telegraphjournal.com - At a crossroads | Jennifer Pritchett - Breaking News, New Brunswick, Canada

 

Kingsclear First Nation’s Charles Solomon, 90, is one of a declining number of elders left to keep the stories and traditions of the Maliseet people alive. Solomon, a Second World War veteran, will keep up the art of basketweaving for as long as his eyesight and hands are up to the intricate work.

 

 

 

 

The First Nations people here are comprised of two culturally rich and diverse aboriginal groups, the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet, who, for the most part, live in 15 unique, self-contained communities with individual governments. Collectively, they own roughly 17,000 hectares of land and operate an increasing number of successful businesses.

 

 

And yet, beyond some basic details of where the First Nations communities are located and some of their longstanding social problems, many New Brunswickers know little more than a smattering of their history, culture and contributions to society.

 

Today's stories are the first in a series the Telegraph-Journal has undertaken to provide a snapshot of life in each of this province's native communities - nine Mi'kmaq First Nations and six Maliseet First Nations - as well as the people who call them home.

 

These narratives bring readers on a journey through some of New Brunswick's most geographically beautiful and vibrant little villages, where native tradition, art and spirituality run as deep as the rivers along which most of these communities are situated.

 

Despite widespread problems such as crushing poverty, deplorable housing and rampant drug abuse, First Nations people possess a strong sense of family and community.

 

This collection of stories, vivid in detail and at times gut-wrenching because of the many injustices aboriginal people have endured in their ongoing struggles, attempt to shed light on their traditional ways, hard-won successes and continuing challenges.

 

New Brunswick's aboriginal population has been growing steadily over the past four decades.

 

Since 1971, the aboriginal population has more than tripled while the non-native population has risen just 18 per cent because of a declining birth rate, migration and an aging demographic.

 

New Brunswick ombudsman and child advocate Bernard Richard recently identified substantial inequalities between the services available for aboriginal youths and non-native youths. His report on child welfare services in native communities calls for "bold action" to address the wide-ranging disadvantages facing First Nations children that are contributing to high rates of poverty, drug use, alcoholism, obesity and incarceration.

 

With an expanding population, those challenges are expected to only get bigger.

 

"We need to ensure that there will be a requirement for more services within the communities," says University of New Brunswick lecturer and native education expert Dave Perley, who is an aboriginal.

 

"We need to ensure that, as the population increases, we need to be able to help our young people to get an education so that they'll be able to help provide the services for the community."

 

The Telegraph-Journal tour begins in Fredericton at St. Mary's First Nation and moves westward along the Trans-Canada Highway around the province through all of the Maliseet communities to Madawaska First Nation.

 

From there, we take readers across northern New Brunswick to Eel River Bar then south through seven Mi'kmaq communities.

 

From the economic successes of St. Mary's First Nation and Madawaska First Nation to the healing work of a native spiritual leader known as a pipe carrier in Pabineau First Nation, these are stories of survival and revitalization.

 

The First Nations people came to what is now New Brunswick some 3,000 years ago - more than 2,500 years before the English and the Acadians settled here - and laid the foundation for this province's storied history. Aboriginal people are a vital part of its unique and wonderfully complex cultural identity. They provided traditional medicines to non-native settlers during the colonial years and they were an integral part of the fur trade.

 

It can be said that aboriginal history is the origin of all history in this part of the world.

 

After Confederation, there were already at least 1,400 aboriginals living here, according to 1871 census records.

 

All over the province, nearly 140 years later, First Nations people are reclaiming their traditional culture as a way to forge forward on their own path of self-determination.

 

A visit to New Brunswick's oldest village, Metepenagiag, formerly known as Red Bank for the hue of the banks of the Little Southwest branch of the Miramichi River along which the village is built, is home to two national historic sites: the Augustine Mound, a native burial ground, and the Oxbow, where artifacts date the community back 3,000 years. There's also a heritage park with an interpretative centre that highlights Mi'kmaq history and culture.

 

Even on a crisp February day when snow covers the ground and the river is iced over, one can sense the history here. Looking across the frozen river to the historic sites from the heritage park, an imaginative person can easily picture the remnants of the campfires, pottery and stone implements - a sampling of which were taken from the Oxbow site and are on display in the interpretive centre.

 

Adjacent to the heritage park is the Metepenagiag Adventure Lodge, a community-owned log cabin hotel nestled in the forest next to the Little Southwest Miramichi. Its assistant manager, Patricia Dunnett, is a gracious host who is passionate about spreading the word about her community's history and beauty.

 

To promote Metepenagiag, she started in 1998 to bring tourists primarily down the Little Southwest in a six-metre traditional birch bark canoe she built herself. The two-hour river tours were popular among visiting Germans, Belgians and Japanese.

 

"At that time, the province didn't have any First Nations products to offer tourists," she says.

 

Dunnett, who has long, shiny, dark brown hair, compares the experience of paddling a birch bark canoe to "a leaf sitting on water."

 

About 200 kilometres southwest of Metepenagiag in the First Nation community of Kingsclear, elder Charles (nicknamed Wimpy) Solomon is one of a declining number of Maliseet elders who is keeping the ancient art of weaving black ash baskets alive.

 

The 90-year-old Second World War veteran, who wears comfy brown moccasins with blue beading just about every day, spends his time making the sought-after wooden containers in his workshop, which is set up in a small, rickety building located behind the bungalow he lives in with his daughter.

 

During the summer months, he methodically weaves on the front porch of the house.

 

"The black ash is hard to find these days and it's a lot of work preparing it to make baskets," Solomon says.

 

Still, he'll hold on to the art of basket-making, which was passed down to him by his parents, for as long as his eyesight and hands are up to the intricate work. He's taught many others the technique over the years and hopes the craft doesn't die because of its important link to the past.

 

Looking to the future, many see the appointment last year of New Brunswick's first aboriginal lieutenant-governor as a key moment in history that will do a lot to bridge the cultural gap that can exist between natives and non-natives.

 

Graydon Nicholas, who grew up in the First Nation community of Tobique, says that, while he doesn't necessarily see himself as a role model for aboriginal people, he does hope that, as lieutenant-governor, he's able to inspire people.

 

To highlight how barriers can be overcome, he openly tells people that he failed Grade 1 because he couldn't speak English.

 

"My career path is something I wouldn't want anyone else to have to overcome with its major obstacles and discrimination I've faced in my life," he says. "I would sooner try to see people now understand the culture of First Nations people, the importance of their language, the importance of our spirituality, and that we can co-exist with people of other cultures, other languages and other traditions."

 

Nicholas says that it's true that First Nations communities have significant challenges, but he sees more co-operation and communication between natives and non-natives as an important means to improve the quality of life for all people.

 

 

Submitted by Luc Majno

 

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