Rina Zhu / Staff reporter
Katherena Vermette was born in Winnipeg. For her parents, she has a Métis father and a Mennonite mother. In her novels and poems she says ‘I crammed in as much love and hope as I could ‘. Because of my childhood experience, she wants to use her identity as an author to appeal to all people to learn about indigenous people. She is not only a writer, also a proud Métis.
Growing up in north Winnipeg wasn’t easy.
Vermette grew up in the north end of Winnipeg, Manitoba, a place with a high Aboriginal population but also a city with a high crime rate. Vermette says from a very young age, she witnessed the injustice and prejudice that indigenous people face in society. Vermette’s older brother Donovan, who disappeared at the age of 18, was found dead six months later, but Donovan’s young age, the fact that he was in a bar with friends before he disappeared, and the fact that he was a cree, so didn’t get full media coverage. The indifference shown by the people of Vermette’s community and the media in response to her brother’s disappearance made her feel that it was unfair for the people of Canada to discriminate against indigenous people, which prompted her to want change.
In this documentary, Vermette and Kyle Kematch both share their stories and speak from an indigenous perspective to the audience about their disappointment with society as indigenous peoples, hoping that they will one day achieve equality and freedom.
Difficult equality
As a result of her childhood experiences and the vision of growing up, Vermette has long been an advocate for equality for indigenous people in Canada, while expressing her frustration with the indifference of the Canadian government and media to indigenous people. News on indigenous issues in Canada has long been problematic and contested by indigenous people. Early newspapers portrayed Aborigines as savage and inherently warlike, and no journalistic attempt was made to write the indigenous people’s own views. In 1996, the Royal Commission on Indigenous People concluded that stereotypes of Indigenous people were published in all forms of public discourse, including the media, and that the two most prominent fixed ideas were “angry warriors” and “deplorable victims”. Research confirms that these old stereotypes are real.
Now society and us
As things are, better education can only be used to improve future generations’ perceptions of indigenous peoples. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls for learning about Canada’s history of colonialism and indigenous peoples. Anishinaabe journalist Duncan McCue said in a speech at UBC that instead of focusing on the victimhood of Indigenous people affected by tragic events, reporters could report on “stories of conflict and of injustice” so that the “individual Indigenous people in those stories are people who are fighting back, rising up and challenging historical wrongs, not poor helpless victims who find themselves somehow at the mercy of a colonial system”. For us, the most important thing is to learn the correct knowledge. We should have a correct understanding of the history and current situation of indigenous people and strive to avoid bias against them. Use our own strength to bring indigenous peoples and us into a fair world.
Sources:
Winnipeg by Wikipedia
Métis by Wikipedia
Mennonite by Wikipedia
‘I crammed in as much love and hope as I could ‘ by CBC Radio
high crime rate by Kayla Rosen
the injustice and prejudice that indigenous people face in society by Melissa Gorelick
Donovan by CBC Radio
the people of Canada to discriminate against indigenous people by Government of Canada
Kyle Kematch by NFB
Early newspapers portrayed Aborigines as savage and inherently warlike by CBA
the Royal Commission on Indigenous People by Audrey D. Doerr
Image sources:
Katherena Vermette at the time of her award
