Jeremy Dutcher created musical magic

cylinders by an anthropologist over a seven-year period and Dutcher has spent five years polishing on them.

We were lucky enough to hear him about three years ago at a house concert locally. His classical training and skill were even more beautifully displayed just recently. Somehow, despite not understanding his words, the songs connected with the listeners in that old auditorium.

As one of “the people of the beautiful river” in New Brunswick, he has a poignant mission — to weave the voices of his ancestors into contemporary instrumentation. An Acadia University music grad that I’d interviewed several years ago aided in the process. Greg Harrison, who is based in Toronto now, played percussion and blended some of the ancient voices from Dutcher’s album into the evening’s music.

At one point, Dutcher told his University Hall audience that, while his album would be for sale in the lobby, he didn’t want folks to purchase it as much as talk to his parents.

He explained his mother grew up speaking her language, then she attended a church-run school where First Nations students were physically punished for using it. Now “we have less than 100 fluent speakers,” he said. His parents were taking donations to Skicinuwatuwahtiq or the Partners Foundation for Youth in an effort to propel Wolastoqey into the 21st century.

I sensed that Dutcher was, not long ago, an angry, young Indigenous man concerned about the injustices his community and others across the country live with. The basic lack of clean drinking water on reserves has to rankle, along the centuries old role of the Christian church in subjugating our Indigenous peoples.

The Cornwallis statue was taken down in Halifax, but his name remains, along with that of General Jeffery Amherst, who advocated Indians be inoculated with smallpox by means of infected blankets.

Mi'kmaq historian Daniel Paul calls Amherst a white supremacist. He has said, "in the future I don't think there should ever be anything named after people who committed what can be described as crimes against humanity."

Meanwhile, the federal Liberal government is seeking a judicial review of a ruling that ordered this nation to pay $40,000 to First Nations children who were taken from their homes on-reserve and put in care. A historic decision back in 2016 found Canada guilty of purposely discriminating against First Nations children.

I admire NDP MP Charlie Angus, who consistently opposes the policies of a government that has systemically discriminated against children. Dr. Cindy Blackstock, a member of the Gitxan Nation, is an even more powerful commentator. As executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, Blackstock speaks about the root causes that led to this country’s dangerous wave of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and the massive removal of First Nations children from their families.

According to Blackstock, there is no more important legal case in Canada right now.

“So please do watch. Don’t turn away. We really do need all of your help and your support as we move forward to build not only a more just world for First Nations kids, but to build a better future for Canada in the process.”

There are so many ways the leaders of this country have failed Indigenous communities. That’s why I was so impressed with Jeremy Dutcher’s tone. He appeared to have deliberately decided, like the old adage about catching flies with honey, to avoid anger. That is, no doubt, why the table where his parents stood collecting donations had such a lengthy line.