History and human rights

The recent Free Press editorial This mud won't stick (June 17), responding to the critiques by Leigh Syms and Gary Wowchuk (June 16), is not helpful. Its tone is dismissive of archaeology as "the search for more pottery shards, fish bones and burnt wood." Besides overlooking the importance of the site, it shows no grasp of aboriginal occupation and use patterns, as for example, in the comment, "There is no evidence of permanent or long-term habitation." (I am reminded of the older histories that referred to the millennia before 1870 as the "pre-settlement period," as if nobody lived here till the surveyors and easterners streamed in.) The writer trivializes the fact that a range of aboriginal peoples have used The Forks area intensively for 6,000 to 8,000 years, for essential seasonal livelihoods and local resources, for trade and as a meeting ground, and surely for ceremonies.

Archaeologist Bev Nicholson in his rebuttal to the Free Press editorial (June 27) notes that less than 3.8 per cent of the site in question has been excavated. He cites the need "to contextualize the data, including artifacts, features and soil strata in the threefold context of the physical, biological and cultural aspects of the past environments." Leigh Syms has indicated that no budget has been made available, however, to do basic numbering, restoration, or reconstruction of artifacts, never mind the analyses and interpretation needed to begin to understand the rich stories that they could tell. While the intensive construction (extended this spring) destroys or covers up the materials not recovered, those artifacts that were saved appear destined for storage bags and boxes with no provision for evoking and learning the human histories that they embody.

The archaeological consultant on the site has identified The Forks as "one of the 10 outstanding [archaeological] sites in Canada." On that account, and for the heritage of this land more broadly, the artifacts are hallmarks of the people's enduring presence and history. At The Forks on July 18, 1817, five chiefs of the Ojibwe and Cree nations, of whom Peguis was the best known, signed a treaty with the Earl of Selkirk, ceding (in European terms) the lands along the Red and Assiniboine rivers for the use of the newcomer settlers of the Red River Colony. Peguis later posed considerable questions about the terms of the treaty, and Treaty No. 1 (1871), which raised issues of its own, later superseded it. The central point for this discussion, however, is that for the aboriginals whose leaders signed these treaties, The Forks region was and is their homeland. Selkirk found himself dealing with important leaders with claims in the area; and the many descendants of those communities still live here.

The recovery and care of a people's history are surely a human right, and a responsibility. It is said many times these days, with truth and justice, that "we are all treaty people." Whatever the treaties' issues and imperfections, we all live together under them and have a shared heritage. If those who hold power and influence in this province and region do not take care of it, no one else will. Aboriginal people have a particular stake in the maintaining and retrieval of histories embedded in the land, in stories, and in languages (also at risk); but so do all people who live here, if they care about this place and its roots, about the people who came here first, and about global human rights as embodied locally, in the land around us. The cloud over the new museum at The Forks will not clear away unless the above issues receive more light, clarity, and remedial action.

Jennifer S.H. Brown is the director of the Centre for Rupert's Land Studies, and holds a Canada Research Chair at the University of Winnipeg.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 8, 2009 A10