The indigenousness of Indigenous

Language, as always, matters, mightier than any sword, sharper than any blade, the destroyer of reputations and the spark of revolutions, the source of comfort for aching souls and the inspiration for dreamers of a better world.

For all of those reasons and many more, language is everything to Indigenous peoples, from preserving oral traditions to shaping who they are and who they want to be.

Cindy Blackstock furthered the language conversation with a Friday night post on Twitter. The executive director for the Ottawabased First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, a UNBC honourary doctorate recipient and the pride of Burns Lake and the Gitxsan Nation wrote: “Today’s language tips! 1) Do not use Indigenous when describing something First Nations, Metis or Inuit specific (i.e.: reserves are only FN); 2) avoid the possessive tense in descriptions of FNMI relationships to other gov’t or peoples (use F.N. in Canada v. our F.N.).”

For journalists, politicians, business leaders and community members eager to engage in a respectful dialogue with Indigenous Canadians, not only as part of the reconciliation process but simply to be courteous, conversations like the one Blackstock started help, especially if non-Indigenous Canadians put in the time and energy to listen.

As with many words that change in meaning and use over time, indigenous is getting an update around the world. The English lowercase use of indigenous as an adjective is 350 years old, a combination of two Latin words indu (within) and gignere (to beget), according to Merriam-Webster.

For much of its life, indigenous was mostly a fancy word used by academics to describe the plants, animals and people specific to a certain geographic area. The health community went with its own word - endemic - to describe diseases that originated in or were limited to an exact location. The rest of the population uses simpler words like local or domestic or native instead of indigenous. Native eventually became an identifier, followed most recently by indigenous, for Indigenous peoples.

Note the capitalization. The transformation of Indigenous (and Aboriginal) to upper-case designations separates those two words from their Latin origins and their more historical English uses. It’s also worth noting that Indigenous is the preferred umbrella word over Aboriginal to include all Canadians of pre-colonial ancestry, whether they are Inuit, First Nations or Metis.

For those who refuse to acknowledge this appropriation of the English language, perhaps they should consider the number of Indigenous words appropriated into English, everything from place names, including Canada, Kelowna and Coquitlam, and animals, such as moose, caribou, skunk and raccoon, to kayak, toboggan and the political word caucus. It’s also important to note the taboo words. Both Indian and Eskimo are not only out of fashion but considered horribly insensitive (wake up, Cleveland and Edmonton) descriptors imposed on First Nations and Inuit people by European colonizers. UBC-Okanagan’s Gregory Younging and other Indigenous Canadian scholars argue that Indian and Eskimo should be only used by nonIndigenous people when writing or speaking for historical and linguistic accuracy (as in the case of this editorial).

Notice that Indigenous people reserve the right to still use either of these words as they wish to describe themselves, either personally or as a group.

The Tse’Khene people north of Prince George, for example, continue to refer to their governing and political organization as the McLeod Lake Indian Band.

Indian and Eskimo as taboo words may eventually transform into the off-limits racial epithet that the N-word has become, as well as the altered modern pronunciation and spelling of the N-word commonly used solely by many African Americans in a variety of circumstances with a variety of meanings, depending upon the speaker and the audience. Or they may not. The transformation and change of language and words is as unpredictable and history itself.

What is both clear and complicated, at least in 2018, is the indigenousness (yes, that’s a word in the lowercase, as is indigenously) of Indigenous, a natural, proper and specific word to signify the original peoples and their descendants of this country and this continent.

Capitalizing Indigenous, First Nations, Inuit and Metis is also a simple sign of courtesy and respect, as it is to address all individuals by their proper names (and capitalize them in writing), regardless of their ethnicity.

Neil Godbout is managing editor of The Prince George Citizen.