“My people will sleep for one hundred years and when they awake it will be the artists who give them back their spirit. ”
– Louts Riel
Today marks a special time for all aboriginal people. It’s a time of recognition of our inherent rights to life and freedom, as well as the special rights that were given to us as aboriginal inhabitants. We have much to share with the world and be grateful for.
The year 1993 has been set aside by the UN as the Year of Indigenous People to pay respect to the aboriginal peoples in all lands the world over. We are witnesses to a time no one could have dreamed possible. We’ve had 500 years of European contact yet still manage to hold our cultural ways intact. It’s the closeness that we’ve maintained with the Earth that has helped our culture and ways survive. We have been fortunate that way.
Celebrations will happen – plays and theatre, conferences, demonstrations, spiritual gatherings, dancing and storytelling.
They will show the world we have faced insurmountable change, yet our people manage to cope. They will tell the story of our lives with the future in mind. At the same time, we are starting to see a re-emergence of our people after a long period of being dormant during which everything was asleep. We will hear more about this. We’ll hear of things that were not talked about five years ago. Everything will come to take its rightful place.
There are voices in the wind expressing the need for the talk of our Elders to be heard once again – in the meeting rooms, giving counsel, sharing their knowledge, the many different experiences we’ve had. Quite recently, an Elder from Chisasibi, Robbie Mathew, was named to sit on the World Council of Elders, which is affiliated with the World Council of Indigenous People. Mathews is a man noted for his wisdom. It’s a real honour for someone from our area to be given such recognition.
For too long, the voice of the Elders has been silenced like the running brook in the winter-time. Their words have not been listened to with respect. There was a time when they did not speak. There were times I heard them say, “Why isn’t anyone writing down my words? They fall on deaf ears.” And, often, that has been too much for them.
It is all the Elders who deserve an honourable mention. It will be you who will guide our footsteps to a better and brighter future.
Meeg wetch.
