The unveiling of a new Canada Post stamp honouring Sgt. Tommy Prince, a Manitoba war hero - a testament to his resilience and strength. October 15, 2022
In Memoriam - Elder Raymond Mason
Elder Raymond Mason
Elder Mason, from Peguis First Nation, was one of the first people to campaign for compensation for former residential school survivors back in the 1980s.
"He spent decades of unpaid time fighting for his fellow survivors to find justice and find recognition from governments and churches," said Kyle Mason, Raymond's son.
“Genuine healing and reconciliation starts with recognition of the appalling acts committed in the name of this nation.”
The Society a Signatory to the Winnipeg Indigenous Accord
by Alexandra Paul, Board Member/Co-Chair Indigenous Relations Committee
The St. Andrews Society is a signatory to the Winnipeg Indigenous Accord under the heritage and culture category and files updates on its activities each year. The city’s template for such reports are broken out into three sections:
Unique Indicators of Progress
The St. Andrews Society of Winnipeg is committed to expand the knowledge and understanding of the historical and the current relationship between those of Scottish heritage and descent and the First Nations and the Metis communities. We feel this effort helps to fulfill the obligations of the Winnipeg Indigenous Accord.
To that end our activities in 2020-2021 emphasized direct support to First Nations and work to deepen understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities within our society.
Narrative Summary of Progress
The St. Andrews Society of Winnipeg is committed to recognizing Treaty One and the Metis homeland in all its functions.
We are fortunate to have as a society patron the former chief of Brokenhead First Nation, Ojibwe elder and direct Peguis descendant Jim Bear who advises us as a valued member of our Indigenous Relations Committee. The committee is co-chaired by the society’s second Vice President Luke Settee. Mr. Settee is a status Indian who is well informed and actively participates in his dual heritage as a Cree man and a Scot of the Sinclair Clan. Our other co-chair is Alexandra Paul, a status Indian by marriage and a retired journalist with decades of experience reporting on Indigenous issues.
This year the committee reworked the society’s land acknowledgement to reflect our commitment to support First Nations and Metis communities.
It reads: We acknowledge that we live, work and gather on the traditional land of the First Nations, Treaty One territory and the homeland of the Metis. The St. Andrews Society of Winnipeg recognizes the injustices of the past and we will support and work alongside the First Nations and Metis in the spirit of reconciliation.
The society also contributed directly to this pledge by donating $1,500., half the funding needed for the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak North of 55 Christmas toy drive this year.
Goal Setting
This year, the society will begin work to encourage Scots in Manitoba to share their family lore and histories, including stories of mixed heritage and accounts of ties to First Nations and Metis communities, dating back to the fur trade. We hope this work will bring to life in our homes and families the spirit of reconciliation and respect which informs both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action and the Missing and Murdered Women and Girls Inquiry and its Calls for Justice.
Books worth reading
Reading lists by their nature offer a mere sampling of literature on any given topic. This one is no different. It is however compiled with a focus on post-colonial perspectives, mostly Canadian but also American.
Authors are predominantly First Nations, Metis or Indigenous and the topics range from history to politics, from memoir to culture. We keyed in on books written by Indigenous people about Indigenous people, on purpose. They reflect current reality and offer perspective and depth.
A few are rare books, likely out of print but possibly available in academic or public libraries. The rest are popular best sellers and available on shelves or by request at Winnipeg’s McNally Robinson Books The titles are from a personal library collected over 40 years that introduce history, and explore concepts of reconciliation in Canada, with Indigenous peoples.
Local History and Cultural Perspectives
St. Peter’s Indian Reserve: Articles and Reports (1869-1919), compiled by Craig Charbonneau Fontaine, Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Council 2016
Untuned Pi Kin He Who We Are Treaty Elders’ Teachings Vol. 1 Ka’esi Wahkotumahk Aski Our Relations with the Land Treaty Elders’ Teachings Vol. 2, Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba, 2014
Nahoway, A Distant Voice, Donna G. Sutherland, 2008
Peguis, A Noble Friend, Donna G. Sutherland 2003
Anthropology
First Peoples in Canada, Alan D. McMillan Eldon Yellowhorn, Douglas and McIntyre, 2004
Memoir One Native Life, Richard Wagamese, Douglas and McIntyre, 2008
A Geography of Blood Unearthing Memory from a Prairie Landscape, Candace Savage (This is not an Indigenous book but it is an excellent example of what a non-Indigenous author can do when they master the art of looking at the world through an Indigenous (like) lens. Greystone Books, 2012)
From the Barren Lands, fur trade, First Nations and a Life in Northern Canada, Leonard G. Flett, Great Plains, 2015
National and Regional History and Political Perspectives
Top of this list in the immediate post-colonial era is The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into Residential Schools, 2014.
Unsettling Canada, A National Wake-Up Call, Arthur Manuel Naomi Klein, foreword Between the Lines, Toronto 2015 Our Story, Aboriginal Voices on Canada’s Past Tantoo Cardinal, Thomson Highway, and five other named authors Adrienne Clarkson, foreword Anchor Canada, 2005
Islands of Decolonial Love, Stories and Songs, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, ARP Books, 2015
Ohpikiihaakan-Ohpihmen, Raised Somewhere Else: A 60s Scoop Adoptee’s Story of Coming Home, Colleen Cardinal, Roseway Publishing, 2018
The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, Thomas King, Doubleday Canada, 2012
The Imaginary: Indian The Image of the Indian in Canadian Culture, Daniel Francis Arsenal, Pulp Press, 2011
Indigenous Nationhood: Empowering Grassroots Citizens, Pamela Palmater, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair foreword
The Comeback, Aboriginal Peoples have been making a comeback, a remarkable comeback from a terrifyingly low point of population, of legal respect, of civilizational stability. A comeback to a position of power, influence and civilizational stability, John Ralston Saul Viking 2014
People of the Pines: The Warriors And the Legacy of Oka, Geoffrey York and Loreen Pindera, Best Gagne Books, 1991
Cowboys and Indians:The Shooting of J.J. Harper, Gordon Sinclair Jr., McClelland & Stewart 1999
Seven Fallen Feathers, Racism, Death and Hard Truths in a Northern City, Tanya Talaga Anansi, 2017
Clearing the Plains, Disease, Politics and the Loss of Indigenous Life James Daschuk, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, opening. University of Regina Press, 2019
The Northwest is Our Mother, The Story of Louis Riel’s People, The Metis Nation, Jean Teillet Harper, Collins 2019
The Queen at the Council Fire, The Treaty of Niagara, Reconciliation and the Dignified Crown in Canada, Nathan Tidridge, Dundurn Toronto, 2015
Aboriginal Resource Use in Canada, Historical and Legal Aspects, Kerry Abel and Jean Friesen University of Manitoba, 1991
Indigenous Writes, A Guide to First Nations, Metis and Inuit Issues in Canada (A must-read for engaging with the idea of reconciliation.) Chelsea Vowel, Highwater Press, 2016
Regional and Local History and Culture
Manitowapow, Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, Warren Cariou, editors Beatrice Mosionier, foreword Highwater Press, 2011
Many Tender Ties, Sylvia Van Kirk Women in the Fur Trade Society, 1670-1870, J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing, 1980
Women of the Red River, A Tribute to the Women of an Earlier Day. (A book written from the recollections of women surviving from the fur trade era) W. J. Healy Russell Lang, 1923
James Settee and his Cree Tradition, An Indian Camp at the Mouth of the Nelson River, Hudsons Bay, Jennifer S.H. Brown, Tulane University Papers of the Algonquian Conference, 1977
North American History
1491, New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus, Charles C. Mann, Random House, 2005
Indian Givers, How the Indians of the America Transformed the World, Jack Weatherford, Ballantyne Books, 1988
Native Roots, How the Indians Enriched America, Jack Weatherford, Ballantyne Books, 1991
A visit to Margaret Nahoway Sinclair grave at St. John’s Cemetery, Winnipeg on the occasion of the Sinclair Clan Gathering June 2019
More to come…
Stories
More to come
Stories