Democracy, Progress and History

On 6 June 2009, I was elected as a Councillor for my tribe, the Huu-ay-aht First Nations (Wikipedia Link).

I would now like to relate my thanks to the Huu-ay-aht people and those who decided to put a mark next to my name. Thanks to everyone for their words and input, and I vow to represent the interests of all Huu-ay-aht no matter their location, age, status or gender.

As things develop, I will endeavour to keep you informed on the progress that we have made to become one of the most progressive First Nations in Canada.

Chuu.

Kleko, kleko!

Pushback: Residential School Common Experience Payments

On February 1, The Calgary Herald published an article titled "Residential school payments gambled away." It was written by Richard Wagamese and paints a stark picture about how the common experience settlements were used by native people. Wagamese wrote anecdotal statements about how our First Nations elders do not know how to use their money wisely and that many wasted it on gambling, alcohol, drugs and "vehicles parked in the yard that [settlement recipients] cannot afford to gas and drive."

Wagamese goes on to state that "a report last week indicated a significant rise in alcohol abuse, drug addiction, domestic violence, suicide and death as a result of residential school settlement money," though he fails to cite the name or source of the report in question. Such an article serves to reinforce racist stereotypes of native people, and though Wagamese might have intended for his article to be a wake-up call for the aboriginal community, The Calgary Herald was not a proper avenue to do so.

If Mr. Wagamese takes the time to refer back to his own article from The Ottawa Citizen on May 7 of last year entitled "The value of residential schools," he will no doubt agree with the notion that there are wildly different experiences in almost any situation and that some may be positive. Apparently, Wagamese fails to understand that his examples of settlement money misuse may be an exception and not the rule.

In the Huu-ay-aht experience, many of our elders attended residential school when they were young. Their experiences were varied, many were abused or neglected, but the simple fact remains: their freedom and the freedom of their parents to raise their own children was taken away by the Crown and Churches. This is the basis for the common experience payments, the subsequent abuse and neglect were tragic additions to an already sorrowful story.

As a result of their shared experiences in residential school, many Huu-ay-aht elders were given a Common Experience Payment from the federal government. What follows are more examples of how these moneys were used by our people and will serve to further inform the public.

Marje White was featured in the October issue of Uyaqhmis as our featured elder. She is a well-respected and active member of not only the Huu-ay-aht First Nations, but the entire provincial and aboriginal community. She used her common experience payments to pay off her vehicle and other debts, renovate her home, pay for her share of an upcoming family potlatch, go for a small holiday and invest the remainder.

Fellow Vancouver resident, Bill Ginger, used his settlement to secure a business loan from the Nuu-chah-nulth Economic Development Corporation to get his fishing charter off the ground. He will be out on our traditional waters this coming fishing season.

Ernest and Shirley Jack, a fisherman and homemaker married for over forty years, used their common experience moneys to pay down some of their debts and pay bills. Their eldest daughter, Myrna Macleod, did the same.

Huu-ay-aht member Robert Dennis Senior used his money to pay down debts and help out his children and grandchildren. As did Ben Clappis and his wife Clara, who both used their money to purchase a much-needed truck and help out family.

These are mere examples, a small sample of how the settlement money was used by our people -- a people more similar to their family, friends and neighbours in the rest of Canada than Mr. Wagamese cared to express in his article. In the end, how a person handles his or her finances is a personal matter. To say anything less is an insult to those native elders who used their money wisely.

Chuuch.

This article was originally published in the March 2009 Issue of Huu-ay-aht Uyaqhmis, a newsletter I help write and publish. Please visit the Huu-ay-aht First Nations website for more information. Kleko, kleko. (Thank you, thank you.)

What's the point?

You have been charged with High Facebookery, how do you plead?

Not long ago, I took part in something of a social experiment that took Facebook by storm. I dubbed the exercise "Twenty-Twenty" but I'm sure there are myriad names for it. The point of the exercise is to do two things: (1) write a series of twenty "random" things about yourself in no more than a few sentences, and (2) tag twenty of your friends so they'll see that you've created the post and ask them to write a similar piece and tag you in return.

The idea is clever. It gets people thinking about various and varied aspects of themselves and begs them to post it for all to see. In addition to that you are guaranteed a limited audience for your self-expression, which is at once healthy and the engine that drives the entire experiment. The hypothesis behind it all is two-fold, "People love to talk about themselves. They like it even more when there is an audience to project and reflect themselves off of..."

I am not immune to this. I must admit something of an addiction to filling out questionnaires, personality tests and posting my own written pieces of self-expression. The mere existence of this blog is evidence of this, and I'm never really certain that many people read it.

I ask myself, "What's the point?"

Assymmetric Conversion is an ego blog. It's not claiming to report on events that you can't find out about somewhere else, and it doesn't claim some special knowledge or hints and tips for living. It's a personal site where I post my own thoughts for no other reason than I have them and have the time to write them down for the Internet to envelop and consume like so many sand castles before the tide. However, this does not explain why I continue to publish my thoughts and opinions. So, why?

It's not for personal reasons. It doesn't stand as my only record for my thoughts and experiences. I have a journal for that sort of thing, though I must admit that I don't update it all that often. As well, my personal diary contains much more than I'd like to let known. It's more a record of thought and emotion than a record of events and activities. I have an odd relationship with my emotions, and I have an innate mistrust of letting anyone know what I'm feeling and thinking.

"Anyone" usually won't get the nuances because I'm not yet skilled enough to express myself that way.

My blog isn't anonymous. I don't use it to express unpopular opinions. I'd like to think that I can stand in the Sun and let my thoughts known in one way or another. Communication is communication. It doesn't always have to be words.

The only alternative is exhibitionism. An altogether common cry of "Look at me! Look at me! I'm so very interesting!"

I'm not all that fond of my own physical existence. From the first time I was told that I was smart, I have been a being of thought and ideas. I judge myself on the quality of my thoughts, the results of my theories and my ability to gather, retain and synthesize information is all its forms. I wish to be intelligent, knowledgeable and wise; not strong, fast or possessed of great endurance.

I find that there are several reasons why people write ego blogs. One is validation. Another is self-discovery. The other is entertainment. I find that I blog here for all of these reasons in one way or another...

Calling Marcus Aurelius, Emperor Aurelius, are you out there?

I have a cynical side, some say it's an entire hemisphere, and it's been telling me that people only write to validate themselves in order to exorcise the aspects that they dislike about themselves. In writing here and in other places, am I white-washing my past as some temporary fix for my general malaise? No doubt people do this all the time and in different ways. How many times have you heard a group of people sitting around talking about their past relationships and it never seems as though they're willing to admit that they had a part to play in the downfall? If you were to go by how people present themselves, we have a lot of victims of fate, betrayal and greed. It's very rare to hear or see someone own up to their shortcomings in a private forum, let alone a public one. Do I seek validation? You bet I do. Do my logical sides think I should? Not really, no.

I blog because I seek feedback. I contemplate my life. I am introspective. I find that this only gets me so far. I cannot, in good conscience, take up a person's time face-to-face whining about my existential angst, nor could I afford the service professionally. Still, I blog becaus I wish to know more, not only about the world, but also myself.

If you're not powerful, entertaining or attractive, do people really want to know who you are? Even then...

The third option isn't likely a reason that I blog. I find that I'm not all that concerned with how entertaining I am as a writer. I'm not writing for The Office or The Daily Show. I'm writing for a blog that maybe a handful of unique visitors read in a year. My life just isn't that interesting.

My day-to-day life isn't all that interesting. I'm not a spy. I'm not knee deep in amazing adventures, political or sexual. I'm not a traveler, nor a journalist. I get up, I go to work, I come home and do chores. Sometimes, I watch a movie or consume other intellectual property. I react and respond, but not in any unique way.

My blog isn't a soapbox. You can load up more expert and eloquent men and women left, right and center. I offer no insights that haven't already been written or spoken by better people than me. I stand on the shoulders of giants, and I still have to stand on tip toes to see where I'm going because it's getting crowded up here.

Everyone has them, everyone loves them and hates them at the same time.

I've thought entirely too much about this subject. What do I have to offer that I'm fairly certain that people will be interested in?

The only answer I have are those little black diamonds that result from mistakes made and consequences unforeseen: secrets.

My secrets. Your secrets. Others' secrets.

The realm of secrecy is dangerous territory. You need only to remember your own secrets and what would happen if they were to find their merry way into the hands of the very people you keep them away from... we all have secrets, no doubt, but I think we hoard them too. What do you know about your best friend? Your spouse?

There's an economy of secrets out there. Holding them is like possessing something of value. Once cashed in, they lose much of their worth. They're markers, vouchers of trust. I wouldn't reveal others' secrets, for the repercussions of that are far too high. I like the people whose secrets I keep. I would never violate their ever-tenuous trust in me unless safety was at stake, and even then...

I find that my life is one lived with no more secrets than I expect you to have, but when I think of why I would continue to write this blog, I find that the only things of true value that I could offer are my secrets.

Am I going to do that?

I'm not sure yet.

Where would I start? What's interesting?

I'll be doing some research. Then, I'll get back to you.

Be seeing you,

- J.

A Year and a Bit

As a writer and a speaker, I am keen on the use of analogies to aid in comprehension. Of course, the use of analogies does not confer much in the way of a complete understanding of a topic or issue, but it does suit my needs in most of my discussions. I find that they are a short-handed way of explaining something overly technical or overly complex. Analogies help, but perhaps I overuse them.

That being said, I will likely be using plenty of them in this upcoming article whereupon I ask whether and to what degree self-change affects one's relationships with others.

It's still the New Year, time to track my changes and my perceptions of others' perceptions.

Watch this site.

Musings on Political Development and Political Culture

My tribe, called the Huu-ay-aht, is currently involved in a treaty with the Crown governments of Canada, the federal government and the province of British Columbia. We're in together with four other tribes and we call our group the Maa-nulth Treaty Society. As a people, we all speak roughly the same language and we are all members of a greater organization called the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. Currently, the Maa-nulth Treaty Society has successfully negotiated and ratified the treaty and we're currently in a state of limbo between negotiation and implementation.

In any event, we have to prepare ourselves for self-government. We have done this in committees and I am a member of two of these committees: communications and governance. My current position with the Huu-ay-aht First Nations is in the Communications Department -- I am the Communications Coordinator. I maintain our Huu-ay-aht Website, the Huu-ay-aht Facebook Group, manage e-mails and other media relations. My most enjoyable tasks is putting together the monthly community newsletter, I both write articles and do most of the layout work on Adobe InDesign -- a fine program.

Today, I am more concerned with my involvement with the Huu-ay-aht Governance Committee. It is our task to read through the Maa-nulth Final Agreement, its Side Agreements, and the Huu-ay-aht Constitution and identify the laws, policies and other tasks that need to be done before we take over our collective destinies. Our mandate goes beyond the creation of laws, however, and this is where my mind has been going for the past while. 

When I think of governance, not only do I think of the laws and policies that are developed, but also the operating procedures of administrations and bureaucracies, infrastructure like communications and meeting space, human resource development, education and socialization. I think about the political development of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations. 

I wonder how we may identify those institutions that influence the overall political culture of our community. It's more than just the government. In thinking this way, I am reminded of the agents of socialization that I learned whilst earning my BA:

• Family
• Peer Group
• School
• Mass Media
• Work
• The State
• Religion

The State is listed, but it goes further than that. Areas of influence overlap for each of the agents. I work for my government but I utilize contacts in the mass media to get our message out to our members and the general public. My government can have a distinct impact on how our children are educated and how our parents are employed. Influence is pervasive and reciprocal. It moves in all directions and it is difficult to predict how one change at the state level can influence the economy or our schools. Is it a science, or an art?

Thoughts to ponder, but I remain focused enough to keep thinking about it

Stay tuned to this blog, I'll post notions as they take form and etch themselves into my mind.

43 Things

I've come across a website by the name of 43things. It's a listing of thing that you want to do, currently or overall. I've decided that making it public would help me actually achieve those very things listed. So far, there's only five of them.

My 43Things Page

Pretty cool, I think.

UVic Journal Summary

The following is the entirety of my reflections during a course on First Nations Governance, Administration and Management that I participated in at the University of Victoria from March 17 to March 21.

- - -

For me, the greatest theme of this most recent session was a reflection on change. Each First Nations community is changing in a different way. Just as it has been said by a wise and far-seeing man, the only constant is change. Building on my journal summary from the last session, it is my firm belief that we are not points in space, but rather vectors -- not islands on a map, but ships on headings. The chief responsibility of any leader has been the management of resources in a long and constant period of transition. My favourite author, William Gibson, wrote in the novel Pattern Recognition a stark but altogether accurate explanation of the world I believe we now live in:

"[W]e have no idea, now, of who or what the inhabitants of our future might be. In that sense, we have no future. Not in the sense that our grandparents had a future, or thought they did. Fully imagined cultural futures were the luxury of another day, one in which 'now' was of some greater duration. For us, of course, things can change so abruptly, so violently, so profoundly, that futures like our grandparents' have insufficient 'now' to stand on. We have no future our because our present is too volatile. ... We have only risk management. The spinning of the given moment's scenarios. Pattern recognition."

I sometimes worry if the vision and goals that I am working toward will result in my community living in this world without a future. How do we reconcile the "long now" of the past with this nigh-constant era flux that seems to be upon us for the foreseeable future? This is why I was quite impressed with our discussion on the first day regarding authentic long term planning -- beyond the fiscal year, beyond the term of office, beyond the infamous five year plan. It evoked images of planning for decades in the future, generations in the future. It evoked images of our ancestors finally nodding their heads in agreement.

I know that we can construct institutions that can last for generations, the trick is learning more from the reed in the wind. What I became concerned about was not the endurance of our processes, but rather the health and capacity of our people. It was by the end of the second day that I had settled on a topic for my individual assignment. I wanted to propose a program that would improve First Nations governance by augmenting its safeguards: the hearts and minds of the people. Upon reflection, it my belief that we have an opportunity embedded in the consequences of our systemic oppression: we can help to create a community that is vital in ways that the current dominant one is not, or has seem to forgotten that it once was... I want to live in a community where every citizen not only has the opportunity to be involved in the decisions that affect us all, but have a real chance at having something to contribute. My proposal would be for the teaching of "First Nations Civics" as a part of social studies.

After looking back at Vine Deloria's writings on education and self-determination, I realize that this is no small task. The term "First Nations Civics" paints an image of bored children sitting in a classroom with an underpaid teacher reading aloud eloquent words in that characteristic droning that the disillusioned tend to utter after decades of disappointment. I merely want to propose that each community would do well to inform its members of not only collective and individual rights, but also individual and collective responsibilities. This can be done without ever a classroom being filled, but the trick becomes choosing the message and selecting the proper mediums. As Deloria wrote, knowledge is not lists and categories but a holistic understanding of relationships and interconnectedness. We all need to know how all relationships, at least in the socially-constructed world of human societies, are reciprocal. Education influences and is influenced by governance, and vice-versa. Linear lines of causality are relics of the past; we need to learn to live in a two-lane world.

I must admit that I have difficulty practicing what I preach. My methods of learning seem very Western in outlook. I learn by lists and categories and breaking things down into its constituent parts. I understand by putting it all back together in my head and trying to repeat the process in the real world. I have discovered much to the amusement of my grandfather, that this is easier said than done. I believe I am partway there -- I do not see myself as someone who will ever specialize too much when it comes to education. My undergraduate degree is in Global Studies, a self-described "interdisciplinary" approach" to the current fundamental shift in global politics, economics and society called globalization.

In any event, I still endeavour to integrate my big ideas and love of theory with the realities of the world. It is all well and good to wax poetic about the virtues of civic understanding, but how do we actually do it? I have trouble with detail. I have learned from those in class, both instructors and fellow students, that details are just as important as visions and ideas. I have often felt isolated, thinking my thoughts and never feeling like I was alllowed to articulate them due to my position in my tribal government. A particular student, a member of my group, Dave, taught me otherwise. I know now that I was merely afraid of my beloved ideas being criticized. I realize now that in order to actually help the condition of my community, I need to speak up and I need to let my ideas be viewed and evaluated. My ego is not as important as the discourse my potentially flawed ideas may instigate.

Trust, as ever, is center stage. It's about time someone took that first leap, it might as well be me.