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Recognizing the importance of Indigenous history on National Indigenous Peoples Day

More Indigenous history should be taught in schools, says librarian

Although not a statutory holiday in Nunavut, as it is in Yukon and the NWT, National Indigenous Peoples Day is recognized on June 21 each year — a day that deserves widespread recognition across Canada, says Pam Langan, the head librarian and business administrator at the Pitquhirnikkut Ilihautiniq/Kitikmeot Heritage Society in Cambridge Bay. 

“We should be celebrated,” Langan said. 

“We were here first. We helped the white people get settled. We welcomed them onto the land. You know, we taught them our ways.”

Langan said the history of what happened to the Inuit and Indigenous population should be taught. 

“And put money towards helping the people from what people did,” she said of the residential school system. “And teach the exact history. Down in Alberta, for example, a young fellow, he got sick, so he was put in the hospital. His family went on the trap-line and Fish and Wildlife (officials) tainted their food supply on the trap-line and he lost his whole family. 

“That information is in the University of Alberta in Calgary archives,” she said. “That is the kind of history they should be teaching, so that the people understand what the Inuit and the natives, what happened to them and what happened to their lifestyle.” 

Langan added that alcohol, introduced by the Europeans to the Indigenous people, became a problem and remains that way. 

“The Europeans, they had alcohol in their system for many years, for thousands of years. So that enzyme has been in their system, in their body, whereas the Inuit and natives never had that enzyme to be able to fight that. So it's like a disease almost,” she said. “So, if they want to celebrate, they need to, they need to give the history — of why we are like that and why we struggle.”

Family history

Langan recounted a story from her own family history pertaining to her grandparents. 

“They were both in residential school. They (later) lived on the reserve when they came to take my mom and her siblings, but my grandfather met them at the door with a shotgun and said, ‘You're not taking my kids.’ 

“And then he enfranchised, he sold his rights as a native in order for them to get an education off the reserve. 

“So as soon as he enfranchised, he got kicked off the reserve because he was no longer a native,” Langan said. 

“He had cattle on the reserve, but he had to go to the Indian agent to ask to kill one of his cattle in order to feed his family. Indian agents said no, so him and his cousin, they shot and killed a cow in the middle of the night so they wouldn't get caught. 

“And if they had been caught, they would have been hung for his own cattle,” Langan said. “So this is the kind of thing that should be taught.

“The government did exactly what they wanted," she continued. "They wanted the Inuit, they wanted the Indians to be dependent on them.

“But that is the history that should be taught, not the war of 1812,” she said. 

Another part of history for the Inuit and Indigenous peoples was when many were taken off the land they knew and relocated close to the North Pole to establish sovereignty, she said. 

“You take a group of people who were at one of their gatherings, and you just grab a whole pile of them and put them somewhere and expect them to survive? No. And then you kill all their dogs in the '60s because they can't go anywhere?” she said of the history of many Indigenous people in the North.

In terms of revitalizing and learning the Inuit languages, Langan said there are now several apps available online to help with pronunciation of various words and syllables, which is very helpful, and another way to recognize and honour the Indigenous population. 

“The heritage centre has been doing lots with the language,” she noted.

Langan reiterated that it's important to recognize National Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Nunavut and across Canada. 

“I think the Indigenous people should be celebrated, you know, because of all the hardships they've gone through and still are here today.”