‘THERE’S NO CONSENT’
Video game spurs controversy
A First Nation in Saskatchewan is considering legal action against a California video game company over the forthcoming release of Civilization VI, a game in which people can play at colonialism and imperial expansion, but as an Indian character.
It is a new twist on the debate about Indigenous cultural appropriation, which is typically focused on visual representations like headdresses, not political behaviour.
The new instalment of the game Civilization, due out next month, includes a main plot line about the Plains Cree, under the leadership of Chief Poundmaker, in which players advance by developing trade routes, building infrastructure, forging alliances and other elements of statecraft.
But this use of a historical figure and the name of a modern First Nation, without the consent or involvement of the Poundmaker Cree Nation, is a dishonourable method of making money off a culture that was nearly exterminated by the Canadian government, according to a community leader.
“There’s no consent given to this company to go ahead and use Chief Poundmaker in their game,” said Milton Tootoosis, headman of the Poundmaker Cree Nation, northwest of Saskatoon, speaking on behalf of the chief, who was not available.
“I think that’s potentially very dangerous for a lot of young naive people and maybe older naive people; this colonial notion of expanding an empire, using military power to take over a community, to access their land and extract the resources go with it.
“That’s a big problem we’ve been trying to resolve through talks around this notion of truth and reconciliation. We are, as First Nations people, still trying to work our way out of this model that’s been a catastrophe for First Nations people, not only in Canada but throughout the world. Some people could potentially understand or equate the notions of imperialism and colonialism to the values of our people.”
The maker of Civilization, 2K Games, based near San Francisco, did not reply to a request for comment.
Plains Cree leader Pîhtokahanapiwiyin, known by the anglicized name Chief Poundmaker (a “pound” in this context is a large trap or corral for hunting buffalo), was convicted of treason after the 1885 North-West Rebellion and sentenced to three years in prison in Manitoba. He served less than a year and died aged 44 soon after.
He is the subject of a long-running campaign to formally pardon or exonerate him, now that a fuller historical picture has emerged of his efforts to seek and preserve peace and evidence that some of the looting of Fort Battleford for which he was blamed was actually carried out by Canadian troops.
The National Arts Centre in Ottawa, for example, has apologized and removed scenes about Poundmaker from a play, Gabriel Dumont’s Wild West Show, after being informed they repeated historical errors.
In a promotional video for Civilization VI, Chief Poundmaker looks young, fit and strong. A narrator describes him as ruling in a tumultuous time and “judiciously toeing the line between aggression and diplomacy.”
Tootoosis said the images are misleading for the chief of a people who were reduced to wearing tattered rags. Photos that exist of Chief Poundmaker tend to show him looking gaunt, which Tootoosis said reflected Canada’s policy “to literally starve out the Indians on the Prairies and force them to the treaty table.”
The video game makers “should have approached the community directly,” Tootoosis said. “They should have inquired about our local cultural protocols.”
THERE’S NO CONSENT GIVEN TO ... USE CHIEF POUNDMAKER IN THEIR GAME.