Abenaki of Canada and the Youth

Paul Fischer

11/10/2015

David Massell

Abenaki of Canada and the Youth

The Abenaki are a native peoples tribe, one of the original 100 recognized throughout Canada, as introduced by Suzie O’Bamsawin, the Director of the Territorial Consultations Department of the Territorial Grand Conseil de la Nation Waban-Aki. With recognition in American states such as New York, but not in Vermont, though there are Abenaki tribes people who call Vermont home, this is a point of some tension as there is only partial recognition in American states. There are many issues and points of activism which influence and impact their decision making processes, the most important of which, according to the lecture, has been the importance of elders. Among important issues addressed were Canadian and diplomatic relations, growing up among native peoples, and the decline of the native language and traditions.

Life on the reservation is simple, but there are not many jobs, technology, or legal structures. There are many social issues there; Pow Wows can be alternative in nature or traditional, but are frequently a place of reconciliation for members of tribes. At the age of 16, youth are given the choice to stay on the reservation or to leave and enter into the outside world. There is not much choice, though many return after some years to stay. For the Abenaki, many receive student loans and grants from the state of Quebec, and admission into Universities.

This tradition of integration into the general Canadian and American cultures has several advantages, and actually helps with alcohol and drug problems which can be rampant in communities. It also allows an outreach which affects the chronic unemployment extant on reservations. This was not presented as a criticism of the lifestyles there, but instead as a merging of two worlds. Indeed, many of the problems endemic in reservation lifestyles were a result of political friction and forced or inadequate educational measures which ignored the fierce adherence to different cultural norms within the nation.

O’Bamsawin has been witness and part of a great social movement as well. Politically, the tribe is involved like few others, and indeed few modern societies in the modern world. She has been privy to and central to negotiation with something like the equivalent of the Prime Minister of Quebec and gained experience with Canada’s modern system and politicians in these experiences as a representative of her people. The communication and connection is not just an exchange for rights and justice, but goes deeper culturally as well.

Her work has just been the most recent of a far greater movement towards the development of Indigenous peoples internationally. She was able to see this exchange first hand in Honduras, and provided some description of the history therein. The UN first recognized the rights of Indigenous Peoples as sovereign from governing and oppressing nations with its adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This was a major victory for international human rights and these communities were permitted to participate in drafting the document.

It would be misleading to cast these groups as united in nature throughout the history of conflict, at times conflict can and has occurred over hunting grounds and more fundamental issues between tribes. These relations are often evolving, early conflict with the Mohawks has been cited and resolution through Pow Wow did occur, though frictions remain. From lecture in class, it is worth questioning whether this had anything to do with the armed conflict between the Mohawk and British-Canadian forces in Montreal, after which the Canadian government was forced to admit defeat, though not before dozens of casualties had been inflicted in small arms and automatic weapon fueled warfare. One method of resolution is in the Pow Wow: on the outskirts of the reservation or within the modern reservation, a cultural revolution has occurred to some extent as music groups such as A Tribe Called Red have developed traditional music and dance with techno norms. The lack of rules enjoyed by Abenaki children (culturally they learn by experience not by instruction) manifests itself in artistically unified beats and documentary film efforts to preserve the culture through change and adaptation.

There were several critical components to this work which were established in lecture which include the critical nature of education, of technological innovation and permeation into social culture, and the process of building bridges. For the Abenaki, education has been a key development: they have among the highest levels of University enrollment among native peoples in Canada. In the USA, however, they are not even nationally recognized as a native peoples. In Vermont this can reach something of a head as “self-proclaimed” Abenaki have had discourse for the sharing of use of Lake Champlain, which is split between the states of Vermont and New York, but no such Native American agreement exists. These tensions have given rise to three levels or groups of Abenaki in Vermont. Even in Canada, though, their rights are somewhat limited. Native language instruction will only occur for perhaps two hours a week.