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Ben's avatar

While working in Alert Bay BC. in about 1989 I was flown in to Hopetown on the mainland coast to level some houses which had sunk on the soft soil . It was a small settlement of about 15 indigenous peoples which included 2 early teen boys. After work one evening they received permission from their parents to take out their punt and show me their Island where they placed their deceased and generally show me around the coast. We approached the low lying island and temporarily fastened onto the massive iron ring at the landing spot and observed the small cedar houses in which the coffins where placed. We did not go ashore on the craggy igneous shore or stay for any length of time. In due course we left and returned back to the village along the coast. While doing so the steersman recounted how he had heard wild sounds coming from the shore one evening and he surmised it was a Buckwoss or wild man. He was afraid but felt reasonably safe while in the punt at sea. On our return we pulled the punt onto the shelving shore and made it fast. While doing so I commented that on this shore in Precontact time his ancestors would have made cedar canoes. I further said if we looked around we would find evidence of this. I looked down at my feet and there was a broken stone adze made from fine grained igneous rock. He was amazed and I was a little surprised at how quickly I had shown my point. I found further evidence of stones with the conchoidal fracture associated with being worked by man. These two teenagers had a live in teacher on the island whose only job was to educate these boys. I was surprised how little they knew about their environment and their history. The community was well off and I wonder whether the wild man would be the same as the Wendigo in the above article. I do not think the coast environment can be related directly to the interior plains and Barren lands for there was always plenty of fish which were easy to process and keep in time of need.

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Brian Giesbrecht's avatar

Indigenous have indeed chosen to reject economic and social integration for their people. The irony is that the leaders themselves have fully integrated. In fact, they have used all of the gifts “colonization” has given them to become leaders. But instead of counselling the indigenous underclass that remains behind to do the same the leaders tell them to reject integration and follow a dead end “separateness” path that leaves them poor and the “leaders” rich

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