Kuei. Good afternoon.
[ Witness spoke in Innu. ]
[ Translation ]
I greeted you in my language, Innu.
I am Innu, and I'm from the Uashat mak Mani‑Utenam community on the North Shore in the province of Quebec.
Thank you for inviting me to take part in this study, which confirms how important it is to have a dialogue before implementing major projects for the benefit of the greatest number of people, including the first nations of Quebec.
Despite the limited time we've been given to contribute, participating in the Standing Committee on Science and Research study on the best ways to integrate Indigenous traditional knowledge and science in government policy development is a meaningful and respectful way of granting first nations the right to express themselves and recognizing them as a nation.
It has taken more than 40 years of effort to have Indigenous cultural rights recognized within Canada's legal and political framework. Since colonization began, the country has been built at our expense. Before the European settlers arrived, Indigenous peoples had social structures based on territorial occupation and management. Children learned through observation, repetition and practice. Children were prepared for adulthood by practising various rituals, social activities and rites of passage to master the language, learn their people's history through legends and preserve their people's values and beliefs. Adults knew their territory and mastered the art of hunting. Adults maintained a circular relationship with nature, for which everyone was responsible.
Then came the 374 years the first peoples had to live under the yoke of a colonial state, which kept them in bondage. Subsequently, our peoples were subjected to torture and abuse, which caused intergenerational trauma. Although the term “colonial mission” is now history, the behaviours that resulted from it can still be felt here and there. Who can claim that this mission does not still influence every move the colonists and colonized make?
I'd like to quote Glen Sean Coulthard, author of Red Skin, White Masks. He himself quotes the Assembly of First Nations, which made a statement to the following effect before the Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Northern Affairs: As Indian people we cannot afford to have individual rights override collective rights. Our societies have never been structured that way, unlike yours, and that is where the clash comes. If you isolate the individual rights for the collective rights, then you are heading down another path that is ever more discriminatory. The Charter of Rights is based on equality. In other words, everybody is the same across the country ... so the Charter of Rights automatically is in conflict with our philosophy and culture and organizationn of collective rights.
It's true that our political system is no longer tied to our nomadic mode of organization and is adapted to our sedentary mode of organization. However, our ancestors used to make a point of helping each other when food and resources were scarce. They acted as if nothing belonged to them. They rushed to the aid of those in need. They had no interest in accumulating useless things. Rather, they wished to be seen as useful, courageous, generous and wise.
Canada is home to some 80 Indigenous nations. Each of these nations has its own history, language, beliefs and traditional knowledge.
For the Innu, the oral tradition is made up of tipatshimun and atanukans, which are our stories and legends. Our oral tradition has being intermixed over the generations: We find new characters in our legends. In addition, historians brought back Champlain's writings interpreted our stories.
Moreover, the first nations have experienced major changes to more than our social structures; the oral tradition is also been transformed over the generations. It has inevitably adopted contemporary mores and principles.
Habits and customs have also been transformed to adapt to the political and social situation of the day. What remains of the past are our elders. They remind us of the importance of remembering and passing on their wisdom and knowledge to their generation. We must pass this on in our mother tongue.
Furthermore, our legal principles are linked to the dimensions of the living and non-living. It's part of the Innu nation's traditional practices. For us, the great spirit is the caribou, Papakassik. For other nations, it's the turtle, the bear, the moose, the eagle and so on.
Also, ancestral languages are channels for preserving the collective memory.