Traditional name important gift in Indigenous cultures

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/03/2022 (1331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last month, the Southern Chiefs’ Organization called on the Manitoba government to amend the Vital Statistics Act to allow Indigenous parents to use traditional names when naming their children.

For decades, Indigenous parents have been told by bureaucrats that certain name spellings, accents, and length would not be approved for use on legal documents.

For Indigenous names like mine this is a complicated but handleable issue.

For others — particularly in Indigenous cultures where writing systems don’t easily convert into European ones — this represents an outlawing of Indigenous cultures.

Currently, Manitoba’s Vital Statistics Act only allows for a given name and surname that includes letters A-Z, English and French accents, hyphens and apostrophes.

If you have an orthography (a writing system with symbols that refer to a sound) that uses something else, you’re out of luck.

For example, take the X̅a’’islak̓ala language, which has an macros over the ‘X’ and an accent over the ‘k’ to soften the sounds and a quotation mark to extend it.

You probably know this language by another name: Haisla.

This practice across Canada has resulted in Indigenous names being amended, bastardized, and wrongfully used — something that harkens back to residential schools, when children would be re-named and punished if they ever used traditional ones.

Re-naming people or converting traditional names into English or French versions was also something government agents did when creating membership lists for First Nations.

The control over one’s name is the basis for identity. If someone else defines you, how do you begin to define yourself?

In Indigenous cultures, a traditional name is one of the most important gifts in a young person’s life.

Given by an elder or knowledge keeper in our community, the pronouncement of a person’s name is one of the most important ceremonies we have. This is because a name isn’t something that is chosen, it’s something that is unveiled.

In Anishinaabe culture it is said that everyone has a sacred name — something creation has chosen to define you by. This is a name that’s intended to shape your life; your identity, your direction, your purpose.

When an elder is asked for a name, they are being asked to “find” it. This means spending time in the universe, asking for its meaning through prayer, meditation, or simply walking, watching, and listening.

When that name is found, a feast is held where that name is unveiled not just to who is being named but that person’s entire family. There, the story of how that name was found is told to everyone in attendance, including people assigned the role of helping remember it and thus, the name’s meaning.

The name is then announced in four directions, alongside a song and some food, inviting all beings to now use it.

That newly-named person then spends a lifetime trying to learn from that name, reflect upon how it came to them and let it guide their actions.

It is said that when that name is spoken, a person’s face becomes clearly visible to all who see them.

My name, Niigaanwewidam, means “first sound” or “leading sound.”

Its story, given by an elder named Onaubinisay, comes from a dream he had about the beginning of time, when light first arrived on Earth. In this story, there was a sound that announced this light as it came over the horizon. This is called “Niigaanwewidam,” a name I have spent a lifetime trying to encapsulate.

While growing up, and most often by Indigenous peoples, I was told that using our traditional names was disrespectful and someone could “steal” it and harm me.

This is true. It used to be that our names were replaced at treaty time and residential schools. Now they’re deemed illegal by bureaucrats in provincial departments.

So, if some still want to keep their names to themselves that’s fine. There are plenty of reasons not to use our names in mainstream society.

I remember, for example, being teased by bullies trying to hurt me.

I’ve heard more than one person, after trying to say it, cast it off and say “or whatever your name is.”

I’ve been told I’m unappreciative when I ask people to correct the spelling when it appears wrong in print or on TV.

The problem is, if I don’t use my name, creation doesn’t get to see my face clearly.

No one should accept being cast to the shadows.

I also don’t believe in the arbitrary, Euro-centric, and racist illusion that English and French are the only languages that matter in Canada.

I refuse to believe in a nonsensical principle that some names hold value and others do not.

My name demands I do otherwise.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Manitoba’s government said the province is “working on” amending the Vital Statistics Act to include Indigenous names and syllabics.

Let’s send these decision makers some light to help them make a decision. Their email is: vitalstats@gov.mb.ca.

niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca