The Three Books - Reconciling Canada’s Takers and Leavers

Canada, a blessed nation in many ways is at cross roads – to balance the exploitation of natural resources with protecting needs of mostly indigenous people and the environment. Much of Canada’s wealth comes from natural resources situated in and around traditional lands of Canada’s aboriginal people.  As more and more indigenous people assert their rights seeking to protect the lands and get a piece of the economic pie, Canada’s plural and multicultural Values are being tested.

Following on the last article, I weave in the narrative of the three books, Ishmael, The Orenda and Earth to Property, to give us a sense of the history, culture and the evolution of the new material world as the old indigenous and aboriginal world also survived against all odds.  The old world’s survival is a blessing to moderate the new world founded on the notion of a machine designed to produce and sustain human life based on the myth "world belongs to man".  This myth is testing the limits of the planet.  

Ishmael; Daniel Quinn’s philosophical novel, published after he won the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship in 1991 was profound. The book is a Socratic dialogue between a teacher and student about ethics, human behavior and sustainability to understand how and where this myth of man emerged.     

Ishmael, the teacher, provokes the student to inquire into homo sapien’s divergence from a nomadic hunter gatherer life style (called Leavers) to possess and farm the land (becoming Takers).  

Takers encroach, dominate and destroy the Leavers (as Abel destroyed Cain) and other species in the competition for resources.  In the Taker’s myth, man dominates nature as opposed to “man belongs to nature”.

Man evolved to think and reason – “Why suffer the vagaries of nature, when I have the rational thinking skills to control nature?”.  

In notionally taking control, man possessed land to cultivate, to control the food supply and eliminated anything that impeded this quest.  So Takers exterminate competition starting with the pests in the fields, whereas Leavers do not.

Leavers kill only for necessity - food for sustenance or for self-defense.  Leavers thrive in diversity and do not kill to destroy as Takers do.

Ishmael challenges the student to question man’s myth of dominance, as when nature’s laws are broken there is bound to be consequences.

Boyden

 

Joseph Boyden’s The Orenda, an epic story of a meeting of two vastly different cultures - The European and the Aboriginal - in the founding days of 15^th century Canada relates well to this Taker – Leaver narrative.  

The story set among the seemingly brutal avenging war between the Iroquois and Huron nations with Jesuit missionaries from France a midst – I was startled by the violence in the opening chapters, I stopped reading it.  

It bothered me that I could not endure this story, which my Eastern self knew had deeper meaning, but my Western judgmental self was getting in the way. 

I reflected on it, as I kept on reading Ishmael, when I came across;

“....The Leaver peoples on that map were not an imaginary boundary, but a cultural boundary.  If the Navajo people got too crowded, they could not say to themselves; Well the Hopi have a lot of wide open space, let us go over there and become Hopi’.” 

Laws of nature made it unthinkable to cross these cultural boundaries. Doing so had risks and consequences – of getting captured and killed even as The Orenda was playing out.  This, according to Ishmael was the way Leavers limited their own population growth so the ecological diversity for the sustenance of the earth continue. There was a larger purpose.

Human population - as Takers destroy its competition, will grow unabated, which according to Ishmael is our planet’s undoing, as it creates an imbalance in it's biodiversity. 

Serendipitously, I was listening to the radio when Canada Reads was on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) Jian Ghomeshi show – when the eminent Stephen Lewis remarked on the violence and torture in The Orenda as pornographic and missing an opportunity to rally the nation to reconciliation.  I sat uncomfortably with that judgment by someone I respect as a Canadian thought leader. 

Source:Penguin

Aboriginal activist and journalist Wab Kinew's impassioned response resonated with me as he focused on the distinctly different worldviews. “Violence is the key to understanding this message” Kinew said, as I pondered on the Taker (western) pulpit from which we judge the way of life and culture of these Leavers (aboriginal people). 

Defending honor and dignity through torture and violence is an integral part of aboriginal culture when it is appropriate.  

Kinew’s description of his own annual Sundance ritual going for 4 days without food and water in a trance becoming one with nature is at odds with my Western rational self.  However, I accept it from my Karmic interconnected universe of the East.  

Kinew asserted at the end; “Reconciliation is the greatest social justice issue for Canada and this must not be a second chance at assimilation.  Canadians have to be challenged and unsettled out of their comfort zones to understand this”.    

The reality is that 21^st century technologies are exposing the many distinct worldviews and cultures inhabiting the earth.  

After all, attempts to annihilate or assimilate the aboriginal communities in Canada failed.  I am excited for Canada hearing this from an assertive aboriginal voice reaching out to connect with the Takers as we seek a sustainable path to development.

I was inspired to open The Orenda again and finished the chapter Caressing with the ritual torture and killing of the two Iroquois captives discussed by Lewis and Kinew - this time without judgement, for that is the way it is.   

Bird, the elder, the great Huron warrior in the story, honors the two captives when he says, “These two are the bravest men I have ever had the pleasure of meeting....End it now” - the captives who had a hand in killing Bird’s family earlier, proved their honor by not succumbing to fear and accepted their fate with dignity as the overnight ritual came to an end with their deaths.  

“Suffering is key to achieving something meaningful” said Kinew. This is the different, yet legitimate worldview from a distinct culture (Leavers) that co-inhabits this earth with us the Takers, who seek to alleviate suffering through a material consumerist life.  

As I switched books to read Anthony J Hall’s Earth to Property, I came across a description of the Great Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, celebrating the 400^th anniversary of Columbus "discovering" America.  

Chicago was the frontier to showcase America’s westward expansion and the creation of its unique culture – innovative, vital and individual resourcefulness of Euro-America – the evolution of the Takers from agriculture to industry.  

It was exciting times with Thomas Edison’s inventions showcased through his company George Westinghouse competing with Nikola Tesla’s alternating current (AC power) which helped America dominate the world in technological and commercial innovation for decades to come.  

Thousands of people from around the world came to the exposition to witness American ingenuity, the machines, its processes, techniques of production, marketing and public relations prowess supported by a new culture of the “land of the free” – consumerism.

This American corporate culture developed by blending commerce and political influence with a coercive force that elevated the Taker to a higher level of “world belongs to man alone” myth, defined the capitalist ideology that rules the world.

The exposition also brought together world religions and the indigenous “Indian” people of both Canada and the US.  

Students from the Canadian residential schools were brought to show their integration to civilization where a pamphlet titled “The Canadian Indian” read;

“To make known the steps by which the Canadian people have to a large extent succeeded in giving the aboriginal tribes their civilization and its advantages, in return to their lands they have received from them”.

The plan to showcase the new civilization went well until eight Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl) performers from British Columbia did their bidding on August 10^th on Great Britain Day in front of 10,000 people.  

George Hunt, was the astute leader of the Kwakwaka’wakw, with mastery of both his own Leaver culture of tradition and the modern Taker culture.  He and his delegation were not going to let this opportunity go by without displaying their spirit of defiance for what was expected of them – to be the quaint icons of an obsolete culture.

That day the Kwakwaka’wakw deviated from the previous performances of a sanitized, folklore image of themselves to shock the audience by mounting a spectacle that confirmed the stereotype of the"Aboriginal savage", yet they were being their authentic and distinct cultural selves.

Near the climax of the ceremony, George Hunt took a knife and cut two long incisions between the shoulder blades of two of the performers.  Then he reached into the bloody incisions and, stretching the skin away exposing the muscles, inserted ropes underneath the skin to the shock and awe of the audience.

This performance was a great affront and humiliation to the organizers and the Dominion of Canada, overwhelming the civilized imagery of the ‘Indian’ people presented earlier.  

Canada responded by extending the Indian Act to ban potlatch (an elaborate ceremonial event for gift giving)that were counter to the Christian evangelization of the “Indian”.

Provocative books like A Fair Country by John Ralston Saul brought to the surface the power and the potential of Canada’s different aboriginal peoples who survived the 16^th-20^th century onslaught of the Europeans and the Empire Loyalists.  Saul shows that aboriginal traditional culture is well and alive and even goes onto suggest that Canada is a Metis nation.   

The Orenda, through its controversial, yet compelling fiction brings to life these distinct differences in worldviews, cosmologies and perceptions between the Aboriginal and the European colonizers to “mainstream” Canada.   With the media attention, it has spawned much needed discussion and debate as Aboriginal people are being rediscovered in a different light moving away from the usual stereotypes. 

As Esteem Transforms

Many Aboriginal communities, as they overcome the legacy of residential schools and gain their voice with esteem and confidence, are developing into a formidable spiritual and economic force and also the fastest growing population in Canada.  

 

The emerging success stories of the James Bay Cree in Quebec, Pic Mobert of the Soo, the Tli Cho and Dene of the North among so many others who’s assertive voices temper to balance the economic focus with the spiritual and the natural, illustrates this.       

As the Leaver communities develop and become self reliant, there is the risk of growing apart from Taker - "Mainstream" Canada.  This could create a clash of cultures to divide Canada. 

Savages and Peacemakers

I am yet hearing judgments to The Orenda as we learn aboriginal wisdom, "the book proves they were savages" - yet we forget how the Americas - both North and South were formed by the Europeans with a much more complex form of savagery.
  
It was back then - so we learn from history, have crucial conversations, forgive each other and move forward as our minds have evolved too, as we have learned to be fearless and comfortable with each other's differences.

Over 400 years of coexistence is bound to culturally cross fertilize leaving the differences to be less than what we think.

Canadian born academic and author Stephen Pinker, in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined says that violence in the world has declined for a combination of reasons, among them the world getting smaller because of technologies.  Our minds have evolved too with time, in learning to deal with our emotions of fear and needs, when it comes to differences. 

Yet for many Canadians the schism of understanding exists.  "Mainstream" Canada has an opportunity to thoughtfully reflect and reassess own biases and prejudices to engage the aboriginal communities on equal ground.  

As fellow Canadians, we have to collectively close the gap. That gap manifests itself as a third world nation within Canada, which all Canadians have to take collective responsibility for.

As I speak to more and more Aboriginal people, I really do not see a major divergence in values and aspirations, even though there are distinct cultural differences. When this is acknowledged and accepted by both the Takers and Leavers, old wounds could heal and the schism may close.  

Being authentic and fearless in this reconciliation process is the greatest opportunity for Canada to close the political, economic, social and cultural gap. That is to walk the talk based on our Values for pluralism and multiculturalism, which we celebrate as being truly Canadian.  

This then will require an acceptance of the new nations that may emerge within the nation of Canada.