Lots of history books have been written from the perspective of British and European settlers in Canada. The history of First Nations is less known.
A course being offered at Okanagan College beginning April 2 hopes to counter that reality.
Understanding of History and Relationships with Canada’s First People will aim to provide a broad understanding of the events that have shaped Secwepemc relationships with non-Secwepemc people in the Shuswap.
The Secwepemc are the indigenous people who inhabit the south central Interior of B.C.
Craig Duckchief of the Adams Lake Indian Band, part of the Secwepemc Nation, will be presenting the course, along with some other members of the band.
He said when people are looking at ways to build relationships, learning how those relationships have developed over the past 100 years or so is important – what caused their present-day form.
A timeline is useful, he said, including looking at documents over the past 200 years.
By the early 1900s, “you have chiefs who were petitioning Ottawa for these questions (about intentions, land, etc.) to be answered. They (the chiefs) were open to building relationships.”
However, other goals such as building on economic wealth and securing how that was going to occur were taking precedence in Ottawa.
“So then there was the Indian Act, to put these people on reserves and limiting the actions and interactions, while the rest of the Canadian population came in and divided up the land. What was that relationship then?”
He says the history is not well understood and policies that governed the relationship are generally unreported.
“It’s all about the stories, the human aspect of the stories and how it impacted the people locally…,” he says.
“Enter the story with coyote and creation. Enter the story with Queen Elizabeth sending out explorers. Look at those stories as a premise. There was a human factor in there. Look at what remains today – it’s a continuing story.”
Duckchief said anyone is welcome to take the course.
“We want to focus on as broad a spectrum as we can. It could be native and non-native, even our own indigenous people, Secwepemc people, it’s open to anyone.”
The course runs Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m., starting April 2 and finishing June 18. Contact the Salmon Arm campus to register at 250-804-8888 or online at www.okanagan.bc.ca/csreg.