The Seven Deadly Questions
Hello Internet, welcome back to another blog post. This post will be quite different from any other in the way that it is formatted. I have been provided with 6 questions that relate to our project and I will answer these questions using resources, activities, and things we learned. But first I’ll tell you about the project.
This project was called Status and Indigeneity and was all about what identifying as an Indigenous person really means. This is reflected in our driving question for this project “How might understanding the sensitivities around Indigeneity, help us understand B.C. First Peoples?” Which is the secret 7th question for this post. But without further adieu let’s get into these questions.
What does “status” mean in Canada, and how does it shape identity and access to rights and resources?
So first of all we have to define status, and the way I see it, this can be interpreted in two ways. Number 1 is the legal definition, “Indian status is the legal standing of a person who is registered under the Indian Act. Registration under the Indian Act is not the same as applying for a status card. You need to be registered before you receive a status card, but you can apply for both at the same time.” This is a very clear and definitive way of describing it that makes sense in a Western society. The second way of defining it is left up to the indigenous peoples. I think they should get to say who is Indigenous and who is not because obtaining a status card can be a long and arduous process and using a little card to determine whether someone is Indigenous just seems wrong. Moving on to how it shapes identity, I think it can go multiple ways. Someone can either feel empowered by their status card, and use it as a symbol of their heritage, or someone could feel limited by status cards and see it as them having to prove they are Indigenous. For example, I am British and I know I’m British, so I would be pretty damn annoyed if someone told me I had to prove it to them by giving them a DNA test, especially if that meant I was being excluded from benefits. Either way, it definitely affects the way people identify and the way people are perceived.
Why do you think some people falsely claim Indigenous identity? What are the consequences of this?
For this question, I would like to look back on something we researched quite a lot in this project, and that is the topic of Buffy Sainte-Marie. You may have heard of her as she became one of the most influential Indigenous music artists ever, but recently evidence has surfaced that proves otherwise. There are a lot of loopholes in her story and the facts just don’t add up. If you would like to learn more about Buffy I recommend you watch this episode of The Fifth Estate. It goes in depth about her story and after watching it in class I can confirm that it does a great job of making sense of the whole situation. But after finding out what she did this sparked a whole bunch of new ideas to consider.
The cons:
There are some blatantly bad things that came from this. First of all, she abused the idea of being Indigenous to generate wealth and fame for herself. She not only profited from the struggles that real Indigenous peoples go through, but she also robbed other Indigenous artists of titles they can now never claim. Her first Indigenous-related awards included a Juno for Best Music of Aboriginal Canada, a Gemini Award, and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Regina. These titles can now never be claimed by real Indigenous peoples.
The Pros:
You might think what she did was all bad but truthfully there was some good to come of this. First of all, despite coming from a corrupted origin, she still spread information that helped Indigenous culture and awareness become more mainstream. Without her, we may not even have the course that taught me all of this today. She also helped inspire this project by raising awareness of something called pretendians. Those who falsely claim to be Indigenous. If Buffy Sainte-Marie never had her rise to fame then not as many people would know about the danger of false claims of indigeneity.
How has your understanding of Indigeneity, identity, and authenticity evolved through this study?
I think through this project I’ve learned a lot more about what Indigenous people have to go through to even prove they are Indigenous in the first place. Through research and by talking to our Indigenous representative at the school, I can better understand the process of acquiring a status card and the effects that come with it. I’ve also learned how Indigenous people’s sense of identity is different than other races and cultures. Whether that be people not believing your background or the misperception of the benefits Indigenous peoples receive, I now know more about their struggles. Obviously I can’t know for sure, as I am unable to experience these things firsthand, but trying to learn is the best way to help fix it.
What is the difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation? Where do we draw the line?
I think the difference is subjective. The line is drawn by those who it affects and nobody else. This makes it difficult to give a definitive answer because there is so much to take into consideration, however I can give a general answer. Cultural appropriation is using or doing something that belongs to a culture, without going through the effort of learning the history and use purposes of that thing. Cultural appreciation is using or doing something that belongs to a culture after learning the history and purposes of that thing and being given permission by someone from that culture, who also understands the history of it. Other than this, it is up to people from that culture whether you are allowed to or not because at the end of the day, if it doesn’t belong to you, you need to ask.
How do media and institutions (universities, arts organizations, government) contribute to the problem of false claims of Indigeneity?
I think these contributions are good in intent, but not entirely great in execution. These institutions provide “benefits” to Indigenous peoples but there are some obvious flaws. First of all, things that are considered benefits are not really benefits, it is just repaying the debts and trying to fix the damage that was caused. Despite this being the truth, people don’t see it this way with some misinformed people interpreting it as “they get free stuff just because of where they’re from?” This leads to stereotypes that Indigenous peoples are freeloaders, while this just isn’t true. Next, there is also the incentive for people to fake Indigenous heritage to also receive these “benefits”, which leads to more restrictions on them making it harder for the real Indigenous peoples to receive the help they need. Overall there are flaws that need to be fixed, but no obvious solution of how this can be done.
What responsibility do we have when discussing these issues outside of class?
This question is more of a personal thing, but I’ll give some things that you can do, followed by what I will be doing. Some things we can all do to help is by squashing stereotypes or micro aggressions when we see them. These things usually fly under the radar as okay because it’s seen as just a harmless joke, but just because it’s a joke doesn’t mean it’s okay. So we can all fix these things little by little. As for what I am going to do, I will take all of these things into account while also spreading information about Indigenous peoples when I fly back home to England. Before I moved here I knew nothing about Indigenous history and that is the same for all my friends still in England. Since we are not taught about the wrongdoings that occurred, I am taking the responsibility of informing my loved ones of what happened and how they can make it right.
So that wraps up all the questions from the project but one. Special question number 7, “How might understanding the sensitivities around Indigeneity, help us understand B.C. First Peoples?” I think the things I’ve learned throughout this project will help me be more cautious around what I say, and what I believe when researching in future projects throughout the course. The insight I’ve gained has gotten me slightly closer to understanding the modern struggles of the Indigenous peoples and while I still have much to learn I have definitely taken a big step.
Thank you for reading my blog post, sorry for so many words but I had a lot to say about this project. See you in the next one.