The only Aboriginal group with troops on the ground

Squamish-Lil-Wat Cultural Centre is prepared for the crush of the world at one of the greatest of sporting spectacles, the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. "It was a busy year," says Josh Anderson, Frontline Operations Coordinator for the First Nation cultural facility in the middle of Whistler that opened in June 2008. "The centre is in the best location possible to sustain high-level interest beyond the 2010 Olympics. It has proven to be something people want, all kinds want the First Nation experience. It's more than a product," Anderson says, "It's a presentation of Squamish and Lil'Wat histories and Coast Salish meeting Interior Salish ways of life."
     

The Whistler area has history between two nations and the centre makes this apparent in the modern context. "We have about 20 ambassadors and seven support staff working 9:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. seven days a week. During the day the centre is open to the public for tours and exhibit viewings; in the evening the centre hosts evening galas and private functions for a maximum of 700 people at a reception and 130 to a sit-down dinner." The centre has a commercial kitchen, cafe, and gift shop.
     

Anderson says, "The gift shop contains an extensive selection of Coast Salish and Interior Salish artists and others from the Lower Mainland," and artists from the USA's Pacific North West. "Visitors are greeted by an ambassador and treated to a cultural performance followed by a 15 minute film that shows both Nations in their traditional territories and communities." The tour reveals modern and traditional art and history and a discourse about mysticisms inhabiting the valleys of Coast Mountain corridors and lakes. 
     

"The Great Hall contains canoes, and weaving displays, hunting and fishing and traditional gathering practices on display. The 'What We Treasure Gallery' contains archival and interactive displays to teach the languages." The original Chief Joe Capilano Blanket is on display, his original negotiating garment made of mountain goat wool, which Chief Joe Capilano wore to England in 1906 when he met with King Edward VII.
     

"Modern Art is displayed in a contemporary art gallery upstairs," says Anderson, "and the outdoor exhibits feature a Long House, and a historical representation of an Istken," a re-created dwelling for Interior Salish people. The site contains a Salish workshop where guests are invited to work at making crafts like bracelets, medicine bags, and 'paddle' necklaces. The centre provides a nature walk for 100 metres with signage that explains the flora and fauna of the territory.
     

"The two nations spoke different languages and the displays and events in the Great Hall and the surroundings showcase the differences. Squamish used wool in garments, whereas Lil'Wat used cedar." Canoes differed since Squamish made ocean-going vessels whereas Lil'Wat traveled the rivers and lakes. "Despite these obvious differences they were close through trade and shared the territory in Whistler in harmony. They have a common history about a shared village called Sto7ez village that was destroyed by a landslide."
     

There is a lot of talent and energy around Whistler and the centre gives Whistler a complementary First Nations presence. The cafe's menu has been indigenously inspired, says Anderson. "The foods are spiced with our own herbs and in-house smoked salmon and pemmican is available. Visitors want a Canadian Aboriginal experience, which gives them reason to further explore Canadian First Nation culture. We are taking it deep and we are noticing the summer crowds are very good for us." Performance groups come from both nations and event planners deliver a balanced program in all seasons. The employment strategy for the centre involves Capilano University and the Aboriginal Youth Ambassador training program.  
     

First Nation security company T'musta7 Aboriginal Protection Services (owned by Lyle Leo of Mt. Currie First Nation) will be providing security services to the Resort Municipality of Whistler and other businesses, including Crown Corporations, during 2010 Winter Games. Lyle is partnered with United Protection Services Inc. Aboriginal division United First Nations Corp. headed by VP Earl John. Leo’s focus is on the Sea-to-Sky area, “We are looking at 100 pairs of boots on the ground within the next two or three months,” he says.
     

T'musta7 is a 100% Aboriginal security services contractor operating jointly with United Protection Services of Edmonton, Alberta with business development mentoring of Earl John, VP  and BC Surrey office support and guidance of Ken Robertson, Business Development Manager and Lizette Peters, Human Resource Manager who also delivers licensed security training program which is governed in BC by the Justice Institute (BCJI). BCJI administers a wide variety of public safety programs throughout the province and has an education partnership with Wilp Wilxo’oskwhl Nisga’a Institute (WWNI) in New Aiyansh, Nisga’a Nation.
     

Leo develops business aspects from his office at the New Earth Business Solutions Centre in Mt. Currie. He developed clear operational objectives out of a $75,000 INAC grant to build a multi-year business plan for an Aboriginal security service. “We are closer than ever to operational status since clarifying and renewing business relations. We had to after VANOC rejected our bid for services directly related to the 2010 Olympics,” he explains.
     

Leo remains firm in his resolve. “We were the only Aboriginal group with troops on the ground,” he says, “and to be honest, it was quite disappointing to be rejected by VANOC.” T’Musta7 reassessed in order to create a sustainable long-term opportunity as a sub-contractor. They now have personnel trained and picking up assignments across Canada. “We are particularly interested in pursuing the market in First Nation, Métis, and Inuit operations,” he points out. “We are going to be a national service.”
     

Leo's company was going on two years of experience. He says, “We’re not entering the field to be competitors but to meet the demand for trained Aboriginal security officers.” He says that Aboriginal security services are in high demand at a minimum of 22 airports in Canada and bilingual services are required in many of these contract opportunities. “We are working toward training and licensing 2,000 Aboriginal security guards,” says Leo, “and while we are excited about Olympic-related opportunities—even after VANOC looked right past us—we will be happy to work in the Resort Municipality of Whistler and beyond.”
     

The T’Musta7 recruited security men and women to work at the music festival in Whistler and a 4X4 rally at Pemberton. Leo has actively recruited First Nation personnel and has since been joined by Chief Don Harris of Douglas First Nation, who is, Leo says, “making a lot of headway for Aboriginal community economic development since partnering run of river projects with Cloudworks Energy. They want to take part with organizing opportunities for First Nations with the 2010 Winter Games."
     

Chief Harris delivers business that issues from a Douglas First Nation energy program. Leo says, "Chief Harris is tuned in with the changes in the aboriginal community with his participation in the election of National Chief Shawn Atleo and the opening of the Osoyoos Business Centre.” (Chief Harris was speaking at the IPPBC Conference Nov. 3-4, 2009 in Vancouver.)
     

Leo applied for security services contracts with the BC Hydro Aboriginal Procurement process and in partnership with the Douglas First Nation has plans for licensed security courses to start between 12 to 20 recruits.” Chief Harris says about T’Musta7, “We are recruiting in the Lower Mainland where Douglas First Nation has a lot of members. I am working on the political agreements with INAC to get people trained for employment. Lyle has contracts and we have a 40-hour training program to start between 12 and 20 recruits."

     

First Nations were players in Whistler pre-Olympic developments, according to Ken Melamed, Mayor of the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW), who says they have big plans for the area. Early in the development of the 2010 Olympic program for Vancouver, the opportunity arose to bring First Nations closer to the community and deeper into the cultural organization of the 2010 Olympics. First Nations received 300 acres of land in Whistler, allowing a certain amount of flexibility in economic opportunity. Local First Nations are working with the municipality to conform to official community development plans. “We agreed to recognize each others plans for development,” said Melamed.
     

Proposals include a commercial, a residential, and a recreational development. Melamed says recreational development could include a golf course or similar attraction. The recreation development for the Callahan Valley is a big investment and opportunities within the RMOW are “being treated according to the Community Charter, which demands [First Nations] are treated as any other investor.” The mayor welcomes this opportunity to work with First Nations, whether they take on projects themselves or engage other developers in the process.

Melamed points out that the new Squamish Lil’Wat Cultural Centre in town, "is within the municipality on land that was earmarked for community uses. When First Nations approached us it seemed outside our thinking, but it was such a good idea and within our interests, therefore, we donated the land waived property taxes and a significant economic investment was made there for the benefit of the whole community.” Tax breaks gave start-up business a better chance at success. Melamed says, “They’re up, and they’re rolling, and there is no question that this is a major contribution because already the response from local business members and visiting tourists alike has been very positive.”

The mayor notes that 50 % of the construction of Whistler Olympic Village Park was done by First Nation contractors like Creekside Resources, and employees. He says, “Capacity-building and jobs went into the Squamish Nation, which was given new community resources, and that is a very cool thing.” He added, “We are very happy with that, and I must say the quality of work was exceptional.”

Churchill port open July to November on Hudson's Bay

Churchill Visitors Bureau

 

The Port of Churchill is situated on the western shore of Hudson's Bay, in Northern Manitoba. It is open four months of the year from July until November, says Bill Drew, Executive Director of the Churchill Gateway Development Corporation, who noted that the 2009 shipping season is shaping up to be a good one. Making the tonnage grow at the port has always been a challenge, however, the port is constantly working to attract interest from world shipping circles. The distances between continents are shorter at the top of the world but the opportunity to sail these shorter distances between Northern Europe and Russia and Canada is restricted by Arctic ice.

"Churchill Gateway Development Corporation (CGDC) was established in June 2003 for the purpose of marketing the Port of Churchill through diversifying the traffic base and building two-way traffic," says the website. Drew says, "OmniTrax Inc. headquartered in Denver, CO operates the port facilities and the railroad from Churchill to The Pas." Drew is pleased to note that 75 percent of the people who work for the Port of Churchill and Hudson's Bay Railway Company are local and Aboriginal.

There are a wide array of jobs available at the port as well as in the town of Churchill (www.portofchurchill.ca) and on the rail line that transfers cargo along a southeastern span 800 kilometres, from the centre of the western coast of Hudson's Bay to The Pas, Manitoba. From there cargo moves to points in Canada, USA, and Mexico. The port was developed in 1928 after a long mercantile and industrial age history that began in 1686 as a Hudson's Bay Company fort when a semi-permanent post was established a few kilometres from the mouth of the Churchill River.

By 1717 HBC men in York Factory and present day Churchill were actively trading furs sought from Rupert's Land and there was a whaling industry working to serve the British Empire with lamp oil and medicinal unguents. HBC eventually constructed a formidable fort called Prince of Wales Fort to defend their interests against French warships and this stands today as a national historic site in Churchill.  Today vessels come to Churchill from July to November via Hudson Strait passing Iceland and Greenland and Baffin Island to pick up grain as well as bring fertilizer from Russia. One recent operation in cargo saw fertilizer coming from Estonia.

On average, the port exports 500,000 tonnes of grain per year. People who live and work in this distant Arctic home come from the town or other communities in Nunavut and Manitoba's vast north. Drew says, "People really enjoy living here,'" which doesn't surprise Drew because most of the people are locals from Dene, Cree and Inuit heritage, "It's a bit of a melting pot of northern cultures." The mayor of the town Mike Spence is Aboriginal and Mike sits on the Board of Directors of the Port Of Churchill Gateway Corporation.

Drew says the Aboriginal component has been integral to the development of the Port of Churchill, "The port is unionized with members of the grain handlers union, PSAC, and ILWU locals. We have a Canadian Customs office and the employees rotate on a monthly basis when the port is operational."  The sailing season of today, says Drew, may change in years to come with the onset of later seasons and early break-ups of ice on the Hudson's Bay. That change is yet to come, and nor is it a desirable occurrence, he says. The town has another distinction, "the situation with polar bears," is pretty straight forward, "there's a lot of Them."

Lateral Violence in Indigenous Life in Canada

 

David Segerts is a man who lives for positive change in Canadian society. Sitting one day with Segerts in his tastefully decorated apartment I felt surrounded by an orderly nature given to his lifestyle and was treated to his impeccable manners. I was also given a taste of his lifetime of memories before he talked about the really important issues he works on.

Segerts was born in 1960,  at the time Uranium City, Saskatchewan, was a city of 5,000 souls, and he grew up to see the mining property turn into a ghost town. Uranium City was shutdown in 1982 but by that time he was ready to move on.

"I am a Dene/Cree but I generally say I am Dene because I look almost exactly like my Dene father." He shows a photograph that proves he is the spitting image of his dad. "I dropped out of school when I was in grade 8 and went back for adult upgrading by the age of 25 at Alberta Vocational Centre in Calgary. AVC was a good learning experience although the facility lacked a First Nation student organization so I helped put one together. We held dances, fundraisers, and hosted a room that the school donated, which became a gathering place for all nations and a useful foot in the door for First Nation students."

A short time later Segerts began to study something very important in First Nation life in Canada, the tactics of oppression known as lateral violence that are especially prevalent in systemic racism. It is this lateral violence that explains the extraordinary incarceration rates and recidivism in crime for the First Nation people of Canada. As high as 50 percent of the prisoners in Canada either male or female are First Nation or Aboriginal people. For these kinds of disparities to exist in a segment of society that is less than 5 percent of the total population, the problems have to run very deep indeed.

"Lateral violence goes on in every First Nation organization and starts with arguments like, 'My family is better than theirs,'" he says. "It is important within the system of racism to get us fighting amongst each other. We are actually born into it, however, because the system is designed that way. Public awareness is the only way to address it," says Segerts.

"The methods of lateral violence include, backstabbing, gossip, infighting, shaming, humiliating, damaging comments, belittling, and sometimes violent behaviour." Other terms for what is happening to First Nations in Canada include auto-genocide and horizontal violence, he said. These terms are applied mostly to the members of oppressed groups in society, and he explained, "I didn't really understand lateral violence until I was about 30 years of age. I rarely discussed it until I did the research first. Lateral violence is designed to prevent efforts to heal the effects of oppression."

Lateral violence teaches people to disrespect and deny the rights of an oppressed group, to destroy values and beliefs. Practitioners will engage in infighting, faulting finding, and scapegoating, raising the stakes of competition via jealousy and envy. The attacks are made upon those who already possess low self esteem and further attacks lower a person's self worth.

Ultimately the goal is to make the victim take blame for the continuous putdowns, "This is the nature of oppression," says Segerts. "It is a denial of their self and humanity. They think they have become objects unworthy of respect. They fail from the inability to recognize themselves as human beings. They become convinced that the oppressor owns them, and often the oppressor does own them through financial dependencies upon welfare and personal dependencies upon drugs or alcohol."

He says, “When my son was 11 years old I brought him to Calgary to live with me, and after a few short weeks he told me, ‘Dad, I didn’t realize that Indians didn’t drink. I didn’t realize the Indian men work.’” It was another stunning learning experience about lateral violence for Segerts the father who has never spent time stuck in welfare programs but knows on reserves and in some urban communities it can become a long-running generational trap.

“People who feel dependent suffer a lack of personal power. When they lose power they will see their cultural identity eliminated and be unable to stop it,” he says. Many times the First Nations in Canada have been known to hide their own beliefs or adopt the beliefs of an oppressing society. “They were dislocated from the land and suffered breakdown of family structure during the Residential School years. Indigenous people were removed from families at age four in some cases, only to be afflicted with physical, mental, sexual, and social abuses.”

His own mother had a safety pin jammed through her tongue by nuns at one such school, then was made to sit facing a corner in a classroom for speaking her Cree language. “There were many children killed by torture,” he asserts, “and other families were disrupted by one child being raised in a Catholic school and another being raised in a United Church run school. In fact the Residential School system was a highly specialized form of lateral violence.”

The lateral violence design for First Nations people results in a distrust of First Nation leaders by their own people. “It results in a distrust of those who might emerge to help," he says. "Rising stars are severely restricted or punished. Leaders who make any difference are fired and persecuted. Incompetent leaders are recruited and promoted by the oppressors. Dividing and conquering is the main process used by the oppressors.”

Segerts needs to write a book with a biographical story line if he hasn't already. He was trained as a technical engineer at BCIT and NAIT, then, while living in Vancouver, he entered the film industry, first as an actor, then as a producer and director. When we last spoke he was running a youth-at-risk employment initiative that operates across Canada for First Nations. Remember the name David Segerts because the book would be an important read. If you know David Segerts personally, put the suggestion to him again.