CBC Aboriginal Forum Gets It Wrong Before It Even Gets Started

On Tuesday, June 15 in Winnipeg, CBC Radio’s The Sunday Edition will host a public forum (to be broadcast at a later date) entitled “Canada and The Aboriginal People: Can We Finally Get It Right?”

Here’s the thing: last time I checked, the collection of territories called by the name of Canada for the past 140-odd years were — prior to 1867 — inhabited for many thousands of years by a plurality of Aboriginal peoples. That’s by and large still the case.

By one count, just over 50 distinct Indigenous languages are still spoken in Canada, falling into 11 separate, mutually unintelligible, families. These languages roughly parallel a whole host of significant cultural differences between (and, often, among) these peoples.

Thus, to now reductively boil these 50 peoples down to ‘The’ Aboriginal People — first peoples singular? — tells me this discussion is at risk of being fundamentally flawed from the get-go.

Think about it: Would we hope for much from a discussion that indiscriminately lumped Spaniards in with Brits, Germans and Croatians under the clumsy, clumpy category of ‘the European People’? (On the other hand, think of what an awesome World Cup team ‘the Europeans’ would have.)

Sure, maybe it’s nothing more than just a poorly-written promo. Maybe they were in a rush. A casualty of CBC cutbacks, mayhaps. Does it really matter in the end?

I submit that it does matter, precisely because most people in Canada think it doesn’t, to the extent they even think about the notion at all.

And among Indigenous peoples, these differences do matter. That’s why we sought (and still seek) to preserve them.

To the designers and administrators of the Residential School system, these differences did matter. That’s why they sought to eliminate them.

(Today, the federal government simply neglects them, but feels really, really sorry about it.)

So it’s ironic that a media forum hosted in the lead up to a Commission about the legacy of those schools would unwittingly reproduce that same kind of essentialist thinking and approach.

Can we finally get it right? Whatever the ultimate answer, it will necessarily rest in having a full and proper understanding of exactly who “we” are to begin with.

Sure, maybe it’s nothing more than just a poorly-written

promo. Maybe they were in a rush. Does it really matter in

the end?

I submit it does matter, precisely because people think it

doesn’t matter: Canada gives it barely a second thought.

But among Indigenous peoples, differences matter. That’s

what we sought and still seek to preserve them.

To the designers and administrators of the Residential

School system, differences matter. That’s why they sought to

eliminate them.

So it’s ironic that a CBC forum hosted in the lead up to a

Commission about the legacy of those schools would

unwittingly reproduce that same idea and approach.

In any event, I encourage people to go because of the show’s

always prhost Michael Enright and the awesome  Lorena

Fontaine will betaking part

10 thoughts on “CBC Aboriginal Forum Gets It Wrong Before It Even Gets Started

  1. i agree. Not respecting how we choose to identify and still being defined as the oppressor sees most convenient is NOT right at all nor a good start. But at least there's honesty in that ignorance so let's be grateful for that. Also “Indigenous” is not as lumping a term as the offensive “aboriginal” (might as well say “pan- indian” already) because it at least allows for the idea that there are distinct sets of peoples with unique ways of life based on the land they/we belong to.

  2. I would never suggest we can eliminate all 'lumpiness' within language.

    And I am not suggesting the answer is to conduct 50 separate shows (“Canada and the Nisga'a: Can We Finally Get It Right?”, “Canada and the Anishnabek: Can We Finally Get It Right?” “Canada and the Mi'kmaq: Can We Finally Get It Right?” and so on…), interesting as that might be at one level. Then again, how many of us would not think twice about a show entitled “Canada and the Quebecois: Can We Finally Get It Right?”

    What I do know is that the Canadian Constitution refers to Aboriginal peoples (in the plural) and that the United Nations recognizes the rights of Indigenous peoples (in the plural).

    Quibbly as this may seem, the real irony out of all this is that we actually can have a common conversation about Indigenous peoples' relationship with Canada, but only because our nations were all subjected to the same assimilationist pressures.

    No doubt I have just contradicted myself in some fashion: welcome to the convoluted world of 'post-colonialism.' That's my story and I am sticking to it.

  3. “Today, the federal government simply neglects them, but feels really, really sorry about it.”

    hahahahaha…if i don't laugh…i might just cry…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.