Nunani: Now and then (Part five)
RACHEL ATTITUQ QITSUALIK
Custer’s announcement of gold in the Black Hills set off a stampede of fortune-hunters, having no regard for the fact that prospecting in this area meant desecrating one of the most sacred sites of the Lakota people — not to mention outright violation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty.
The Lakota were outraged, of course, but spent the next few years appealing to the U.S. government. What they didn’t realize, unfortunately, is that the federal government possessed considerably less enforcement power than it pretended, and this was only aggravated by genuine greed for the gold. Economic development is, after all, what puts the glow in any government’s cheeks.
Then, as now, money talks. In 1875, a Senate commission met with several Lakota chiefs to negotiate access for gold miners, even offering to purchase the sacred area for $6 million (not a large sum, even for that era). The Lakota, to their credit, had by then learned to be distrustful of new deals, and the site was just too important to them. They weren’t interested.
Having been refused, the government promptly dropped its peaceable facade, commanding the chiefs to report to their designated reservations by Jan. 31. But the Indians had had enough, and the government’s position set off a firestorm of armed resistance by chiefs such as the great Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and many others determined to police their lands.
The federal response was to use the army to “herd” Indians encampments away from the Black Hills, systematically butchering any bands — to a child — that stood in their way. This common threat forged a powerful alliance between the tribes, who fought effectively (Little Big Horn, or “Custer’s Last Stand”, being an example) until they were finally routed in 1877. Sitting Bull eluded capture by bringing his band safely to Canada.
The U.S. Congress voted, in the end, to repeal the Fort Laramie Treaty, seizing 40 million acres of Lakota land — as well as the Black Hills, which were soon dotted with mining camps.
Now, having had all of that out, I hope the reader can intuit the point of these past few articles. I’m desperately afraid there are some out there, saying, “What the hell has all of this got to do with Arctic Canada?” I’m even more afraid that there are readers saying, “I see — she’s saying that white people aren’t trustworthy.” No, no, and no.
The point I’m making is that the Lakota War is an example of a situation wherein everything goes wrong — in the worst possible way — between aboriginal peoples and a federal government, accelerating to a disaster point within the space of only a few years.
The events leading up to the Lakota War illustrate tensions that have existed time and again — and still today — between aboriginal peoples and respective federal governments. A federal government is not necessarily an evil entity, but it is an institution with its own unique interests. Those interests can often conflict with smaller, regional interests, and all-too-easily conflict with the interests of aboriginal peoples.
Aboriginal peoples — Inuit being no exception — are constantly in a surreal position, that of feeling as if a very large, very powerful stranger has come to occupy their home. It is a bit like having a bear living in your house: You are safe as long as the bear is minding its own business, but you know it means trouble if it suddenly turns its attention to you. One way or another, you can never really relax, because even if it isn’t interested in you today, you know it would roll you if it got hungry tomorrow. It’s just the bear’s nature.
So the point I’m trying to make is that aboriginal peoples, including Inuit, who have a notably non-violent history with the Canadian government, can still never afford to take their eyes off the bear. Due to their cunning and perseverance in negotiation, Inuit have generally come to earn an unprecedented grip on the north, their home — a grip perhaps unrivalled by any other aboriginal people. But we must understand the history of this continent, so that we are not caught off-guard if that bear comes sniffing around, smelling new resources, asking for the re-negotiation of old agreements.
For negotiation is difficult, if not impossible, with one who already holds all the cards.
Pijariiqpunga.
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