2022 A.D.E. SINCE TIME BEGAN : Caveat : Forwad Thinking Statement : Caveat : IN TRUTH WE TRUST 2022 A.D.E.
AUGUST 11TH
Respectfully
The University of Victoria granted him an Honorary Doctorate in Law in 1971
"As part of a policy of assimilation, the federal government banned the potlatch from 1884 to 1951 in an amendment to the Indian Act. The government and its supporters saw the ceremony as anti-Christian, reckless and wasteful of personal property"
"Such attempts at suppression were not new. Missionaries and federal officials had been trying to ban the custom since they first arrived in British Columbia. The lobbying of the federal government to legislate the ban, can be seen as evidence of just how ineffective their initial attempts at suppression were (Ibid: 14). The purpose of the ban was explicit. It ws intended to stamp out aboriginal people and their culture. Coastal First Nations were persecuted, chiefs and noblewomen were jailed for practicing their culture, masks were confiscated, Big Houses were torn down, and ceremonial objects were burned (Joseph 1998: 26)" : Bill Reid
"The potlatch is much more than a gift giving feast. It was once the primary economic system of Coastal First People (Jonaitis 1991), and although no longer the primary economic system, it is intricately woven into the social fabric of coastal societies. These events display and legitimate class, rank, privilege, kinship, and marriage (Cole and Chaikin 1990: 12). One of the most important aspects of the potlatch is to pass on a family’s rights, privileges, and inheritances. This includes rights to land, property, fishing holes, berry patches, hunting grounds, and beach fronts. The gifts and inheritances distributed at such feasts include tangible objects (hats, blankets, dance aprons, coppers, masks, painted house fronts and carved posts), and intangible wealth (rights to specific dances, songs, stories and the right to display animal crest designs). After contact with Europeans these gifts were supplemented with goods acquired through trade including metal dishes and tools, European jewelry, flour, sugar, and cash. In the contemporary potlatch goods vary widely and include both handmade and store bought items." Bill Reid
"The Canadian government’s ban on potlatching came to a head at Christmas in 1921 when Dan Cranmer held the largest potlatch recorded on the coast of British Columbia at the village of ʼMimkwa̱mlis (Village Island). Federal authorities caught wind of the event and forty-five people were arrested. The participants were given a choice of either surrendering their potlatch regalia— to prevent them from having future potlatches—or going to jail. Twenty-two people went to jail (U'mista 2015). The confiscated collection of masks, rattles, and other treasured regalia and family heirlooms totaled over 600 pieces. The treasures were transported out in the open by boat and were exhibited as trophies on benches in Parish Hall of the Anglican Church in Alert Bay. This was particularly difficult for the Kwakwaka'wakw as the items were considered sacred, and strict tradition required that they be stored away and out of sight when not in use (U'mista 2015)." Bill Reid
"The Indian Agent, William Halliday, displayed the confiscated goods in the Anglican Parish Hall at Yalis (Alert Bay) and charged an admission price. Collectors came to see the masks and add photographs of regalia to their personal collections. Halliday also sold 33 items to Mr. George Heye, of New York, who would later found the Museum of the American Indian (now the National Museum of the American Indian). Most of the collection was then crated and divided between the Victoria Memorial Museum (now the Canadian Museum of History) and the Royal Ontario Museum.
For many years potlatches continued to be held in secret by people of the Northwest Coast with hopes that the Potlatch Ban would be repealed. In 1951, Section 149 of the Indian Act was deleted and people of the Northwest Coast were able to hold potlatches in public. The first held after the repeal was hosted by Mungo Martin, in Victoria, BC (Cole 1990). However, those who have had their families belongings confiscated have not forgotten and many are still looking to have them returned home." Bill Reid
2022 A.D.E. SINCE TIME BEGAN : Caveat : Forwad Thinking Statement : Caveat : IN TRUTH WE TRUST 2022 A.D.E.
