Activism
"Almighty
Voice was the champion of a race that is 'up against' it in civilization. The
wonder is that not an occasional brave cuts loose, but
that all braves do not prefer the sudden death to the slow extinction of their
race."
Editorial, Evening Telegram, Toronto,
June 1897
"[the
story of Almighty Voice] has been told from the non-Indian perspective . . .one sided, one dimensional story . . . [that] smacks of
colonialism. . . . [changes in the story are the
result of] rereading of traditional sources through different lenses . . .
Canada's assimilationist Indian policies were increasingly questioned after the
Second World War . . . [Indian Affairs department records] were biased,
prepared and written for the dominant settler society."
Bill Waiser, In
Search Almighty Voice Resistance and Reconciliation
"The
last stand of the North American Indian against the white man ended in a
popular grove near Duck Lake in what is now the province of Saskatchewan on a
Sunday morning in May of 1897. In that popular grove were the three Cree
Indians, Almighty Voice, his brother-in-law Topean
and his teenaged cousin Going-Up-To-Sky. . . [nearby] Spotted Calif, Almighty
Voice's mother [sang] the Cree Death Song, chanting of his skill and courage
and urging him to die bravely."
The
Sheaf, Saskatoon, 1971
The Cattle Thief [Almighty Voice] by
Pauline Johnson
"You have cursed, and called him a
Cattle Thief, though
You robbed him first of bread . . .
How have paid us for our game? How paid us for
our land? . . .
When you pay for the land you live in, we'll pay you
for
the meat we eat.
Give back our land and our country, give back our
herds of game . . .
And blame, if you dare, the hunger that drove him to
be a thief."
Memorial
to Sir Wilfred Laurier 1910, Kamloops - Skeetchestn
Indian Band
http://www.skeetchestn.ca/files/documents/Governance/memorialtosirwilfredlaurier1910.pdf
"We
find ourselves practically landless, and that in our own country, through no
fault of ours. We have reached a critical point, and, unless justice comes to
our rescue we must go back and sink out of sight as a race."
Written statement by a B.C. delegation that met with P.M. Robert Borden, 1912
"We,
the Indians of the Yukon, object to . . . being treated like squatters in our
own country. We accepted the white man in this country, fed him, looked after
him when he was sick, showed him the way of the North, helped him to find the
gold; helped him build and respected him in his own rights. For this we have
received very little in return. We feel the people of the North owe us a great
deal and we would like the Government of Canada to see that we get a fair
settlement for the use of the land."
Elijah
Smith, address 1968
"Before
I can be usefully participating and contributing citizen
I must be allowed to further develop a sense of pride and confidence in myself
as an Indian. I must be allowed to be a red tile in the Canadian mosaic, not
forced to become an unseen and misplaced white tile."
Harold Cardinal
"Red
Power is a viable alternative to many young Indians, and violence is not too
remote. Anyone who has been stepped on long enough may reach the point where he
says 'no more'."
Philip Paul, Chief of B.C. Tsartlip Band
"Don't
ask me if there'll be racial violence. There is already is – against us. Now
the question is whether we will fight back."
Dr. Howard Adams
"It's
certainly weird that the most blue-blooded Canadians of all, the people who
were here first, should be treated like refugees from steerage."
Kahn-Tineta Horn
"One
does not correct an injustice by creating another injustice." Robert Bourassa
Réal Bérnard (Cayouche), La
Liberte, St. Boniface, 6 July 1990
