indigenous-cinema\/?&amp;film_lang=en&amp;sort=year:desc,title&amp;year_min=1939&amp;year_max=2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Indigenous Cinema<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Resistance: <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfb.ca\/film\/powwow_at_duck_lake\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Powwow at Duck Lake<\/a><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Cultural\u00a0Competency Supplemental Tutorials<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=swgz8nocENw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ulali &#8211; All My Relations<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Alfred, T. (2015). Cultural strength: Restoring the place of indigenous knowledge in practice and policy.\u00a0<em>Australian Aboriginal Studies<\/em>, (1), 3-11.<\/p>\n<p>Anthony\u2010Stevens, V., &amp; Gallegos Buitron, E. (2023). Indigenous Mexican Teachers and Decolonial Thinking: Enacting Pedagogies of Reclamation.\u00a0<em>Anthropology &amp; Education Quarterly<\/em>,\u00a0<em>54<\/em>(2), 144-164.<\/p>\n<p>Ariss, R., &amp; Cutfeet, J. (2012). Keeping the land: Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, reconciliation and Canadian law. Fernwood Publishing.<\/p>\n<p>Archibald, J. A. (2008).\u00a0<em>Indigenous storywork: Educating the heart, mind, body, and spirit<\/em>. UBC press.<\/p>\n<p>Battiste, M. (2014). Decolonizing education: Nourishing the learning spirit.\u00a0<em>Alberta Journal of Educational Research<\/em>,\u00a0<em>60<\/em>(3), 615-618.<\/p>\n<p>Charles, R. (2020). A reclamation of space: This is an assertion&#8230; not a defence. Burnaby, BC: Simon Fraser University.<\/p>\n<p>Corntassel, J., &amp; Bryce, C. (2011). Practicing sustainable self-determination: Indigenous approaches to cultural restoration and revitalization.\u00a0<em>Brown J. World Aff.<\/em>,\u00a0<em>18<\/em>, 151.<\/p>\n<p>de Leeuw, S., Stout, R., Larstone, R., &amp; Sutherland, J. (2022).\u00a0<em>Introduction to determinants of first nations, Inuit, and M\u00e9tis peoples\u2019 health in Canada<\/em>. Canadian Scholars\u2019 Press.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson, H., Smith, D. B., &amp; Beck, L. (2022). Systems Innovation through First Nations Self-Determination.\u00a0<em>Introduction to Determinants of First Nations, Inuit, and M\u00e9tis Peoples\u2019 Health in Canada<\/em>, 250.<\/p>\n<p>K\u0131nay, P., Wang, X. X., Augustine, P. J., &amp; Augustine, M. (2023). Reporting evidence on the environmental and health impacts of climate change on Indigenous Peoples of Atlantic Canada: A systematic review.\u00a0<em>Environmental Research: Climate<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Kirkness, V. J., &amp; Barnhardt, R. (1991). First Nations and higher education: The four R&#8217;s\u2014Respect, relevance, reciprocity, responsibility.\u00a0<em>Journal of American Indian Education<\/em>, 1-15.<\/p>\n<p>Kovach, M. (2021).\u00a0<em>Indigenous methodologies: Characteristics, conversations, and contexts<\/em>. University of Toronto press.<\/p>\n<p>Leonard, K., David-Chavez, D., Smiles, D., Jennings, L., \u02bbAnolani Alegado, R., Tsinnajinnie, L., &#8230; &amp; Gomez, A. (2023). Water Back: A review centering rematriation and indigenous water research sovereignty.\u00a0<em>Water Alternatives<\/em>,\u00a0<em>16<\/em>(2), 374-428.<\/p>\n<p>Liboiron, M. (2021).\u00a0<em>Pollution is colonialism<\/em>. Duke University Press.<\/p>\n<p>Lindstrom, G. (2023).\u00a0<em>Resisting racism through a pedagogy of resilience<\/em>. Manuscript submitted for publication.<\/p>\n<p>Lindstrom, G., &amp; Head, R. W. (2023). In the Spirit of Dr. Betty Bastien: Conceptualizing Ontological Responsibilities through the lens of Blackfoot Resilience.\u00a0<em>Qeios<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>McGuire\u2013Kishebakabaykwe, P. D. (2010). Exploring resilience and Indigenous ways of knowing.\u00a0<em>Pimatisiwin: A Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health<\/em>,\u00a0<em>8<\/em>(2), 117-131.<\/p>\n<p>McIvor, O., &amp; Anisman, A. (2018). Keeping our languages alive: Strategies for Indigenous language revitalization and maintenance. In\u00a0<em>Handbook of cultural security<\/em>\u00a0(pp. 90-109). Edward Elgar Publishing.<\/p>\n<p>McIvor, O. (2020). Indigenous language revitalization and applied linguistics: Parallel histories, shared futures?. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 40, 78-96<\/p>\n<p>Montoya, T. I. (2023). INDIGENEITY: Global Futurisms: Prophetic Practices of Reclamation, Liberation, and Transcendence.\u00a0<em>A Companion to Contemporary Art in a Global Framework<\/em>, 239-254.<\/p>\n<p>Ostler, J. (2004).\u00a0<em>The plains Sioux and US colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee<\/em>. Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n<p>Palmater, P. (2015).\u00a0<em>Indigenous nationhood: Empowering grassroots citizens<\/em>. Fernwood Publishing.<\/p>\n<p>Pratt, Y. P., &amp; Bodnaresko, S. (2023).\u00a0<em>Truth and reconciliation through education: Stories of decolonizing practices<\/em>. Brush Education.<\/p>\n<p>Robin, T. (2019). Our hands at work: Indigenous food sovereignty in Western Canada.\u00a0<em>Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development<\/em>,\u00a0<em>9<\/em>(B), 85-99.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor, D. H. (1996). Alive and well: Native theatre in Canada.\u00a0<em>Journal of Canadian Studies<\/em>,\u00a0<em>31<\/em>(3), 29-37.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor, D. H. (2012). <em>Me funny<\/em>. D &amp; M Publishers.<\/p>\n<p>Twance, M. (2019). Learning from land and water: Exploring mazinaabikiniganan as Indigenous epistemology.\u00a0<em>Environmental Education Research<\/em>,\u00a0<em>25<\/em>(9), 1319-1333.<\/p>\n<p>Usher, K., Jackson, D., Walker, R., Durkin, J., Smallwood, R., Robinson, M., &#8230; &amp; Marriott, R. (2021). Indigenous resilience in Australia: A scoping review using a reflective decolonizing collective dialogue.\u00a0<em>Frontiers in Public Health<\/em>,\u00a0<em>9<\/em>, 630601.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2021.630601\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2021.630601<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Wilson, S. (2020).\u00a0<em>Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods<\/em>. 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