Manitoba First Nations leaders urge return to culture on 50th anniversary of Wahbung: Our Tomorrows
CBC
First Nations spiritual leaders in Manitoba are urging their people to go back to their lodges, languages and spirituality in a follow-up to a groundbreaking document that was released 50 years ago.
"We were going through a time of what I believe was the beginning of the resurgence of our people," said Dave Courchene Jr., an Anishinaabe elder and founder of the Turtle Lodge in Sagkeeng First Nation, 100 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.
"I know my father and others that emerged during that time, they were very vocal in terms of trying to create more independence and more autonomy for the people."
Courchene Jr. is the son of David Courchene, one of the founders and the first president of the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood, known today as the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.
In 1971, First Nations chiefs and the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood united to release Wahbung: Our Tomorrows. The document was a response to the controversial proposals of the federal government's "White Paper," which sought to eliminate Indian status and absolve the government of its fiduciary responsibilities to First Nations people.
Courchene Jr. calls it "a total position of assimilation."
"And what it did was it only fuelled that spirit of unity across the country."