Celebrating the longest day and the First Nations
The summer solstice is a day that Indigenous peoples around the world have celebrated for thousands of years. The Earth’s northern hemisphere is tilted as close as it gets toward the sun, and we enjoy the longest day of light in the year.
Across the land, First Nations will gather and share in ceremonies and traditions that have been carried out for thousands of years. We gather to celebrate and to thank Mother Earth for her gifts. And we gather to celebrate our languages, cultures and ceremonies, which have persevered and prevailed despite decades of concerted effort to eradicate them.
In Canada on June 21, the summer solstice celebration has become National Aboriginal Day, a day of celebration for the contributions and cultures of Indigenous peoples.
As these lands have changed, so too have the peoples and nations upon them. It was the land itself that taught us how to survive here. And our teachings of survival, of fitting into an environment, of adapting to the lessons of creation are all still valid and effective today, even with the introduction of the concrete environment.
I often explain to Canadians the symbols on the treaty medals given to the numbered treaty chiefs when those treaties were being made. The figures of an Indigenous man and a non-Indigenous person shaking hands, with a hatchet buried in the ground between them, came to represent the meaning behind treaty-making — that peaceful coexistence and mutual respect would and should guide our relationship forward.
It is a meeting of two equals, who both came to the negotiating table with their own laws, legal systems and traditions that made treaty-making with their new neighbours a legal requirement. The treaty was not meant to extinguish First Nation rights, but to recognize that First Nations’ ways of life, including our legal systems and ways of governance, were protected and would continue and develop alongside the legal system of Canadians.
June 21 is an appropriate day to think about the path we are now on and the movement toward basing the CanadianFirst Nation relationship on the true recognition of the inherent rights, title and jurisdiction of First Nation peoples and nations.
In 2017, treaty and trade are still dominant themes of relationships between nations. And today, First Nations have rights and interests, and our place as nations and distinct peoples in the global dialogue on the economy, trade, the environment and human rights.
The United Nations and Canada have in clear terms affirmed our international status as nations and peoples with the right to self-determination, which includes the right to benefit and prosper from the wealth of our lands while carrying out our sacred responsibilities to protect Mother Earth.
Since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report, many Canadians have responded enthusiastically and have taken steps to learn, and sometimes relearn, the history of the relationship between Canadians and First Nations. Many people ask how we can overcome our difficult shared history and forge a new, brighter future for First Nations peoples. Reconciliation means returning to a relationship where Indigenous peoples can once again express our own unique nations, laws, languages, governance and spirituality.
Revitalizing First Nations languages, the original languages of these lands, is a vital part of reconciliation. It may seem a challenging task, but the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provides the framework for rights realization and reconciliation that is respectful and peaceful coexistence — and an end to colonial mindsets and discriminatory attitudes.
That is why the declaration is at the core of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions’ calls to action. The next step is to work with us to develop a national action plan for implementation, as required by Canada’s international obligations and recent commitments made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Today, First Nations celebrate our resilience, our many contributions and our languages, knowledge traditions, laws, songs, dance and ceremonies. First Nations are an enduring presence in this land and have been since time immemorial.
We are inseparable part of these lands; the past, the present and the future. We are here. We always have been, and we always will be.
Today, First Nations celebrate our resilience, our many contributions and our languages, knowledge traditions, laws, songs, dance and ceremonies