Happy Birthday to Stephanie.
Australia day is winding down down under, and just getting started up over.
http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/2007/01/26/1169788683632.html?page=3
I won’t be waving flags or going for a dip. I’m a bit nostalgic but mainly I feel disappointed in my birth country at the moment, one of the reasons is this
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/officer-will-be-charged-over-death/2007/01/26/1169594471368.html
Justice sure seems slow at times, hopefully this bloke will get what is coming to him, if found guilty. But it is mainly the attitudes of too many that disturb me, not that Australia is alone with those intolerant and parochial views.
The good news is that the jolly old English are getting their come upence AGAIN at cricket.
Up here it is Family Literacy Day; Fran will be reading a book [in Inuktitut] to some children at the school. The book she chose is Borrowed Black by Ellen Obed. Also will be reading one of the stories from The People by F W Peacock.
6 comments:
The English have been moaning about their cricket against Australia for some months now, then it dropped from view. They were tired of the beatings.
Oz seems to be on a much more erratic course with its aboriginal-state relations than even Canada. Not sure where they're going, but it's not looking good.
I typed in an old letter from an angajokKak from Hopedale in 1952 in celebration of Literacy day, but it vanished from the screen.
hmmm. For some reason my name came out as "Bubba". Must be something up with the software today...
Hay Bubba Boo,
Any chance of getting that old letter back up?
Fran had a great time at the school, 15 parents there encouraging the kids.
Here’s a few letters that give a good insight into the workings of government before the province really got its whole nose stuck into affairs. The letters from Hopedale were written in English, and the letter from Hebron in Inuktitut and translated by the missionary, Grubb Sr.
I find them quite amazing, not least because the composition is better than most people anywhere can manage today. They also show that Inuit elders were targeting local development of sawmills, trading, community halls, and housing, as key elements of village life. It will be very interesting to see how well the new angajokKak will channel the spirit of the old angajokKak.
Hopedale Jan 9 1952
Dear Sir,
I would like to know whether you have received the letter I wrote to you last August. It was a letter with $90 (ninety dollar) cash in it. I forwarded it to you, thinking Horwood [Harold Horwood, MHA] was on the Labrador Coast. As I have not heard of it since, I do not know what has happened to it. I wrote and inquired Horwood about it since, but have had no answer concerning it.
I tried to send it up so that we could get a sawmill down.
I mentioned it to Mr. S. Loder while he was here last summer, so if you would like more information about it you may mention to him about it.
At the time I sent the letter, I heard that you had gone to England. And so they may have missed you then, because I never heard that you were gone until I had the letter sent. So that may have been the reason that you never got them.
I have made up the Fisherman’s Union, and am just forwarding it by the Government Manager here.
We received your telegram concerning D.A. [Don Andrews; candidate in election]. Why I didn’t see to agree with you about him, was that I heard quite a lot about him, what he was and would be after he was elected. So thinking that it was better to get someone who would be more interested and trying to do his best for us. So that was why I kind of disagreed about him.
There will be time enough yet to make up our mind about him. So if you would be very kind as to let me know more about the details I would very much like to get answer from you soon.
We would like to have a man like Eric Blackwood who is not afraid to get amongst us and who would get down here, as Mr. Blackwood could get chances to come. He is the kind of man we admire, because he did let us meet together and gave us a chance to speak to him. That kind of a man we want. So wishing you a prosperous New year, I close my letter.
Yours sincerely,
Jerry Sillett
*
Hopedale Feb 26 1952
To Premier J Smallwood:
Dear Sir,
I am grateful, and thank you for letting me know that the money is OK. I would also very much like the sawmill to come on the first boat this coming spring. I will also collect more cash toward the sawmill after it gets down here as I have promised you before. I want the sawmill down here because we need it so as to have more lumber to build houses and stages. And perhaps you remember in one of our talks you mentioned that there should be a hall, and so if we don’t have the sawmill, what we need most we can’t get is board. That is why I want the sawmill. Some of our neighbours dwellings are in poor shape right now and some who want to build their homes can’t do it as there is no saw mill to work the lumber with.
I too often think of you and wish very much to see you, and I would be very pleased if you would come down personally, and then we could meet one another and understand each other better when you hear our opinions.
We heard your broadcast over the radio after the death of King George III. We all thank you very much for the speech.
I heartily wish you every prosperous premiership as always. If we need anything, and need your help and advice, I won’t fail to notify you. Wishing you the best I close for this time.
Jerry Sillett.
The more things change....
Hebron, Sept 9th 1954
Dear Sir,
Because we hear of better store managers we are not satisfied with ours. The people of Hebron do not want things this way. We wish to follow the rules, but when he will not listen to us we cannot work together.
The following things we are not satisfied with. When we have to go away in a hurry and we want to go to the store he is still sleeping. This is the first time that we have known a store manager like this. If someone is in a hurry he is not able to go to the store after six o’clock. Earlier store managers were not like that anywhere. And ammunition, which is the only thing that we can use to hunt with, is given us in too small quantities. It is only through living things that we can repay our debts. When we are on our hunting grounds and we go to the store and we return without ammunition and food it is very hard because we must eat from other people, and sometimes we have to beg ammunition from someone who has more.
And again when we are staying a long way away and come in to trade we tell the store manager what we would like, but he does not say word, he writes what he thinks making a smaller quantity. Only when a man gets to the store does he know what he will get. When a man knows and he is not satisfied he goes to the manager but he can get no more. Sometimes what the manager gives for travelling food is too small and a man wanting to go away can not.
It is not good that when we want to trade the store is locked. We would like to know if our store managers should have customers like that. This is the first time that we have known a store manager like this.
We write these things on behalf of the people of Hebron
Levi Nichasak
William Nochasak
William Mille
Nick Menzel
Bloody amazing stuff Bubba.
Just imagine if you will the difference today would be if a less colonial dominant approach was in effect back then. Most likely there would have been no need for “self government” of the type we have. Inuit wanted to DO IT themselves. I guess after so many rebuts from church and state people just said shag it, you do it for us if you think you know best.
Those letters sure explain a lot about attitudes of people who were relocated from north.
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