TURTLE ISLAND – People pass away. That is the unfortunate side effect of living. Every single person alive today will die, eventually. But where the similarity ends is how loved ones say goodbye.
Most people hold farewells or send-offs, and some choose not to have anything. Even bodies left unclaimed are given some type of service.
There are many different types of funerals practiced by religious and cultural sects. The people who use these services for their loved ones are either aided before death by the person who is dying or guided by a document like a will.
Some religions believe that the burial must happen immediately, others feel a prolonged viewing schedule is required, and others hold their own cultural or religious ceremonies determined by tradition.
This is not necessarily the case for the Original People of this land, sometimes called Indians, First Nations or most recently, the catchphrase is Indigenous.
The Government of Canada banned many Indigenous sacred ceremonies and rites from 1884 to 1951, justifying their decision because they believed they were preventing the assimilation of Indigenous People.
The Indian Act was first introduced in 1876. The act included several colonial laws that aimed to eliminate First Nations culture in favour of assimilation into Euro-Canadian society.
On April 19, 1884, the Indian Act was amended to ban the Potlatch and the Sundance ceremonies. The amendment said, “Every Indian or other person who engages in or assists in celebrating the Indian festival known as the Potlatch or in the Indian dance known as the Tamanawas is guilty of a misdemeanour, and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than six nor less than two months in any gaol or other place of confinement; and every Indian or persons who encourages… an Indian to get up such a festival… shall be liable to the same punishment.”
According to the Gladue Rights Research Database, another amendment to the Indian Act in 1884 prohibited the People from gathering together, criminalizing the act of “inciting three or more [Indigenous people] against civil officials.”
“Whoever induces, incites or stirs up any three or more Indians, non-treaty Indians, or half-breeds apparently acting in concert –
(a.) To make any request or demand of any agent or servant of the Government in a riotous, disorderly or threatening manner, or in a manner calculated to cause a breach of the peace; or –
(b.) To do an act calculated to cause a breach of the peace –
Is guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour.
“The superintendent general was also given the power to regulate and/or prohibit the sale of ammunition to Indigenous peoples. This amendment also prohibited the Potlatch and Tamanawas (Indigenous ceremonies from the West Coast). In 1895, further practices, including the Sun Dance and the Thirst Dance, were banned. In 1914, First Nations people in Western Canada were banned from participating in ‘costumed’ rituals without official permission.”
In the 1884 Amendment, John A. Macdonald said that the Potlatch celebrated ‘debauchery of the worst kind.’ The GRRD website said, “Colonists refused to understand or accept different Indigenous customs and protocols which countered European ideologies that prized capitalism, personal wealth and property, and individual liberty. The nature of reciprocity, redistribution of wealth, and collective community care characteristic in the Potlatch and other Indigenous customs challenged colonist’s worldviews.”
The banning of the sacred ceremonies achieved its desired effect. Many of the traditional ways, rites of passage, and the connection to the land and water were nearly lost, but for those people who hid the sacred bundles away and stopped openly performing ceremonies until such a time that it would be safe to pick up those bundles again.
Without their sacred ceremonies and culture, the People were forced to accept the settler’s religions and language, which in turn kept them from understanding their own culture and ceremonies.
“We were oppressed long enough that we forgot our older cultural practices.”
– Paul Nadjiwan, Neyaashiinigmiing Elder
Neyaashiinigmiing Elder Paul Nadjiwan has provided cultural funerary rites since 1998 in a number of First Nations communities. He said, “We were oppressed long enough that we forgot our older cultural knowledge. However, some of our elders shared the traditional teachings with those who were interested in learning these things.”
The People are slowly reclaiming and learning many forms of ceremony. Many of the People are attending ceremonies like the Sundance, sweat lodge, fasting lodge, talking circles and other activities. Indigenous people from many backgrounds are once again attending ceremonies, learning the language and reconnecting with the land and water.
All of these ceremonies promote personal healing and growth.
The divisive nature of what was done to the Original People continues to darken many doorsteps with confusion and fear of the unknown, intertwined with teachings from the Christian world of an angry god who punishes those who don’t do as they are told.
But there is hope. The road back to traditional ways is long and bumpy, with many learning curves, but there is hope for future generations to know these ways and not have to question the ceremonies.
One of the ceremonies that is being reclaimed is the sending off of a loved one to the spirit world. When someone passes away, the only recourse is to follow those rules and regulations set up by the government and churches.
The traditional ways of the Original People differ from nation to nation; even intertribally, variations of the same ceremonies are present, and dialects of the language also change slightly between similar nations.
There is very real confusion among Indigenous People about the death ceremonies due to the many atrocities that happened with the ancestors, like disrespecting ancient burial grounds for “progress,” using the bones of the ancestors to build the cities, like some buildings in Ottawa, and discarding so many children that died in residential schools with no regard for ceremony or even a prayer.
Many believe that the government still regards the Original People of this land as lower beings, akin to animals or garbage, as in the case of the Indigenous women believed to be left in a garbage dump in Manitoba and the inability of the governments and some settlers to understand the importance of the death ceremony.
Most ceremonies are conducted in the language of the People; in this territory, Anishinaabemowin is spoken. There are not enough words in the English language to correctly translate the teachings according to those who express their mother tongue.
Nadjiwan provided some of the translations for a sending-off ceremony as best he could, saying these are as close as possible to the English language. Maajaa’iwe – Speaking for somebody, sending someone off; Bagidenjige – holding a funeral; Jaagaakizw – cremation.
Many people are on a journey of discovery, learning about their culture, picking up their sacred bundles and language and joining others in ceremony.
“Returning to the culture and picking up those bundles that were taken from our families, our ancestors and our communities during the time of colonization; Indian agents; residential schools; Sixties Scoop and many flu pandemics, is what has held us together,” Neyaashiinigmiing knowledge keeper Sheila Robson said. “Their ways may have been simple prayers or huge community gatherings. But these are often not talked about for fear of backlash, of being attacked and put down because people of other faiths or belief systems don’t understand the spiritual ways of Indigenous People and what having ceremony does for them.”
Listowel resident Christin Dennis is a knowledge keeper who is
providing sweat lodge ceremonies for those wishing to learn. Pictured here in March 2023 with the sweat lodge he built just outside of Gowanstown. (Cory Bilyea/Midwestern Newspapers file photo)
As time goes by, some funeral directors are permitting Indigenous families more leeway during the funeral process. However, some people wish to send off their loved ones in a strictly traditional way that sometimes doesn’t sit well with others.
Many Indigenous People believe the laws that govern the death process need to be updated to include the personal wishes of traditional Indigenous People who wish to be sent off in a manner of their choosing.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is about respecting and recognizing people’s human rights. On June 21, 2021, the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act received royal assent and came into force.
UNDRIP includes 46 articles outlining changes required to rectify the wrongs committed by the government and the churches.
Article 12 states:
- Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest, practise, develop and teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies; the right to maintain, protect, and have access in privacy to their religious and cultural sites; the right to the use and control of their ceremonial objects; and the right to the repatriation of their human remains.
- States shall seek to enable the access and/or repatriation of ceremonial objects and human remains in their possession through fair, transparent and effective mechanisms developed in conjunction with the Indigenous peoples concerned.
Michael Thrasher (Kawhayaweet), a nationally recognized teacher of Indigenous Knowledge (Cree/Anishinabe) in philosophy, human development, and holistic health, has been heard to say the following statement during Elders gatherings across the country that resonates with many Indigenous People and put this into perspective. “When we marry our own and bury our own, we are truly sovereign.”
Thrasher spoke with Midwestern Newspapers in a telephone interview from his home in Victoria, B.C., sharing his knowledge of funeral ceremonies, burial rights, cultural sensitivity, and preservation.
“Well, I have conducted weddings and funerals, birth to death, and by the way that the law stands, at least where I’ve done those ceremonies, the law is that if I’m doing a wedding, I must either have a minister or priest or a JP present to record the process,” Thrasher said.
“I also have conducted funerals; the same thing applied there; there was a minister in the audience who signed some documents, and so did the family. So, the process is rooted in legislation. Now, that doesn’t prevent that ceremony or process from happening. It just says that there needs to be a government record of it.”
Thrasher discussed the traditional methods of record keeping before contact and how things changed after contact, especially the traditional ways of the People, primarily oral (spoken word).
“In our world, it would be unnecessary to write it. An oral statement by somebody, delivered to the community by a trustworthy person, would be acceptable in our traditional community.” Thrasher said. “However, in the mainstream community, if it isn’t written down, it isn’t real. And it’s two systems that don’t have the necessary linkages in them or are dominant. The mainstream system is the dominant system. And we’re trying to change that.”
Thrasher believes that there are some good things that should be adopted from the mainstream community, like having a minister or JP present “that has the necessary filing processes so that they go into records that the government keeps on us, which is necessary.
“In our traditional community, there were people who went to every one of those ceremonies, whether it was a wedding, a funeral, or a naming ceremony, whatever it was, they went to all of the ceremonies, and it was their job to remember those things,” said Thrasher. “And when somebody needed to know what was so and so was wanting to have done, this person could go there and say it was at this time, and I was there, and it’s true. And whatever was necessary, they were the record. We’ve lost that process in our community. The Department of Indian Affairs and the BNA (British North America) Act made sure of that. We used to keep a record, too.
“So in today’s world, even if we had the permission to run our own ceremonies, and we didn’t need the priests or JP’s there, we’d have to find a way to record it because we need to keep the record as well.”
Wikwemikong Knowledge Holder and Elder Edna Manitowabi shared a recent experience of a family member who passed away and her involvement in the traditional ceremony. She stressed the importance of respecting the deceased and their family’s wishes.
Manitowabi was instrumental in bringing the Midewiwin ceremony back to Wikwemikong. She knows the challenges accompanying the struggle to reclaim the sacred ceremonies and bundles and the time it takes for the People to grow in their understanding of these things.
“I do have support,” she said warmly, “I mean, I was a little bit leery coming home, I did tread lightly. But, you know, it’s still a Christian community. And I still have family who are Christian, and I respect that. But they respect me, too. They love me.”
Indigenous Watchdog raises awareness of and educates Canadians on the current state of reconciliation in Canada.
A statement on its website said, “Aboriginal peoples’ right to self-determination must be integrated into Canada’s constitutional and legal framework and civic institutions, in a manner consistent with the principles, norms, and standards of the Declaration. Aboriginal peoples in Canada have Aboriginal and Treaty rights. They have the right to access and revitalize their own laws and governance systems within their own communities and in their dealings with governments. They have a right to protect and revitalize their cultures, languages, and ways of life. They have the right to reparations for historical harms.”
According to Indigenous Watchdog, as of Jan. 1, 2024, 37 per cent of the 94 Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action are either not started or stalled.
The website said, “Be informed. Speak up. Take action. Only then will reconciliation happen.”
