Politics Week and the Nishnawbe Aski Nation

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While it’s only been a little over a week since I have written, I feel as if months have passed as so much has happened since I last wrote. Camp took off in full swing last Monday and I feel as if I have been going 100 miles an hour ever since. Despite a large number of registrations during our preparation week, only about half of those registered showed up on the first day. While this was slightly discouraging, we continue everyday to actively recruit new campers as we have discovered that attendance is at best, inconsistent. One of the first things I learned was that the kids here do not go to bed at a time that one considers ‘reasonable’ - for example, I have on numerous occasions had kids as young as ten telling me they were up until 4am, some of the older ones (and by that I mean 12 or 13) actually out of the house until that time doing who knows what! Thus, late nights mean late mornings and many kids don’t attend regularly for this reason as well as not having that push we sometimes need from parents to get up and get going in the morning. In saying this, we also have a few kids that have become our constants, which is a great feeling. We also learned this week that although our numbers felt discouraging, apparently we have had the highest number of campers attend camp in a week in the history of the program in Fort Hope! That was a nice boost.

On the programming front, things went well last week (and I suppose this week!). Our first week was themed “What’s Up in Fort Hope?” and we did a lot of the usual introductory stuff, including getting the kids to write about themselves, take pictures around the community, and of course, lots of reading! The way we have split camp has the younger kids (aged 4 - 9) attending in the morning, and then further divided by age, and the same deal for the 10 - 14 in the afternoon. I work with the 7 - 9 year olds in the morning and the 12 - 14 year olds in the afternoon. As much as I enjoy hanging out with a high energy group of eight year olds at 9:30 in the morning, I have found that the part of my day I enjoy the most is working with the older kids. A lot of them have some pretty ‘tough guy’ attitudes on the exterior, a by product of being forced to grow up faster then a child should ever have to, but inside they are still just kids. And I love being a part of the process that instils an enthusiasm within them for reading, writing, and any kind of activity that is a little bit different then their norm. Despite having a nicely laid out plan for the week, it pretty much went up in the air after Monday when I realized the dynamic of the group and the wide variety of ages, skills, and social mixing that goes on. Activities that proved popular with them were creating their own survey questions and having them poll various members of the community and turn it into a graph; beginning “Literacy Bingo” where each kid has a bingo board with a variety of reading and writing tasks on it that you get to tick off each time you do something; and everyone getting to take five pictures of something that is important to them in Fort Hope and then turning it into a giant collage. All in all, it was pretty neat to see them get so into a lot of the activities and it was a great chance for me to start to get to know them, especially when I walked around with a bunch of them until well after camp one night taking pictures!

This week had a bit of a different feel to it as two of the girls I had grown attached to, didn’t come back for the first half of the week, which was disappointing, and something I tired actively to change. When they finally did show up on Wednesday, two new girls were also there, whom they didn’t get along with. After a lengthy conversation with the two girls, trying to encourage them to stay in camp despite their differences (which seem to stem from the gang like divisions that kids as young as 12 seem to feel and which leads to a lot of physical violence), it seems that it might be a toss up - one set of friends comes to camp. I am continually trying to work at this, and was pleased to see one of the girls come anyways today, as it would be unfortunate to see people missing out on this experience because of intimidation. Alas, a number of the younger girls in the class (who I have also grown attached to) continued to show up faithfully each day and are eager to participate in activities, which is a wonderful feeling. I am beginning to understand what a place like our camp provides for kids -- a place to go where it feels safe, where they can be kids, and where they have the support and encouragement of an adult figure. I like that camp can provide that place for them, and as much as possible I stay after camp with them, doing various activities and encourage them to come to our after-camp programming, which officially started this week. We are trying out pick up broomball for girls every Tuesday, music/song writing or creative writing on Wednesday’s, and pick up hockey for guys on Thursday (albeit with a few hitches as guys can be way more trouble then girls!). Broomball didn’t get as big of a turnout as we had hoped, so after some four on four (and me learning the joys of smacking that broomball with all my might!) we took the girls back to the portable and I taught them how to make hemp jewellery, which was a great success and we ended up staying there until 10:30pm!

Last week we also had an interruption in our schedule due to the inauguration of Fort Hope’s new chief. As an important community event, we cancelled our afternoon activities and brought the kids to the celebration. Turned out to be a very interesting experience… while there was a lot of seriousness in the inauguration by the adults present, there were also just as many kids there, none of whom had any sense of the importance of the event nor showed any respect for what was occurring. Kids were running haywire all over the places, making so much noise it was hard to tell what to focus on. Despite this, there were some very wonderful speeches made by some of the new council members and the new chief. It also gave us an idea for the theme of this past week for the older kids… Politics Week!

While under no illusions that it would be easy to keep the attention of 10 - 14 year olds on this topic, we did our best. On Tuesday, we had them do a “political match up” activity - We had photos of all the members of the Eabametoong Band Council and their names, as well as a number of political figures federally. We then got them to match up the names and faces and put them on the right side of the page - Federal or Band Council. While sceptical about how this would hold their attention, they got right into it, especially with the band council side as they knew who all the people were. Federal was a little more difficult, but with some assisting (“He is only one with a French name…” “She is the only female!” “He has a REALLY creepy picture!”) they got it put together and with little prompting, brainstormed some awesome ideas about what the Band Council is responsible for in Eabametoong. The next day, we got them to write suggestion letters to their council members about what they would like to see included in their community to make it better for youth. While it was like pulling teeth for some of them (“I’m writing this because someone is making me.” “All I want is a sleeping cabin to sleep in”, amongst other responses) there were some quite nicely written letters! Today we finished the week off by inviting a member of the Band Council to come in and speak to the kids, which went quite well! The council member is definitely one of the community’s biggest personalities and is always a hit with the kids, so that made for an interesting afternoon.

All in all, the whole process has been a big learning one for me as well as I didn’t know much about the way that politics were run in First Nations communities. The term “Band Council” is used to describe those who have been voted into decision making power within the community, the equivalent to a municipal government if you will. The Band Council is made up of five councillors, each responsible for a different portfolio such as education, housing, social services, health, infrastructure, etc. and the chief, who is the head decision maker. While it is principally a “municipal government”, reserves are also not subject to provincial legislation, working instead with the Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs, or INAC, and in Eabametoong, within the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. The Nishnawbe Aski Nation is a regional organization that represents the political, social, and economic interests of 49 First Nations communities in Northern Ontario as identified by James Bay Treaty 9 and the Ontario portions of Treaty 5. Each community operates under its own Band Council, with the chief as a member of the NAN Board of Directors. While the Band Council has no direct contact with provincial government per say, the NAN Executive Council operates on a nation-to-nation level with the governments of Ontario and Canada. Thus, the members of the Band Council are an incredibly important link between the relatively isolated society of Eabametoong and the wider realm of Canadian federal politics. There are many more issues that lay beneath the surface of this structure, issues which I can’t fathom writing about as I know next to nothing about them, however I found politics week to be an intriguing look into how politics operate within the societal structure of a reserve, as well as getting a first hand look at how youth interpret politics and their role within it.

I have also had the opportunity of partaking in a community drumming workshop. Not really knowing what this was all about - learning to drum? - we showed up on Saturday afternoon to discover that we were learning to make our very own hand drums! Promptly after arriving, we were given a cedar ring, a large piece of dried and flattened moose hide, and told to make 20 circles along the outside of the hide, by orienting ourselves with the four directions. We then proceeded to cut out these dots (or rather I enlisted the help of a hearty man with a nail and a hammer!) and soak our moose hide in preparation for the next day. By noon on Sunday, I had a hand drum! Upon arriving, we were told to grab a long, thin piece of moose hide as well as the bigger piece we had cut the day before. We then proceeded to weave the thinner piece through the holes of the hide, pulling it taunt around our cedar ring. While mine had quite a few flaws, an important lesson I learned was that every drum is different and that no two drums will be alike.

I also learned the significance behind the drum within Ojibway culture, a process which was very moving for me. The day started off with the workshop leader playing us all a song in Ojibway using her drum. Then she proceeded to explain to us how each drum is unique and how it is to call into being the power and spirit of your grandparents, as the role of elders within Ojibway culture is incredibly important due to their wisdom and their ability to link the present and future generations with all that was known and experienced from the past. For me, as a female, the drum is to call the spirit of my grandmother. I felt overcome with emotion at the mention of this as I realized the strength that can be drawn from those who have left us, those who had so much wisdom and love to give, and it made me sad that I do not think of her more and invoke those powerful feelings. So throughout the day, as I sat yanking my hide and pulling sinew tight around its edges, I thought of my Nana, and it brought a great sense of comfort to me.

The emotions only continued from there, as the day ended with a workshop wide sharing circle. In total, there were just over 20 people from the community at the workshop (including Adam, Jenette, and myself). The leader began passing around an eagle feather and asked each of us to identify ourselves and why we were there. While many people are very shy and reserved, especially when it comes to sharing feelings and experiences, there were an equal number who bared their soul within this circle, allowing us all a glimpse into the pain and suffering they carry in their hearts due to everything from drug abuse, single parenting, addiction, and the process of beginning to understand the power of being parent. I was incredibly moved by this experience, not only because of the openness that people shared the most intimate parts of themselves, but also in the way that those listening took in these revelations. At the end of the sharing process, everyone went around the circle and hugged each person there. Never before have I felt such a sense of sadness and hope at the same time.

The day ended with us learning to sing (or quietly hum along!) to a few Ojibway songs and learning how to take care of our drum. The drum, due to its connection with the ancestors, is also treated like a living being in the way that it is to be taken care of. There is a huge pow wow going on this weekend and we are supposed to birth and feast our drums at this celebration in order to properly introduce them to the community. The feasting part requires that you literally cover the top of your drum in whatever food is being served at the community feast, an act which may seem messy, but by the morning, the drum will have absorbed this, leaving no trace but for the knowledge of its hunger to be played…

Alas, this blog has gone on long enough. Suffice to say I continue to learn and experience a great many things here in Eabametoong, and my heart is beginning to feel a little lighter each day, despite the sadness that is also revealed to me by the nature of the work that I am engaged in here.

All my love,
Courtney

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Photos

The Friendship Wall
Our "rules wall" created using the seven teachings

The stage at the inauguration
In front is a drumming circle and on stage is the newly appointed Band Council

The three southern counsellors
at the drumming workshop