Chief Bob Chamberlin is the Vice President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and Elected Chief Councillor of the Kwikwasut'inuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation on Vancouver Island. Despite an incredibly busy schedule, he is also well known as a leader at social justice events around the province. Whether it be the fight against the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion or draconian "anti-terrorist" laws like Bill C-51 - he has always made time in his busy schedule to participate.
He opened the second day of the 7th International Che Guevara Conference and instantly engaged the attendees with a speech which wove story-telling and light-hearted moments with a serious discussion about the fight of Indigenous nations in Canada for self-determination. Making common cause with Che's internationalist struggle for justice for oppressed peoples, he summarized the common vision: “...to look after our peoples and to make sure that we’re no better or no worse than any other people anywhere else in the world. Isn’t that a wonderful goal? I believe that’s what the man we’re celebrating today wanted - it’s that equality and to make sure that we all had the things that we needed and that we had them not at the expense of our neighbour. So, we could all enjoy this human experience in the best way possible.”
Here is a short excerpt of the speech he delivered that day. The full video version has also been uploaded to Youtube.
Quite a number of years ago I had the good fortune of being taken under the wing of several of my elders and taught how to sing our songs of our culture. One of the parts of that journey with my elder was an expression that essentially says, “We are all one people.” Along the journey of learning of our culture I learned of the origin stories of our people, and this is not dissimilar to other people and other indigenous peoples found around the world. What it does, is it tells our story. Tells of the creation of our people and the lands that we come from. Of course, today in modern context that defines our aboriginal title lands, and what we’ve always done in our territories is called aboriginal rights here in Canada.
My uncle Micheal told me once that he was born on the banks of the Kingcome River in a canoe. He said, “There was an eagle flying over top,” and I thought, “I don’t care who you are, it’s tough to be more Indian than that!” (laughter) But I told that story to one of my other elders and he said, “Ya, me too, but it was a seagull that flew over!” (more laughter) But the lesson that I was taught by these wonderful men is that not one of our origin stories is more important than any other origin story. That really underlines that, “We are all one people,” and what little I understand of the man we are here celebrating today is that he understood that very fact very clearly. He did not place boundaries upon himself to help everybody. That is beyond admiration. It demands respect that someone would look out for the benefit of all people.
The foundation of our culture is something in Chinook jargon that’s called a potlach. And so when the visitors arrived and watched what we do as people, as the creator has given us the directions, it completely baffled them. Because here’s this chief hosting everybody and giving everything he owns away to everybody else. The anthropologists like to call that “reverse reciprocity”, but what it was, was a leader looking after his people. A leader making sure that all the needs of his community were met and not just his own.
You can see how that goes very much against the western civilization view of, “Look at my big car, and my big bank account,” and yet our chiefs were looking to get rid of everything to make sure that everybody had their needs met.
That was the experience at the very beginning of Canada. Where they didn’t understand our ways, yet our ways included welcoming them. Our ways included helping them settle in. Their way was to implement the governance system that put themselves at a higher level of evolution and to displace our people from our lands. And make great vast wealth from our lands and our territories and make sure that we did not have that same opportunity.
So, when I know that is the reality of how Canada began, every time I hear the national anthem “Oh Canada”, that’s what I think, “Oh...Canada...” (laughter) They didn’t quite get it right.
When you look at what really makes Canada, Canada, it’s very disgustingly racist. Because you’ll find that the Crown asserts its authority over the lands because they were "terra nullius,” which means it was vacant land. I mean, I’m pretty sure they saw us all around our territories when they arrived. They called it vacant lands because of the ‘doctrine of discovery’. So, we were not “evolved” enough to be considered human. I’m not sure how you feel about that, but I feel that that’s really racist. Because now we have governance in Canada and mechanisms and institutions built upon that very foundation. So, they hold all the decision making among themselves, and their own concept of the world at the expense of ours.
One thing that I say to Canadians when I have an opportunity, much like today, to speak to people is when you see First Nations at the courthouse, when you see First Nations on the roadblocks, when you see us protesting - by and large what we’re doing is we are pointing at the failures of democracy in Canada. We’re pointing at the failings of the federal and provincial governments to live up to their own laws and constitution. I’ve said to every Canadian I can that that should be a concern for everybody. If you recall back when apartheid was operational in South Africa, I don’t know if enough Canadians understand that that government came to Canada to study the reserve system so they could modify it and implement it as apartheid.
I know as a First Nations person or a leader, which I’ve engaged with the provincial and federal government in consultations, on the accommodation of our Aboriginal people’s rights, there has never been the acceptance of the answer, “No.” There is never in that system contemplated the answer, “No.” So whatever the government and industry comes and talks to our people about, the answer is already “Yes, but we’ll deal with your little rights as some measure of inconvenience.” Where the picture will stay the same, but we might put different corners on the frame. So that’s the reality that we face as First Nations for generations, and it took a lot of fighting to get even to that level.
So now that UN Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous People speaks to “free, prior
and informed consent,” a lot of the fearmongering
in Canada now is that you have
people that aren’t so open-minded saying,
“So does that give them Indians a veto on
projects?” But they won’t understand that the
veto against our rights was already in place for
generations in Canada. So if we truly want
to be a fair, just and open society and country,
to be proud of internationally, we must build
processes that anticipate and allow for any
outcome of a process. Not a predetermined
outcome - which has been the experience of
First Nations people.
The Canadian society is focusing on our
authority in our territories. Why do I want
our people to have authority in our territories?
So, my son can understand what our lands
mean to us as people. So the salmon are there
for us to do what we’ve always done, the clams
are there to do what we’ve always done, the
cod, the deer – everything that makes up our
territory and informs our identity in a very
clear way is available for the next generations.
That’s not a selfish view. That’s a very loving,
caring, respectful way of ensuring that what
I’ve enjoyed with my elders in our territories
and our resources are there for future
generations to do the very same.
This where what I understand and what I’ve
learning about UNDRIP, is that you can’t just
pick one and say, “This is what we’re doing”.
You must consider the overall entire concept
found within that document, to look after our
peoples and to make sure that we’re no better
or no worse than any other people anywhere
else in the world. Isn’t that a wonderful goal?
I believe that’s what the man we’re celebrating
today wanted - it’s that equality and to make
sure that we all had the things that we needed
and that we had them not at the expense of
our neighbour. So, we could all enjoy this
human experience in the best way possible.
And removing that opportunity of standing
on people so I can see over the fence. It’s about
all of us seeing over the fence.
Follow Chief Bob Chamberlin on Twitter:@ChiefBobbyC
For further photos, reports, and videos of
the 7th International Che Guevara Conference:
www.cheguevaraconference.ca
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