Shantell PowellMy mother’s side of the family can be traced back for many generations. They were Europeans who settled in #Mi’kma’ki a couple hundred years ago. I can easily track them. But my father’s side vanishes past my great grandparents, and even these have no documentation of origin. I know from oral tradition that they are #Inuit, #Mi’kmaq, Welsh, and English. But I can prove neither my #Indigeneity nor my European #ancestry on that side. (Cont’d in comments)
My father was born in Newfoundland before it was claimed by Canada. He was declared Canadian while he was still a baby. I only found out this year that he was in the #residentialschools or #DaySchool. His mom was Mi’kmaw/English, and his Dad was Inuk/Welsh. His Mi’kmaw grandmother lived on a reserve, but I have no idea where his Inuk grandmother came from. I was raised on the land knowing that I was “Eskimo” (Dad’s term). None of us were raised in community. We were all displaced.
I have never referred to myself as Mi’kmaw because I was not raised with any of that knowledge. Until I learned about Inuit, I called myself Eskimo. I was raised on the land, helping for foraging, butchering, and other harvesting. We gathered our firewood on a dogsled. I only started finding other Inuit five years ago, and I’ve been working hard at learning traditions and the language. Even before that, I spent years advocating for Indigenous rights.
I was driven off Facebook by racists and by people accusing me of virtue signaling. I was driven off Instagram by a fellow Inuk who suddenly decided I am a pretendian. I occupy a liminal state between settler/Indigenous. Not being raised in community and being undocumented as Indigenous means I am not accepted by many other Indigenous people, and they will always look at me with suspicion when I refer to myself as Indigenous—especially since I’m a writer and artist: fields full of pretendians.
I only found out that my dad is Mi’kmaw when I was about 40 years old. It happened when my aunt passed away and I found out she had status. Recently, I discovered that he didn’t pursue getting status for me or my sister, likely because he didn’t want what happened to him to happen to us. He was badly abused by at least one religious teacher throughout his childhood. And Newfoundland did not recognize Inuit as existing outside of Labrador.
Survivors of residential schools in Newfoundland were excluded from the national apology. Since Newfoundland confederated so late, Canada didn’t want to accept any responsibility. And now here I am, an undocumented Indigenous person existing on the fringes. I am not reconnecting, because I always knew I was Inuk. Colonization has created a terrible mess. I do not know where my homelands are, and I will never be part of a land claim. But I will always fight for #LandBack for Indigenous people.
WhirlUpSea@Shanmonster I’m so sorry (and extremely frustrated ) to hear that you’ve been having to deal with so much of this BS on commercial social media, and I’m very glad to see you here. I’ve really missed seeing your art (and ‘chillas) lately!
SilverKat@Shanmonster I'm sorry you've been dealing with racists. Did you take a genetic ancestry test? I gather they show quite a lot.
@SilverKat I would, but I am extremely leery about paying money so that genetic testing companies can sell my data to insurance companies. I have a lot of health issues.
@Shanmonster Hopefully you can find a company to do it with complete privacy. If not then maybe you can spoof your data that you provide them. Make up a name and info, have someone else pay for it.
@SilverKat the sad thing is that even if it came back saying I am 100% Inuk, it would not be enough. I was not raised in community. One of my Inuk friends was stolen from her mother by the government and sold to a white family during the 60s scoop. Even though she is wholly Inuk, she and her son are still on the receiving end of lateral violence.