Our Home and Native Land

By: Eduardo del Buey

One of my first activities as public diplomacy officer at the Canadian Embassy to Spain in 1989 was to preside over a conference organized by the Spanish Association of Canadian Studies on Haida cosmogony and cosmovision. The main speaker was Canadian author and Haida expert Robert Bringhurst who shared his vision of Haida spirituality and enthralled the audience with the breadth and depth of the Haida experience.

In my closing comments, I noted that my generation of “baby boomers” had long sought spiritual enlightenment from Asian mystics, completely unaware of the spiritual richness of Canada’s First Nations and how it can contribute to making us all better human beings.

And herein lies one of the major challenges facing all nations that share an indigenous experience. It is a challenge that we have yet to address effectively: how can we engage in a productive dialogue with our indigenous compatriots if we don’t really know about them.

In my strategic communications classes I always stress that the basis for effective communication is to know your audience. Yet the vast majority of us are relatively unaware of indigenous history, cultures, languages, values, mores and folkways.

The fault lies with us.

I did my undergraduate degree at McGill in History 50 years ago. The curriculum did not offer a single course in indigenous history or culture. According to my niece who has just finished junior college, this remains the case today. Canadian history in those days began with the English and French conquest of the land, with little regard to the cultures and languages of the peoples who had inhabited it for tens of thousands of years prior. 

Indeed, one of our major diplomatic messages to the world is that Canada has three founding peoples: the English, the French, and the First Nations.

Yet I would venture to say that most non-indigenous people anywhere have little or no knowledge of their indigenous neighbors. When governments at all levels rhetorically call for dialogue and understanding, most of us have no idea about the story of people with whom we must deal thereby jeopardizing any realistic basis for negotiations.

What can we do to address this historical failing?

We can begin by insisting that the study of indigenous history and culture be incorporated into our primary and secondary history and cultural studies curricula. That the indigenous experience is studied by and shared with all sectors of society throughout their academic experience. That we understand the needs and aspirations of our indigenous compatriots and begin to explore ways by which we can all contribute to a positive and holistic national dialogue. That we are sensitive as to how they see themselves in a globalized world.

This applies to all societies in which indigenous populations co-exist with the descendants of colonizers. Latin America, Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Australia have rich indigenous cultures. 

New Zealand has developed interesting institutions to address Maori concerns, and most Paraguayans today speak Guarani – the language of their indigenous people.

These are two excellent examples as to how governments and societies can build bonds with their indigenous populations based on mutual respect and understanding.

Dialogue is a two-way street and can only work if both sides know each other.  

Knowledge leads to respect.

And both are essential to create a sense of real inclusion.

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Edition: Enrique Álvarez