By Kali Skalan, June 4, 2009
Since contact, the Gitxsan ethos collided with the emerging lixsgigyatimgyat (the non-Gitxsan) world view. As the lixsgigyatimgyat picked up momentum, it became apparent that Canada’s apparatus was spinning a sinister policy, the gradual civilization and assimilation policy. It implied that the Gitxsan ethos was de-valued in favour of mainstream Canada. And now, 2009, we find that the Gitxsan have succumbed so far up mainstream Canada that they are now morphed forever. Perhaps there is no returning to mainstream Gitxsan now. Mainstream Canada has high appeal. All the Gitxsan have benefited as Canadians. Accepting high tech, gint (hand outs) is a no brainer. So, now the alpha Gitxsan generation is probably the last of the elegant Gitxsan. Many will say, "Oh, it will never happen." But, alas, the bravado will fade as reality sets in. Did Duncan Campbell Scott, the architect of the assimilation policy and the Indian Residential School system, win? It’s intent was to remake the Gitxsan in his own image. The IRS system denied vital familial Gitxsan environment; it denied essential gwalx ye’inst, inherency peculiar to the wilphl Gitxsan; it denied ancient daxgyat, the strength, authority, and confidence; and it denied Gitxsanimax, the language that transmitted the identity and essence. Will a renaissance take? Or are we really gwa’a and hliisxw? Go figure yourself.
Mainstream means “the ideas, actions, and values that are most widely accepted by a group or society, e.g. in politics, fashion, or music”. Source: Encarta Dictionary.
Fast forward. 2038. From the Skeena Place, the assisted-living residence in Hazelton, BC, a 92 year old log’m gyat (old man) stirs from his reverie. Through his drool and half paralyzed mouth, the old simogyat summons his daughter. Excited that her father has finally come out of his self-induced coma, she is obedient. She rushes home, fetches a hasaax, rattle, from his sacred bundle. On return, she pushes through the throng of relatives surrounding the log’m gyat’s hospital bed. His wilnaatahl, relatives, are wide-eyed when he props himself up without the usual assistance. With hasaax in hand, time freezes momentarily. His age-spotted scrawny hand gradually comes to life. Everything suspends in anticipation. Crying, he starts. The rasp of the hasaax picks up, parade beat.
Finally “Hlaa dim git dii yaa. Nuu uu hii gwa. Ya hey yeh …” The old simogyat (hereditary chief) breaks, unable to finish the ancient family lament song, coughs red spittle. Bearly audilble, “Gwa’ it nu’m. Hliisxw.” The hasaax drops.
Skeena, Maddi’s grand-daughter, asks her ts’eetsie (grandmother), “What did wii agwiye’e (great-grandfather) mean, ts’eets?”
Deeply saddened, Maddi finally replies, “He said that we are poor. He said we are at the end, finished. What it means is that the elegant Gitxsan is now extinct, my girl.”
Today, June, 2009: Telling Gitxsan Moments
Conference room, lax yiphl Gitxsan, 3rd and final day of the Gimlitxwit meeting, fourth day of the heat wave, 29° C, coffee break. Cher, case of PureLife bottled water in hand, overhears a simgigyat to another: “It’s too damn hot. Let’s adjourn and sleep on it. We’ll never break the stalemate. Besides the money from the Short Term Forestry Agreement is not enough to finance a sustained renaissance that Wii Gyamk is proposing. His head is in the sky. And, it’s not really about money. The Gitxsan are too mainstream Canada now. Duncan Campbell Scott won. The Indian Residential School program won. It’s too late. We lost. Canada and the churches won. Our daxgyat isn’t worth much anymore except for the $200 honorarium we get from the treaty office for showing up at these meetings. Now, let’s get ready for that big $7,500 bingo tonight. Did you get your ticket yet?”
Gitanmaax Gas Bar. Gas jockey eavedrops on two FOX dressed 24 year olds, iPod earphones on, Blackberry cell in hand, hanging out by their mom’s brand new van.
“Facebook is boring eh? Same o. Getting too serious with Liv Gxn yamming on about that Gitxsan thingy. Facebook is for fun, not politics.”
“Yeah, I hear you. Party at Rob’s tomorrow. Going?”
“Ah. Maybe. I’ll see if I can bum $100 off a mom. You got bucks from your mom? Text me eh.”
“Hey, I topped you on Wii Rock Band. You’re mom getting you X Men Origins Wolverine?”
“She said if I mow the lawn, she’ll get it for me. I love my mom.”
“Mom says I have to show up at our damn feast. I don’t know why. It’s such a waste of time. Who in the hell cares about that Gitxsan stuff. Everybody shows up just to get their 20 bucks, apples, and crackers. I don’t know why we even do that stuff anymore. It’s so outdated. I got no time for that Indian stuff. I got better things to do. Besides they don’t listen to us anyway.”
Hagwilget $7,500 Bingo. One Gitxsan to friend:
“Hey. Didn’t see you last night. Boy, my number was on the screen for the winner take all.”
“Ho ji’. Maybe tonight eh? I was at our family meeting last night to get ready for our feast.”
“Oh yah. You have a big family, not like mine.”
“Yah but only about 10 of us showed as usual. I just don’t know what to do about my nieces and nephews. They’re just not interested in helping out. All they want to do is party, play games, listen to their iPods, and text on their cells. What to do?”
“That’s the way it is in our family too. Oh well.”
Over the loud speakers, the celebrity bingo caller “Welcome to the elders bingo. Ticket holder number 734797, come up and check my bingo balls.” Everybody laughs. “Remember: if you smile, you win.”
BBQ at 2150 Cedar Lane. Gitxsan sigidimhanak (family keeper) to son:
“Feast on September 26. You have to show up, hawal (obligatory contribution towards payment of expenses), and help serve.”
“Ho wa’. I have to be Gitxsan for one day eh?” Laughs.
“You going to be there?”
“Oh we’ll see. I’ll see if I can take time off from my job. Tell gran I really don’t want that big name she wants to put on me. I don’t want to be a big shot anyway. Give it to someone who cares about that stuff.”
A thick-skinned simogyat overheard the tell. “Will dis. Na dim k’nam’yhl gwila. Na dim k’nam’yhl kal inx? Na dim k’nam’yhl wa?” Shrugs. “Ho’o.” Deeply saddened, shakes his head and walks away.
Maddi asks her ts’eets, “What did ye’e say, ts’eetsie?”
“Oh, your ye’e is very sad. He asks who will take his chief’s blanket. He asks who will take the family’s treasure box. He asks who will take his chief’s name?” Right then, Gak, the raven trickster, flies past, “Kow kow.”
Gitxsan State of the Nation, 2008: BC Stats
Of 77 local health areas in BC, the Upper Skeena ranks:
Worst for Human Economic Hardship Index;
14th worst for Crime Index;
14th worst for Health Index;
3rd worst for Education Index;
2nd worst for Children-at-risk Index;
Worst for Youth-at-risk Index; and
Worst for Regional Socio-Economic Index
A UBC document reports that only 1,000 Gitxsan are fluent. That means only 7.7% of the 13,000 Gitxsan are fluent.
Since contact, the Gitxsan ethos collided with the emerging lixsgigyatimgyat (the non-Gitxsan) world view. As the lixsgigyatimgyat picked up momentum, it became apparent that Canada’s apparatus was spinning a sinister policy, the gradual civilization and assimilation policy. It implied that the Gitxsan ethos was de-valued in favour of mainstream Canada. And now, 2009, we find that the Gitxsan have succumbed so far up mainstream Canada that they are now morphed forever. Perhaps there is no returning to mainstream Gitxsan now. Mainstream Canada has high appeal. All the Gitxsan have benefited as Canadians. Accepting high tech, gint (hand outs) is a no brainer. So, now the alpha Gitxsan generation is probably the last of the elegant Gitxsan. Many will say, "Oh, it will never happen." But, alas, the bravado will fade as reality sets in. Did Duncan Campbell Scott, the architect of the assimilation policy and the Indian Residential School system, win? It’s intent was to remake the Gitxsan in his own image. The IRS system denied vital familial Gitxsan environment; it denied essential gwalx ye’inst, inherency peculiar to the wilphl Gitxsan; it denied ancient daxgyat, the strength, authority, and confidence; and it denied Gitxsanimax, the language that transmitted the identity and essence. Will a renaissance take? Or are we really gwa’a and hliisxw? Go figure yourself.
Mainstream means “the ideas, actions, and values that are most widely accepted by a group or society, e.g. in politics, fashion, or music”. Source: Encarta Dictionary.
Fast forward. 2038. From the Skeena Place, the assisted-living residence in Hazelton, BC, a 92 year old log’m gyat (old man) stirs from his reverie. Through his drool and half paralyzed mouth, the old simogyat summons his daughter. Excited that her father has finally come out of his self-induced coma, she is obedient. She rushes home, fetches a hasaax, rattle, from his sacred bundle. On return, she pushes through the throng of relatives surrounding the log’m gyat’s hospital bed. His wilnaatahl, relatives, are wide-eyed when he props himself up without the usual assistance. With hasaax in hand, time freezes momentarily. His age-spotted scrawny hand gradually comes to life. Everything suspends in anticipation. Crying, he starts. The rasp of the hasaax picks up, parade beat.
Finally “Hlaa dim git dii yaa. Nuu uu hii gwa. Ya hey yeh …” The old simogyat (hereditary chief) breaks, unable to finish the ancient family lament song, coughs red spittle. Bearly audilble, “Gwa’ it nu’m. Hliisxw.” The hasaax drops.
Skeena, Maddi’s grand-daughter, asks her ts’eetsie (grandmother), “What did wii agwiye’e (great-grandfather) mean, ts’eets?”
Deeply saddened, Maddi finally replies, “He said that we are poor. He said we are at the end, finished. What it means is that the elegant Gitxsan is now extinct, my girl.”
Today, June, 2009: Telling Gitxsan Moments
Conference room, lax yiphl Gitxsan, 3rd and final day of the Gimlitxwit meeting, fourth day of the heat wave, 29° C, coffee break. Cher, case of PureLife bottled water in hand, overhears a simgigyat to another: “It’s too damn hot. Let’s adjourn and sleep on it. We’ll never break the stalemate. Besides the money from the Short Term Forestry Agreement is not enough to finance a sustained renaissance that Wii Gyamk is proposing. His head is in the sky. And, it’s not really about money. The Gitxsan are too mainstream Canada now. Duncan Campbell Scott won. The Indian Residential School program won. It’s too late. We lost. Canada and the churches won. Our daxgyat isn’t worth much anymore except for the $200 honorarium we get from the treaty office for showing up at these meetings. Now, let’s get ready for that big $7,500 bingo tonight. Did you get your ticket yet?”
Gitanmaax Gas Bar. Gas jockey eavedrops on two FOX dressed 24 year olds, iPod earphones on, Blackberry cell in hand, hanging out by their mom’s brand new van.
“Facebook is boring eh? Same o. Getting too serious with Liv Gxn yamming on about that Gitxsan thingy. Facebook is for fun, not politics.”
“Yeah, I hear you. Party at Rob’s tomorrow. Going?”
“Ah. Maybe. I’ll see if I can bum $100 off a mom. You got bucks from your mom? Text me eh.”
“Hey, I topped you on Wii Rock Band. You’re mom getting you X Men Origins Wolverine?”
“She said if I mow the lawn, she’ll get it for me. I love my mom.”
“Mom says I have to show up at our damn feast. I don’t know why. It’s such a waste of time. Who in the hell cares about that Gitxsan stuff. Everybody shows up just to get their 20 bucks, apples, and crackers. I don’t know why we even do that stuff anymore. It’s so outdated. I got no time for that Indian stuff. I got better things to do. Besides they don’t listen to us anyway.”
Hagwilget $7,500 Bingo. One Gitxsan to friend:
“Hey. Didn’t see you last night. Boy, my number was on the screen for the winner take all.”
“Ho ji’. Maybe tonight eh? I was at our family meeting last night to get ready for our feast.”
“Oh yah. You have a big family, not like mine.”
“Yah but only about 10 of us showed as usual. I just don’t know what to do about my nieces and nephews. They’re just not interested in helping out. All they want to do is party, play games, listen to their iPods, and text on their cells. What to do?”
“That’s the way it is in our family too. Oh well.”
Over the loud speakers, the celebrity bingo caller “Welcome to the elders bingo. Ticket holder number 734797, come up and check my bingo balls.” Everybody laughs. “Remember: if you smile, you win.”
BBQ at 2150 Cedar Lane. Gitxsan sigidimhanak (family keeper) to son:
“Feast on September 26. You have to show up, hawal (obligatory contribution towards payment of expenses), and help serve.”
“Ho wa’. I have to be Gitxsan for one day eh?” Laughs.
“You going to be there?”
“Oh we’ll see. I’ll see if I can take time off from my job. Tell gran I really don’t want that big name she wants to put on me. I don’t want to be a big shot anyway. Give it to someone who cares about that stuff.”
A thick-skinned simogyat overheard the tell. “Will dis. Na dim k’nam’yhl gwila. Na dim k’nam’yhl kal inx? Na dim k’nam’yhl wa?” Shrugs. “Ho’o.” Deeply saddened, shakes his head and walks away.
Maddi asks her ts’eets, “What did ye’e say, ts’eetsie?”
“Oh, your ye’e is very sad. He asks who will take his chief’s blanket. He asks who will take the family’s treasure box. He asks who will take his chief’s name?” Right then, Gak, the raven trickster, flies past, “Kow kow.”
Gitxsan State of the Nation, 2008: BC Stats
Of 77 local health areas in BC, the Upper Skeena ranks:
Worst for Human Economic Hardship Index;
14th worst for Crime Index;
14th worst for Health Index;
3rd worst for Education Index;
2nd worst for Children-at-risk Index;
Worst for Youth-at-risk Index; and
Worst for Regional Socio-Economic Index
A UBC document reports that only 1,000 Gitxsan are fluent. That means only 7.7% of the 13,000 Gitxsan are fluent.
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