How should we move forward?

Opinion

As I near the conclusion of my current term as chief, I am left to wonder what the future holds for Sioux Valley Dakota Nation.

I was lucky to have been spared the abuses experienced by my peers. I was fortunate to have been raised by both my parents, both residential school survivors, in a farm enterprise that gave me the foundation and work ethic I needed to survive. This experience was something that I thought was typical of my neighbours and fellow band members of Sioux Valley Dakota Nation.

As a newly elected young chief, I naively thought that all I had to do was create jobs, as I subscribed to the belief that “idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” I immediately encountered community members who were angry and not pleasant to deal with, which I later attributed to intergenerational trauma.

This thankfully was not the case for everyone who have a lived experience in the residential school era or Sixties Scoop. In a discussion with a chief with more experience, we discussed issues we faced as a collective, and he shared his opinion as follows: “You won’t move your community forward without healing your people.”

This opinion had caused me to research our history and the long-term effects of policy. I quickly realized that there were factors and events unknown to me that created a barrier to our community moving forward in a positive and productive way.

During this period of collecting information, I also learned that Canada’s legal position with respect to Dakotas was that we were considered “refugees.” This label gave licence to treat my community and its members as not entitled to the benefit similar to other treaty groups and to diminish and disparage our population.

Sadly, other Indigenous groups jumped on board as it increased their chances in the ongoing competition for finite resources allocated to Indigenous populations under treaty, etc. This labelling — marginalizing — of the Dakota continued for decades and generations. This factor and the imposition of provincially mandated CFS agencies, and the introduction of alcohol in the ’70s, accelerated the social issues we as a community wrestle with today.

The Indian Act also had the intended effect of creating a society within Canada that is totally dependent and not able to sustain themselves. The actions of government agents had devastating effects not only on the Dakota, but throughout most or all First Nations.

My opinion and observation.

Prior to the introduction of the Indian Act, our Dakota people were independent and self-sufficient. Through some divine intervention our community voted to enter into a self-government agreement with Canada and Manitoba under the inherent right to self-government policy. This has resulted in a historic agreement achieved by no other First Nation in Canada — a tri-party agreement that carried the promise of charting our own path.

As a community, we are now grappling with the issue of how to proceed and pass laws to reverse the disastrous policies and laws that created the dependency. The problem is, how do you move a community that has undergone a forced experience which resulted in a culture of dependency?

There is no “switch” that we can magically turn on or off to erase the 150 years of the devastating effects of forced colonialism. Sioux Valley is on the path of developing our local capacity by working with our youth to ensure that we can eventually give effect to the term “self-governing.” We are engaging our youth in an effort to prepare and plan for the eventual succession planning that is inevitable.

However, the cycles are still playing out as we proceed down the path of self-government. Leading up to the historic apology last year, Sioux Valley had commenced a court action in which one of the remedies we were seeking was an apology for the labelling of Dakotas as refugees.

That apology was delivered by Minister Gary Anandasangaree on behalf of the Government of Canada one year ago this week. This apology was accepted by the Dakota, Nakota and Lakota of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Since the apology, there has been little political will or effort on the part of Canada in my view.

We need a specific process and a mandate to negotiate and address reconciliation of the outstanding treatment as outlined in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation’s claim. To acknowledge wrongdoing and not follow up with concrete steps to work toward meaningful reconciliation renders the apology meaningless.

With the current geopolitical climate, it’s incumbent on us all as Canadians, that we work toward and support “national” projects that will benefit all. I am not opposed to progress in this regard. However, we need inclusion and a process to make sure there is meaningful consultation and participation.

From a cost benefit perspective, it’s in everyone’s interest to include First Nations participation in all matters where we have a vested interest. At the end of the day, the saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” comes to mind. Reconciliation is the start to finding solutions that will benefit all stakeholders.

We are still patiently waiting.

» Vince Tacan is the elected chief of Sioux Valley First Nation.