Image
File
FE a RTS SE Ame = SL
r
:
:
f
i
:
j
i
{
the Other Press
We
October 15, 1992
I set up an informal interview with
Betsy Senyk at the beginning of September.
met in Charles Parker’s (the
VicePresident Internal) office, where she
| greetedme warmly. The first thing that struck
mewhenI walked into the office was the sight
of a large Canadian flag draped along the back
f wall. Whatis so striking about it is the figure of
7 a First Nation’s person superimposed in front of
the the maple leaf. Betsy noticed my interest and
stated it was a
s had taught Betsy how to pluck eagle feathers,
and in return, it is tradition and a show of
respect to thank the person by giving them a
gift that is their most prized possession.
Betsywasstillratherheartbrokenforparting
with it. The eagles, which had died of an
accidental poisoning, were obtained from
rouse Mountain. Betsy further explained:
gift to Charles from her. Charles
BS: We decided that to just leave the eagles on
Grouse would be a waste, so we thought we
would take them and put them to good work.
We put our names on a waiting list, and four
eagles came down.
by Angela Chiotakos
Whatweare going todois tomakea traditional
staff for the native war veterans. Our native
war veterans are our elders; they foughtin the
twoworld warsand weretreated most unfairly.
They paid double the price for the country.
They had to sign away their status to being
with; they had to enlist as Scottish or French or
English, or some other ethnic group. They had
their lands taken away. They had their herds
takenaway. Allsorts of injustices wereimposed;
and then upon their return, they weren't able
to vote, they weren't able to purchase liquor,
they weren't able to sit in the pub to have a
drink with their buddies.
What we hope to do as an association
[First Nations Association of Douglas College]
is to show our respect to our elders, and start
there. We are hoping to present to the native
war veterans this traditional staff of eagle
feathers. We some of the feathers are painted
halfred, to signify the wounded, and the restof
the feathers we paintall red, tosymbolize those
who had died. That is one of our projects
though the first nations association here at
Douglas college.
Weare going to have a day of recognition
for the native veterans. In fact, for the first time
inhistory they willbe having their firstnational
day of recognition in Ottawa on October 20.
We hope to serve as role models for future
students who come to D.C.... and respecting
our elders is high on our priority list.
Wearealso planninganother First Nations
meeting this week [September 20] but we
would like, if at all possible, to move away
from being spectacles. Respectour spirituality.
Wedon’t want tobe on display, weare willing
to share our culture, open up lines of
communication, but we don’t wont to be on
display...especially our spirituality. Some
traditional dancing; a friend ship dance is
something we could share. Sacred spiritual
objects we don’t want on display.We feel
uncomfortable about that. A good anal
would be having the Roman Catholics display
their holy water, or their communion post or
whatever you call it.
The federal
goverment is
failing to honor
its treaties.
AC: How many First Nations students are
here at Douglas?
BS: What we are really proud of is that our
numbers are growing. Its just phenomenal the
number of First Nations studentsattending the
college.
AC: Do you have any numbers?
BS:Idon’thaveanaccuratecount. But! did talk
toAnneFenton, at Accounts Recievable upstairs
at the Accounting Office, she handles the
Native students sponsorship forms and was
saying that four years ago there was a total of
one or two. And this year there were just so
many that she did't know what to do. Its just
hectic for her now, which is a good sign. But at
the same token its like this catch 22 situation
with the federal government.
We have experienced cutbacks of 30 % to
100%. Here we are trying to educate our
people, but we're getting caught up in this and
its seriously raising a lot of issues. One of the
main issues it is raising is that if European
settlement is based on treaties and agreements,
to date the federal government has failed to
uphold their treaties and obligations. So how
are we supposed to trust them? And what is
the point of talking self government?
There are some factions that want
everything lock, stock and barrel. We do have
some factions that want to settle under the
constitution. We have certain factions who are
totally undecided. However, there is the unity
that we do not want to settle and loose
do here by petition the federal government to
honor its treaty obligations to the First Nations
pe ofCanadaand cease withholding funds
‘om post secondary students.”
AC: How many people have signed this?
BS: Over one hundred. And we will be setting
this off to the federal government along witha
every strong letter outlining our feelings in
regards to their treaty obligations concerning
theissue that they , the federal government, are
failing to honoring their treaties.
AC: So how did they decide which student
did get funding and which didn’t?
BS: The way it happened was that we heard
rumors. That there was federal cutbacks and
there was no notification no, communications
atall, it was just “sorry there’sno money, sorry
you will not be going to school this summer.”
registration because you talk to two and ten
more would flock by as youare talking, and its
so hard...
AC: Yah I know, its like “Oh my God! I don’t
want to hit desk number zzy 234!”
BS: Like which way is out! Butit was really nice
to actually get support from Douglas College
students. It was really really good, a) because
of the petition , and b) for the letter to Etherl
Gardener. It was really good to get support as
opposed to people just walking by, you know
“oh first nations, big deal.” You know the
attitudes are coming around, and it’s
enlightening, its encouraging.
AC:I’dlike to goback talk about the students
who were force to withdraw from school. Do
you know any of them personally?
BS: Hey , I’m one of them!
everything. To date we have up
held ourtreatyagreements,and
todate the government has not.
The avenue, the key to self
governmentis education. They
would like to have more say in |
the government process and
practices. Just havinga support
system here at Douglas college
is important. We have such a
diverse membership from the
east coast to the west coast,
different nationalities, different
spiritual orientation. And yet
most of us want unity.
AC:Sohow many First Nations
students have been elected to
the DCSS?
BS: Charles Parker is vice
presidentinternal,and youhave
me, who's the native student
rep; and to date thatis all that I
have.
AC: How often does theFirst
Nations Meet?
BS: What I’m hoping to have is
at least one meeting a month,
and what we are working
towards is to getting a special
meeting room to practice our
spirituality, we like to purify
ourselves with Sweetgrass
before we go into meetings,
remove all negatives so that we
may think and speak and feel
and hearonly positives towards
our fellow brothers and sisters.
‘One idea which has been
brought forth is to have a room
where we can produce a news
eR ee ee ee oy eo eee
letter so that we can keep in
touch. That way we can have
unity and have a common
program that we work together.
A First Nations news letter but we will be
holding a meeting within the next weekend
deciding what the membership would like to
see where they would like to go.
AC: Tell me more about the federal cuts in
Native student funding. Do you have any
personal experiences or experiences from
others that you can share? How does this all
link into treaty rights?
BS:European settlement is based on treaties
and agreements in exchange for land. What
was agreed upon, was that the federal
government would provide for health care,
housing education. And wehavesome housing
,but would leave a lot to be desired, health care
and education. But at the post secondary level,
it just seems to be there aren't any funds. And
yet the federal government spent 80 million
dollars celebrating "their" birthday(laugh) this
July 1! So what we did at registration was we
tooka petition whichsaid “we the undersigned
AC: So when you went to the bank, or when
you were expecting a letter or something you
just found out “sorry, no money.”
BS: Yes, that’s it. We just got notice and there
was nothing, there was no preparations. A lot
of students just got one two week notice and
that was it.
AC: Wasit close tothebeginning of the term?
BS: Actualy we know certain students who
had to withdraw from classes so they could get
jobs to make money to live. One question that
was raised, which really does make sense, was
that maybe perhaps the federal government is
afraid of educated Indians.
On a positive note, we have BC's first
Native woman to be accepted at Harvard
University. Her name is Ethel Gardener and
she's beenaccepted on full scholarship tostudy
law—so we sent hera letter of congratulations.
AC: How many student shave signed?
BS: Well it is hard to get students signatures at
AC: Are you serious?
BS: Yes! Serious. Yes, my funding was cut one
hundred percent. Iwas fully expecting toattend
the summer semester as well as Mat...as wellas
my other sonJohn.Therearethreeofus...there’s
other students, I don’t know their names off
hand, but they were fully expecting. to take
suramercourses,and withina weekandahalfs
notice..sorry.. no funding now.No funding.
Why? Why not? But they have money, I know
they have money!
AC: How much on average do you get? Is it
full tuition paid and a certain amount for
living expences?
BS: Yes, we do get a living allowance.
AC: Including full tuition with books?
BS: Yes
AC: And that varies from...
BS: It varies from province to province. It also
varies too from band to band, and Indian
Affairs?
Edited Text
FE a RTS SE Ame = SL
r
:
:
f
i
:
j
i
{
the Other Press
We
October 15, 1992
I set up an informal interview with
Betsy Senyk at the beginning of September.
met in Charles Parker’s (the
VicePresident Internal) office, where she
| greetedme warmly. The first thing that struck
mewhenI walked into the office was the sight
of a large Canadian flag draped along the back
f wall. Whatis so striking about it is the figure of
7 a First Nation’s person superimposed in front of
the the maple leaf. Betsy noticed my interest and
stated it was a
s had taught Betsy how to pluck eagle feathers,
and in return, it is tradition and a show of
respect to thank the person by giving them a
gift that is their most prized possession.
Betsywasstillratherheartbrokenforparting
with it. The eagles, which had died of an
accidental poisoning, were obtained from
rouse Mountain. Betsy further explained:
gift to Charles from her. Charles
BS: We decided that to just leave the eagles on
Grouse would be a waste, so we thought we
would take them and put them to good work.
We put our names on a waiting list, and four
eagles came down.
by Angela Chiotakos
Whatweare going todois tomakea traditional
staff for the native war veterans. Our native
war veterans are our elders; they foughtin the
twoworld warsand weretreated most unfairly.
They paid double the price for the country.
They had to sign away their status to being
with; they had to enlist as Scottish or French or
English, or some other ethnic group. They had
their lands taken away. They had their herds
takenaway. Allsorts of injustices wereimposed;
and then upon their return, they weren't able
to vote, they weren't able to purchase liquor,
they weren't able to sit in the pub to have a
drink with their buddies.
What we hope to do as an association
[First Nations Association of Douglas College]
is to show our respect to our elders, and start
there. We are hoping to present to the native
war veterans this traditional staff of eagle
feathers. We some of the feathers are painted
halfred, to signify the wounded, and the restof
the feathers we paintall red, tosymbolize those
who had died. That is one of our projects
though the first nations association here at
Douglas college.
Weare going to have a day of recognition
for the native veterans. In fact, for the first time
inhistory they willbe having their firstnational
day of recognition in Ottawa on October 20.
We hope to serve as role models for future
students who come to D.C.... and respecting
our elders is high on our priority list.
Wearealso planninganother First Nations
meeting this week [September 20] but we
would like, if at all possible, to move away
from being spectacles. Respectour spirituality.
Wedon’t want tobe on display, weare willing
to share our culture, open up lines of
communication, but we don’t wont to be on
display...especially our spirituality. Some
traditional dancing; a friend ship dance is
something we could share. Sacred spiritual
objects we don’t want on display.We feel
uncomfortable about that. A good anal
would be having the Roman Catholics display
their holy water, or their communion post or
whatever you call it.
The federal
goverment is
failing to honor
its treaties.
AC: How many First Nations students are
here at Douglas?
BS: What we are really proud of is that our
numbers are growing. Its just phenomenal the
number of First Nations studentsattending the
college.
AC: Do you have any numbers?
BS:Idon’thaveanaccuratecount. But! did talk
toAnneFenton, at Accounts Recievable upstairs
at the Accounting Office, she handles the
Native students sponsorship forms and was
saying that four years ago there was a total of
one or two. And this year there were just so
many that she did't know what to do. Its just
hectic for her now, which is a good sign. But at
the same token its like this catch 22 situation
with the federal government.
We have experienced cutbacks of 30 % to
100%. Here we are trying to educate our
people, but we're getting caught up in this and
its seriously raising a lot of issues. One of the
main issues it is raising is that if European
settlement is based on treaties and agreements,
to date the federal government has failed to
uphold their treaties and obligations. So how
are we supposed to trust them? And what is
the point of talking self government?
There are some factions that want
everything lock, stock and barrel. We do have
some factions that want to settle under the
constitution. We have certain factions who are
totally undecided. However, there is the unity
that we do not want to settle and loose
do here by petition the federal government to
honor its treaty obligations to the First Nations
pe ofCanadaand cease withholding funds
‘om post secondary students.”
AC: How many people have signed this?
BS: Over one hundred. And we will be setting
this off to the federal government along witha
every strong letter outlining our feelings in
regards to their treaty obligations concerning
theissue that they , the federal government, are
failing to honoring their treaties.
AC: So how did they decide which student
did get funding and which didn’t?
BS: The way it happened was that we heard
rumors. That there was federal cutbacks and
there was no notification no, communications
atall, it was just “sorry there’sno money, sorry
you will not be going to school this summer.”
registration because you talk to two and ten
more would flock by as youare talking, and its
so hard...
AC: Yah I know, its like “Oh my God! I don’t
want to hit desk number zzy 234!”
BS: Like which way is out! Butit was really nice
to actually get support from Douglas College
students. It was really really good, a) because
of the petition , and b) for the letter to Etherl
Gardener. It was really good to get support as
opposed to people just walking by, you know
“oh first nations, big deal.” You know the
attitudes are coming around, and it’s
enlightening, its encouraging.
AC:I’dlike to goback talk about the students
who were force to withdraw from school. Do
you know any of them personally?
BS: Hey , I’m one of them!
everything. To date we have up
held ourtreatyagreements,and
todate the government has not.
The avenue, the key to self
governmentis education. They
would like to have more say in |
the government process and
practices. Just havinga support
system here at Douglas college
is important. We have such a
diverse membership from the
east coast to the west coast,
different nationalities, different
spiritual orientation. And yet
most of us want unity.
AC:Sohow many First Nations
students have been elected to
the DCSS?
BS: Charles Parker is vice
presidentinternal,and youhave
me, who's the native student
rep; and to date thatis all that I
have.
AC: How often does theFirst
Nations Meet?
BS: What I’m hoping to have is
at least one meeting a month,
and what we are working
towards is to getting a special
meeting room to practice our
spirituality, we like to purify
ourselves with Sweetgrass
before we go into meetings,
remove all negatives so that we
may think and speak and feel
and hearonly positives towards
our fellow brothers and sisters.
‘One idea which has been
brought forth is to have a room
where we can produce a news
eR ee ee ee oy eo eee
letter so that we can keep in
touch. That way we can have
unity and have a common
program that we work together.
A First Nations news letter but we will be
holding a meeting within the next weekend
deciding what the membership would like to
see where they would like to go.
AC: Tell me more about the federal cuts in
Native student funding. Do you have any
personal experiences or experiences from
others that you can share? How does this all
link into treaty rights?
BS:European settlement is based on treaties
and agreements in exchange for land. What
was agreed upon, was that the federal
government would provide for health care,
housing education. And wehavesome housing
,but would leave a lot to be desired, health care
and education. But at the post secondary level,
it just seems to be there aren't any funds. And
yet the federal government spent 80 million
dollars celebrating "their" birthday(laugh) this
July 1! So what we did at registration was we
tooka petition whichsaid “we the undersigned
AC: So when you went to the bank, or when
you were expecting a letter or something you
just found out “sorry, no money.”
BS: Yes, that’s it. We just got notice and there
was nothing, there was no preparations. A lot
of students just got one two week notice and
that was it.
AC: Wasit close tothebeginning of the term?
BS: Actualy we know certain students who
had to withdraw from classes so they could get
jobs to make money to live. One question that
was raised, which really does make sense, was
that maybe perhaps the federal government is
afraid of educated Indians.
On a positive note, we have BC's first
Native woman to be accepted at Harvard
University. Her name is Ethel Gardener and
she's beenaccepted on full scholarship tostudy
law—so we sent hera letter of congratulations.
AC: How many student shave signed?
BS: Well it is hard to get students signatures at
AC: Are you serious?
BS: Yes! Serious. Yes, my funding was cut one
hundred percent. Iwas fully expecting toattend
the summer semester as well as Mat...as wellas
my other sonJohn.Therearethreeofus...there’s
other students, I don’t know their names off
hand, but they were fully expecting. to take
suramercourses,and withina weekandahalfs
notice..sorry.. no funding now.No funding.
Why? Why not? But they have money, I know
they have money!
AC: How much on average do you get? Is it
full tuition paid and a certain amount for
living expences?
BS: Yes, we do get a living allowance.
AC: Including full tuition with books?
BS: Yes
AC: And that varies from...
BS: It varies from province to province. It also
varies too from band to band, and Indian
Affairs?
FE a RTS SE Ame = SL
r
:
:
f
i
:
j
i
{
the Other Press
We
October 15, 1992
I set up an informal interview with
Betsy Senyk at the beginning of September.
met in Charles Parker’s (the
VicePresident Internal) office, where she
| greetedme warmly. The first thing that struck
mewhenI walked into the office was the sight
of a large Canadian flag draped along the back
f wall. Whatis so striking about it is the figure of
7 a First Nation’s person superimposed in front of
the the maple leaf. Betsy noticed my interest and
stated it was a
s had taught Betsy how to pluck eagle feathers,
and in return, it is tradition and a show of
respect to thank the person by giving them a
gift that is their most prized possession.
Betsywasstillratherheartbrokenforparting
with it. The eagles, which had died of an
accidental poisoning, were obtained from
rouse Mountain. Betsy further explained:
gift to Charles from her. Charles
BS: We decided that to just leave the eagles on
Grouse would be a waste, so we thought we
would take them and put them to good work.
We put our names on a waiting list, and four
eagles came down.
by Angela Chiotakos
Whatweare going todois tomakea traditional
staff for the native war veterans. Our native
war veterans are our elders; they foughtin the
twoworld warsand weretreated most unfairly.
They paid double the price for the country.
They had to sign away their status to being
with; they had to enlist as Scottish or French or
English, or some other ethnic group. They had
their lands taken away. They had their herds
takenaway. Allsorts of injustices wereimposed;
and then upon their return, they weren't able
to vote, they weren't able to purchase liquor,
they weren't able to sit in the pub to have a
drink with their buddies.
What we hope to do as an association
[First Nations Association of Douglas College]
is to show our respect to our elders, and start
there. We are hoping to present to the native
war veterans this traditional staff of eagle
feathers. We some of the feathers are painted
halfred, to signify the wounded, and the restof
the feathers we paintall red, tosymbolize those
who had died. That is one of our projects
though the first nations association here at
Douglas college.
Weare going to have a day of recognition
for the native veterans. In fact, for the first time
inhistory they willbe having their firstnational
day of recognition in Ottawa on October 20.
We hope to serve as role models for future
students who come to D.C.... and respecting
our elders is high on our priority list.
Wearealso planninganother First Nations
meeting this week [September 20] but we
would like, if at all possible, to move away
from being spectacles. Respectour spirituality.
Wedon’t want tobe on display, weare willing
to share our culture, open up lines of
communication, but we don’t wont to be on
display...especially our spirituality. Some
traditional dancing; a friend ship dance is
something we could share. Sacred spiritual
objects we don’t want on display.We feel
uncomfortable about that. A good anal
would be having the Roman Catholics display
their holy water, or their communion post or
whatever you call it.
The federal
goverment is
failing to honor
its treaties.
AC: How many First Nations students are
here at Douglas?
BS: What we are really proud of is that our
numbers are growing. Its just phenomenal the
number of First Nations studentsattending the
college.
AC: Do you have any numbers?
BS:Idon’thaveanaccuratecount. But! did talk
toAnneFenton, at Accounts Recievable upstairs
at the Accounting Office, she handles the
Native students sponsorship forms and was
saying that four years ago there was a total of
one or two. And this year there were just so
many that she did't know what to do. Its just
hectic for her now, which is a good sign. But at
the same token its like this catch 22 situation
with the federal government.
We have experienced cutbacks of 30 % to
100%. Here we are trying to educate our
people, but we're getting caught up in this and
its seriously raising a lot of issues. One of the
main issues it is raising is that if European
settlement is based on treaties and agreements,
to date the federal government has failed to
uphold their treaties and obligations. So how
are we supposed to trust them? And what is
the point of talking self government?
There are some factions that want
everything lock, stock and barrel. We do have
some factions that want to settle under the
constitution. We have certain factions who are
totally undecided. However, there is the unity
that we do not want to settle and loose
do here by petition the federal government to
honor its treaty obligations to the First Nations
pe ofCanadaand cease withholding funds
‘om post secondary students.”
AC: How many people have signed this?
BS: Over one hundred. And we will be setting
this off to the federal government along witha
every strong letter outlining our feelings in
regards to their treaty obligations concerning
theissue that they , the federal government, are
failing to honoring their treaties.
AC: So how did they decide which student
did get funding and which didn’t?
BS: The way it happened was that we heard
rumors. That there was federal cutbacks and
there was no notification no, communications
atall, it was just “sorry there’sno money, sorry
you will not be going to school this summer.”
registration because you talk to two and ten
more would flock by as youare talking, and its
so hard...
AC: Yah I know, its like “Oh my God! I don’t
want to hit desk number zzy 234!”
BS: Like which way is out! Butit was really nice
to actually get support from Douglas College
students. It was really really good, a) because
of the petition , and b) for the letter to Etherl
Gardener. It was really good to get support as
opposed to people just walking by, you know
“oh first nations, big deal.” You know the
attitudes are coming around, and it’s
enlightening, its encouraging.
AC:I’dlike to goback talk about the students
who were force to withdraw from school. Do
you know any of them personally?
BS: Hey , I’m one of them!
everything. To date we have up
held ourtreatyagreements,and
todate the government has not.
The avenue, the key to self
governmentis education. They
would like to have more say in |
the government process and
practices. Just havinga support
system here at Douglas college
is important. We have such a
diverse membership from the
east coast to the west coast,
different nationalities, different
spiritual orientation. And yet
most of us want unity.
AC:Sohow many First Nations
students have been elected to
the DCSS?
BS: Charles Parker is vice
presidentinternal,and youhave
me, who's the native student
rep; and to date thatis all that I
have.
AC: How often does theFirst
Nations Meet?
BS: What I’m hoping to have is
at least one meeting a month,
and what we are working
towards is to getting a special
meeting room to practice our
spirituality, we like to purify
ourselves with Sweetgrass
before we go into meetings,
remove all negatives so that we
may think and speak and feel
and hearonly positives towards
our fellow brothers and sisters.
‘One idea which has been
brought forth is to have a room
where we can produce a news
eR ee ee ee oy eo eee
letter so that we can keep in
touch. That way we can have
unity and have a common
program that we work together.
A First Nations news letter but we will be
holding a meeting within the next weekend
deciding what the membership would like to
see where they would like to go.
AC: Tell me more about the federal cuts in
Native student funding. Do you have any
personal experiences or experiences from
others that you can share? How does this all
link into treaty rights?
BS:European settlement is based on treaties
and agreements in exchange for land. What
was agreed upon, was that the federal
government would provide for health care,
housing education. And wehavesome housing
,but would leave a lot to be desired, health care
and education. But at the post secondary level,
it just seems to be there aren't any funds. And
yet the federal government spent 80 million
dollars celebrating "their" birthday(laugh) this
July 1! So what we did at registration was we
tooka petition whichsaid “we the undersigned
AC: So when you went to the bank, or when
you were expecting a letter or something you
just found out “sorry, no money.”
BS: Yes, that’s it. We just got notice and there
was nothing, there was no preparations. A lot
of students just got one two week notice and
that was it.
AC: Wasit close tothebeginning of the term?
BS: Actualy we know certain students who
had to withdraw from classes so they could get
jobs to make money to live. One question that
was raised, which really does make sense, was
that maybe perhaps the federal government is
afraid of educated Indians.
On a positive note, we have BC's first
Native woman to be accepted at Harvard
University. Her name is Ethel Gardener and
she's beenaccepted on full scholarship tostudy
law—so we sent hera letter of congratulations.
AC: How many student shave signed?
BS: Well it is hard to get students signatures at
AC: Are you serious?
BS: Yes! Serious. Yes, my funding was cut one
hundred percent. Iwas fully expecting toattend
the summer semester as well as Mat...as wellas
my other sonJohn.Therearethreeofus...there’s
other students, I don’t know their names off
hand, but they were fully expecting. to take
suramercourses,and withina weekandahalfs
notice..sorry.. no funding now.No funding.
Why? Why not? But they have money, I know
they have money!
AC: How much on average do you get? Is it
full tuition paid and a certain amount for
living expences?
BS: Yes, we do get a living allowance.
AC: Including full tuition with books?
BS: Yes
AC: And that varies from...
BS: It varies from province to province. It also
varies too from band to band, and Indian
Affairs?
FE a RTS SE Ame = SL
r
:
:
f
i
:
j
i
{
the Other Press
We
October 15, 1992
I set up an informal interview with
Betsy Senyk at the beginning of September.
met in Charles Parker’s (the
VicePresident Internal) office, where she
| greetedme warmly. The first thing that struck
mewhenI walked into the office was the sight
of a large Canadian flag draped along the back
f wall. Whatis so striking about it is the figure of
7 a First Nation’s person superimposed in front of
the the maple leaf. Betsy noticed my interest and
stated it was a
s had taught Betsy how to pluck eagle feathers,
and in return, it is tradition and a show of
respect to thank the person by giving them a
gift that is their most prized possession.
Betsywasstillratherheartbrokenforparting
with it. The eagles, which had died of an
accidental poisoning, were obtained from
rouse Mountain. Betsy further explained:
gift to Charles from her. Charles
BS: We decided that to just leave the eagles on
Grouse would be a waste, so we thought we
would take them and put them to good work.
We put our names on a waiting list, and four
eagles came down.
by Angela Chiotakos
Whatweare going todois tomakea traditional
staff for the native war veterans. Our native
war veterans are our elders; they foughtin the
twoworld warsand weretreated most unfairly.
They paid double the price for the country.
They had to sign away their status to being
with; they had to enlist as Scottish or French or
English, or some other ethnic group. They had
their lands taken away. They had their herds
takenaway. Allsorts of injustices wereimposed;
and then upon their return, they weren't able
to vote, they weren't able to purchase liquor,
they weren't able to sit in the pub to have a
drink with their buddies.
What we hope to do as an association
[First Nations Association of Douglas College]
is to show our respect to our elders, and start
there. We are hoping to present to the native
war veterans this traditional staff of eagle
feathers. We some of the feathers are painted
halfred, to signify the wounded, and the restof
the feathers we paintall red, tosymbolize those
who had died. That is one of our projects
though the first nations association here at
Douglas college.
Weare going to have a day of recognition
for the native veterans. In fact, for the first time
inhistory they willbe having their firstnational
day of recognition in Ottawa on October 20.
We hope to serve as role models for future
students who come to D.C.... and respecting
our elders is high on our priority list.
Wearealso planninganother First Nations
meeting this week [September 20] but we
would like, if at all possible, to move away
from being spectacles. Respectour spirituality.
Wedon’t want tobe on display, weare willing
to share our culture, open up lines of
communication, but we don’t wont to be on
display...especially our spirituality. Some
traditional dancing; a friend ship dance is
something we could share. Sacred spiritual
objects we don’t want on display.We feel
uncomfortable about that. A good anal
would be having the Roman Catholics display
their holy water, or their communion post or
whatever you call it.
The federal
goverment is
failing to honor
its treaties.
AC: How many First Nations students are
here at Douglas?
BS: What we are really proud of is that our
numbers are growing. Its just phenomenal the
number of First Nations studentsattending the
college.
AC: Do you have any numbers?
BS:Idon’thaveanaccuratecount. But! did talk
toAnneFenton, at Accounts Recievable upstairs
at the Accounting Office, she handles the
Native students sponsorship forms and was
saying that four years ago there was a total of
one or two. And this year there were just so
many that she did't know what to do. Its just
hectic for her now, which is a good sign. But at
the same token its like this catch 22 situation
with the federal government.
We have experienced cutbacks of 30 % to
100%. Here we are trying to educate our
people, but we're getting caught up in this and
its seriously raising a lot of issues. One of the
main issues it is raising is that if European
settlement is based on treaties and agreements,
to date the federal government has failed to
uphold their treaties and obligations. So how
are we supposed to trust them? And what is
the point of talking self government?
There are some factions that want
everything lock, stock and barrel. We do have
some factions that want to settle under the
constitution. We have certain factions who are
totally undecided. However, there is the unity
that we do not want to settle and loose
do here by petition the federal government to
honor its treaty obligations to the First Nations
pe ofCanadaand cease withholding funds
‘om post secondary students.”
AC: How many people have signed this?
BS: Over one hundred. And we will be setting
this off to the federal government along witha
every strong letter outlining our feelings in
regards to their treaty obligations concerning
theissue that they , the federal government, are
failing to honoring their treaties.
AC: So how did they decide which student
did get funding and which didn’t?
BS: The way it happened was that we heard
rumors. That there was federal cutbacks and
there was no notification no, communications
atall, it was just “sorry there’sno money, sorry
you will not be going to school this summer.”
registration because you talk to two and ten
more would flock by as youare talking, and its
so hard...
AC: Yah I know, its like “Oh my God! I don’t
want to hit desk number zzy 234!”
BS: Like which way is out! Butit was really nice
to actually get support from Douglas College
students. It was really really good, a) because
of the petition , and b) for the letter to Etherl
Gardener. It was really good to get support as
opposed to people just walking by, you know
“oh first nations, big deal.” You know the
attitudes are coming around, and it’s
enlightening, its encouraging.
AC:I’dlike to goback talk about the students
who were force to withdraw from school. Do
you know any of them personally?
BS: Hey , I’m one of them!
everything. To date we have up
held ourtreatyagreements,and
todate the government has not.
The avenue, the key to self
governmentis education. They
would like to have more say in |
the government process and
practices. Just havinga support
system here at Douglas college
is important. We have such a
diverse membership from the
east coast to the west coast,
different nationalities, different
spiritual orientation. And yet
most of us want unity.
AC:Sohow many First Nations
students have been elected to
the DCSS?
BS: Charles Parker is vice
presidentinternal,and youhave
me, who's the native student
rep; and to date thatis all that I
have.
AC: How often does theFirst
Nations Meet?
BS: What I’m hoping to have is
at least one meeting a month,
and what we are working
towards is to getting a special
meeting room to practice our
spirituality, we like to purify
ourselves with Sweetgrass
before we go into meetings,
remove all negatives so that we
may think and speak and feel
and hearonly positives towards
our fellow brothers and sisters.
‘One idea which has been
brought forth is to have a room
where we can produce a news
eR ee ee ee oy eo eee
letter so that we can keep in
touch. That way we can have
unity and have a common
program that we work together.
A First Nations news letter but we will be
holding a meeting within the next weekend
deciding what the membership would like to
see where they would like to go.
AC: Tell me more about the federal cuts in
Native student funding. Do you have any
personal experiences or experiences from
others that you can share? How does this all
link into treaty rights?
BS:European settlement is based on treaties
and agreements in exchange for land. What
was agreed upon, was that the federal
government would provide for health care,
housing education. And wehavesome housing
,but would leave a lot to be desired, health care
and education. But at the post secondary level,
it just seems to be there aren't any funds. And
yet the federal government spent 80 million
dollars celebrating "their" birthday(laugh) this
July 1! So what we did at registration was we
tooka petition whichsaid “we the undersigned
AC: So when you went to the bank, or when
you were expecting a letter or something you
just found out “sorry, no money.”
BS: Yes, that’s it. We just got notice and there
was nothing, there was no preparations. A lot
of students just got one two week notice and
that was it.
AC: Wasit close tothebeginning of the term?
BS: Actualy we know certain students who
had to withdraw from classes so they could get
jobs to make money to live. One question that
was raised, which really does make sense, was
that maybe perhaps the federal government is
afraid of educated Indians.
On a positive note, we have BC's first
Native woman to be accepted at Harvard
University. Her name is Ethel Gardener and
she's beenaccepted on full scholarship tostudy
law—so we sent hera letter of congratulations.
AC: How many student shave signed?
BS: Well it is hard to get students signatures at
AC: Are you serious?
BS: Yes! Serious. Yes, my funding was cut one
hundred percent. Iwas fully expecting toattend
the summer semester as well as Mat...as wellas
my other sonJohn.Therearethreeofus...there’s
other students, I don’t know their names off
hand, but they were fully expecting. to take
suramercourses,and withina weekandahalfs
notice..sorry.. no funding now.No funding.
Why? Why not? But they have money, I know
they have money!
AC: How much on average do you get? Is it
full tuition paid and a certain amount for
living expences?
BS: Yes, we do get a living allowance.
AC: Including full tuition with books?
BS: Yes
AC: And that varies from...
BS: It varies from province to province. It also
varies too from band to band, and Indian
Affairs?