r/FirstNationsCanada

Hello Reddit! I came on here to discuss an organization called the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP), and their active role in supporting Non-Status Indians.

CAP includes numerous provincial Affiliates meant to support each region. CAP sits on a table with FNMI such as Assembly of First Nations, Métis National Council and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami with the Federal government to make decision pertaining to Indigenous Communities.

CAP was also a main actor of the Daniel’s Decision, finally recognizing Métis and Non-Status Indians. Harry Daniel’s acted as president of CAP for a while, even!

I, personally, am a Member of my Affiliate and have a card with a Membership number. They usually screen people for evidence of Aboriginal Ancestry, first. What do ya’ll think? Please feel free to add any missing information to this discussion. Hîy hîy !

Hello!

I recently got my status after many years. My husband and I are located in ontario and we are looking to purchase a new car. I understand that in order to qualify for the tax extemption dealerships often have buyers take a picture of the car on a near by reservation.

My husband does not hold status. If we both put our names on the car would we not be entitled to the exemption? Does it just have to have my name on it alone?

Thank you

This is for the JP removed child claim. Applied Feb 19th this year for approval June 3rd, got my letter June 8th in the mail and sent in my stuff via email the same day. They recieved my email June 11th. June 12th and 13th it updated "Payment information submitted" both days. June 28th, 29th, 30th, July 1st and today July 2nd those dates updated saying the same thing again "Payment information submitted" I'm banking with koho. I've seen a huge chunk of people saying the same thing happen to theirs too. Now does anybody here know when batches actually hit? I've been reading alot of posts on a FB group and putting timelines together as biweekly. I've seen a huge chunk of people get May 14th and again May 26th. More people got theirs June 17th and biweekly was supposed to be Canada Day but it was a holiday so today being Thursday nobody gotten anything. So the question is when do they actually do the batches?

At least 12 Black, Indigenous, Asian, South Asian, Hispanic and Samoan heritage players were selected

Hi I have an absent father who is Métis, but my mom is French Canadian.

I want to learn about my heritage, because it feels like it’s a part of me (which it is you cant erase something that’s in your blood).

But no matter how many times I try to go to spaces to learn more, and actually try and find myself my own mom refuses it and dismisses my heritage and is just flat out racist.

I am actively trying to find myself and it just feels like she’s ignoring it. I feel at peace when I was preparing Sage with the indigenous support worker in my school, and I loved learning about the culture and the history.

I love all cultures and have respect, but there is this feeling like I am being tugged since I was younger. Even before my mom just dropped that my dad is First Nation but the thing is, is that she keeps calling many different things which would confuse me. She called him a “Indian” “Métis” “First Nation” “indigenous” and a few racist comments and terms that I am not saying.

She also says that he’s “crazy” because he has schizophrenia, and when I tell her I don’t feel alone in my body and I feel like I am more then one person she also insults me like my dad. Which totally doesn’t hurt to be ripped apart by your own mother🥲

I am basically in a battlefield of trying to learn about my heritage, and finding where I belong because I am in between Métis and French culture. I love both because I can’t ignore one part of me, so I am unsure if it would disrespectful if I were to “merge”.

But yea any advice would be loved, because I literally feel trapped when not able to find myself.

Many of the crew behind the live-action and animated series 'Kokum & Dot' come from the Indigenous Film program at the university's North Vancouver campus

Hello, I am trying to research instances of historic wampum which depict bodies of water (rivers, lakes, oceans, etc) or water animals. The only ones I currently know about are the Two Row Wampum and King Philip’s Wampum.

 

Any information would be appreciated.

We are from the USb and are non-indigenous owners of a cottage in Ontario. We appreciate the history and culture of the inukshuk. We have a rock garden at the cottage and would like to make an inukshuk here... with positive intentions (and we would explain significance to our kids). However, we do not want to be disrespectful or culturally inappropriate. Expect responses will be mixed, but would appreciate hearing a discussion of the issue. Thank you.

Hi. I want to be very careful not to fall into the "no research" rule, so this is a generic as I possibly can, and it's not directly related to my book content, I will just mention the general lines so you have a general idea, please don't shoot the noob.

I know that absolutely whatever I write will be seen as a problem by at least one of the many points of view, I'm prepared for that, I have learned that even a detail of loom technology makes some people irate, then nobody needs to imagine when I'm trying to work how Mi'kmaq people communicated and interacted with a 1770s settler family in Nova Scotia.

Being myself of Native ancestry (mostly Aymara, some Quechua, then a total mix of Europe), having lived and loved Aymara lands and people, follower of the beliefs of my Nation (we're majority Evangelical. Hey, that happens. But it shocks people in the US). I "can" understand how contradictory interpretations exist, I carry the blood of both a Native princess and the Spanish officer that was killing her brothers, and plenty commoners, no doubt.

I know I will fail in not offending some, but I feel that I must try. As with that silly technology thing, I might not listen to the loudest or currently dominant ideology. BTW, we should all be concerned of dominant ideologies, even our own, because the moment an ideology becomes "accepted" is when it gets its double-zero, if you know what I mean.

OK, so, there.

>Maybe practical advice would be specific people or organizations that care constructively about building a better understanding among the peoples, that I can communicate with, that can let me know if I'm getting out of order

It would seem that around that era there was some level of cooperation between some Mi'kmaq and the new settlers (mentioned regarding the arrival of the Hector to Pictou), even though just a few years earlier the French were provoking the Mi'kmaq to a proxy war... I would want my Scottish family to get along, cooperate, learn, share, but please do not respond about that here, as I am NOT "doing research" for my novel, but trying to find a permitted way to do find a validated respectful tone.

There was a post about land acknowledgements here a few days ago that received a considerable number of unfortunate comments. I'll not rehash them here, or say anything about the nature of the comments. I'll also not respond here to comments coming from these unfortunate perspectives, because I believe the ways we think are simply too dissimilar. Our respective worldviews haven't enough in common to engage in any substantive dialogue in the absence of any robust point of contact in our distinct ways of using our minds, and in the ways we each individually perceive and conceive the world. I'll probably not respond much at all, since I try to keep off of the internet as much as possible.

Additionally, it seems there has been a considerable increase in anti-Indigenous sentiment in general, particularly in media/social media lately. This hateful sentiment has been here for 500 or so years now – and it will likely always be here – but lately it's been weighing down a lot of minds (in my own experience, and from what I've heard others say).

For example, I was getting my regalia ready to head out to a pow wow yesterday, and I checked the post noted above, just to see how it was going. I was saddened by what I read. I rifled off a pretty strongly-worded comment, but deleted it right away. I didn't want to carry around that negative energy in my head, didn't want to contaminate my regalia with that bad medicine, and certainly didn't want to bring it into the dance arena.

So I took a little time (almost late for Grand Entry!) to think about a couple of Kanien'kehá:ka teachings that touch a little on the nature of 'mind' – about its relationship with us, and our relationship with it.

I just want to jot down a couple of those thoughts here, just in case it might help a little if anyone's finding things a little saddening lately. To be clear: I'm not an Elder or Knowledge-Keeper – just someone who sometimes thinks a little about this kind of thing.

But first, a random photo of a beautiful fledgling Tsiskó:ko for your viewing pleasure! It's been such a treat to see what seems to be an unusually high number of them in my yard this spring! I thought of this little guy when the drum played a Crow Hop yesterday. Really wish I could hop like this mystifying little spirit of joy was hopping!

Shé:kon Tsiskokó:wa!

Anyway, in Kanien'kéha we call the mind O’nikòn:ra. I've heard it translated as "spirit" and "sense" as well. But as you know, Onkwehón:we languages are more about describing than labeling. As such, the word o'nikòn:ra describes the mind's function: it says something like "it takes care of you, it watches over you, it protects you."

I recently heard a saying that touches on this:

>Tóhsa sathón:tat naiesa'nikonhráhkhwa

It was said that this means something like:

>Don't let them take your protection from you – your mind protects you, it keeps you safe, protect the mind and it will protect you

I think one vital function of a protector is to refuse to be wielded as a weapon; the mind, as protector, should not harm the one who carries it, nor those it encounters. It knows and it lets us know that it is better to love than to hate, better to be happy then to be angry, better to be humble than to be inordinately proud.

In terms of these contrasts, we see the support of 'reality' in the experience of the contrasts. The feelings associated with the experience of these contrasts are self-evident validation for those who are vigilant in their relationship with the mind they carry, and such vigilance helps you to not acquiesce in those occasions when the mind tries to drag you astray into an unhealthy place.

We say of the mind – when it is functioning as it is meant to function – that it is sha'oié:ra. I've heard it said that this word says something like:

>It follows the way creation goes; it is 'natural'; it does what Is and it shows you what Is; it is what is really real

This is why it's important to avoid what Handsome Lake calls the "mind-changers" – things like alcohol or religion or anger. Such things blind you to sha'oié:ra, and lead you astray to things that are unnatural and therefore fallible. They take away your ability to relate to your mind as was intended. Allowing your mind to succumb to such things is a kind of voluntary colonization, or self-colonization. You surrender your mind to a foreign body, and an unnatural force seizes the power that is your natural mind.

Just one more thing that I hope ties it all together: we have the word Ka'nikonhrí:io. At it's most basic explanation, the word says 'good mind,' but it says far more than that.

An Elder called Kahentí:io takes the three parts of the word to be saying (I'm paraphrasing here):

• Ka- refers to concepts such as female/feminine; generativity/creativity; power; alteration; change
• -nikonhri- is clearly related to O’nikòn:ra (mind), and as such refers to the elements of human being that put ka- out there in the world, so they are tools of the self such as spirit, soul, consciousness, thought, and mind. They are the aspects of our selves that construct our perceptions of the world, and in turn shape the world
• -io refers to good; nice; real; positive. It's also our word for "you're welcome"

To sum up: good mind (Ka'nikonhrí:io) is a mind (o'nikòn:ra) that its carrier friend has set in loving accord with reality (sha'oié:ra).

Let's be real. Let's be good. Let's protect one another.

In other words, let's be Onkwehón:we.

That is all.

Hi, I’m a Syilx from the Okanagan. Back in 1990 or whatever during the Oka Crisis several men from my reserve and surrounding communities were among many other supporters who traveled to that community to help. I don’t know the full picture of what the people I knew did but I think some of them helped with security or something, I don’t really know tbh. Anyway I’m curious if anyone on Reddit who is from that community, or who travelled there or have family that might have been there.
A family member found and showed me what looked like a page from a funny “newsletter” that looked like it was drawn by someone at Oka. I’m interested to know if it’s something that actually was a real thing, the newsletter or cartoons or whatever. I’m curious if it is verifiable and really like an artifact or whatever from that time and place. I thought that if it is real, maybe for the daily life for the people at that crisis maybe they were using humour to deal with a frightening and tense situation.

The cartoon drawn depicts two men from my reserve who were my relatives, and were best of friends; they were a sight, one was small and the other was huge. So the cartoon is of the smaller one next to the bigger guy working at a checkstop.

It’s interesting to me because it’s my family for one things, they’re both deceased now, and also I have an anthropology degree, and I love this kind of stuff.

Hi! Hope everyone is having a great weekend

I am from newfoundland. I grew up with the knowledge that my grandparent had/has qalipu first nation status. I got to participate in some cultural events when I was younger but we moved across the country and that slowly faded. I didn’t look into my ancestry further until I saw the controversy of the Qalipu nation and the enrollment process. If you’re unfamiliar, they exploded in membership size, and don’t follow the rules of the Indian Act. The membership size has since decreased and I think enrollment is closed. I didn’t know the enrollment process was any different until recently as an adult! It disheartens me to think my grandparent could be apart of something so problematic, even if they’re unaware of its harm, as I grew up with them teaching me about their mi’kmaq heritage.

That being said, I took an ancestry test and decided to research my genealogy line. I talked to my grandparent and they showed me church records. According to blood quantum I am around 5 percent. My grandparent is around 20 percent. I know that blood quantum is deeply problematic and colonial, but it confuses me as people think Qalipus are 100 percent white and all the records were fabricated. Don’t get me wrong, I know that Qalipus are majority mixed, but I think that cultural blend should be recognized (but not as exclusively Mi’kmaq)
I have never called myself indigenous as I am not claimed by any mi’kmaq group and have benefited greatly in life by looking and being white. I know I haven’t lived an indigenous life and am not apart of a community. However, I don’t know if saying I have distant indigenous ancestory is okay? My grandparents have told me stories of their family hiding they were partly indigenous, and I don’t want to forget my ancestors existed however I never want to promote a problematic and possibly fraudulent nation.

The division on Qalipu is quite massive. Some people strongly believe that the newfoundlander mi’kmaq hid their identity when newfoundland joined Canada because the premier at the time said there was no mikmaq population (to prevent NL from being unable to join). Some people i’ve spoken to are very anti-Qalipu. Some people i’ve spoken to think some Qalipu individuals are real but still are complicit in a problematic nation. Some mikmaq people and bands seem supportive and say it’s recognition is overdue, like Mi’sel Joe of Conne River. I’ve seen the letter the Grand Council sent the UN and I think it is shameful the canadian government did any of this without contacting the Grand Council. I understand the caution and frustration felt by other Mi’kmaq bands towards the Qalipu. I also saw that the Grand Council and Qalipu have been making steps to improve their relationship and relations as of 2023-2024. A lot of the Qalipus problems seem to be caused by the Canadian government, as Qalipu was originally (6) bands that formed in the 70s but was merged into one landless group to put a bandage over a complicated history.

I am posting this not for people to validate me or my grandparent at all, definitely not what i’m searching for, but because I am genuinely curious about different people’s thoughts and perspectives on this whole nation and issue. The more I read about it the more I see differing sources and opinions, and I want to hear from indigenous people specifically. I’m sorry if this is taboo or obvious what the answer is! I am coming from a learning place. Thank you for reading!