Photo courtesy of Beau Dick
From Jan. 16 to Apr. 17, the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery will present Lalakenis/All Directions: A Journey of Truth and Unity, an exhibition paying tribute to Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw chief Beau Dick’s journey. Along with friends and family, he made the journey to Parliament Hill to perform a copper shield breaking ceremony, marking a ruptured relationship between the Government of Canada and First Nations people.
When he was younger, Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw chief and renowned carver Beau Dick (Wallas Gwy Um) was given the suggestion, by his uncle and mentor, that they should one day break a copper shield at the Victoria Legislature. The practise of copper shield breaking is a deep and complex economic and legal ritual marking an injustice committed that is in need of address. It is a practise seldom seen outside of a First Nations context. One day, however, Dick decided he would take his uncle’s suggestion to heart.
“I woke up on [my daughters’] couch one morning [and] my girls were all excited. They dragged me off the couch over to the computer to see what was going on in the world. The Idle No More movement was erupting, and we looked at each other and they said, ‘Is it time?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, let’s go,’” Dick says.
On Feb. 2, 2013, Dick, along with some friends and family, walked from Quatsino, B.C. (on the north end of Vancouver Island) to the British Columbia Legislature in Victoria on Feb. 10 for an emotional copper-breaking ceremony in full regalia, in a journey that became known as ‘Awalaskenis.’
A little more than a year later, it was decided that Beau and 21 other friends and family members would start another journey, this time the destination being Parliament Hill in Ottawa.Awalaskenis II: A Journey of Truth and Unity, would begin on July 2, 2014 at UBC and formally end with the copper breaking ceremony itself on Parliament Hill on July 27, 2014.
Identity and authority
Beau Dick: practitioner in keeping culture alive. | Photo courtesy of Beau Dick
Breaking a copper shield can mark any number of unremedied disputes, but it was evident that there was a very important problem in need of being addressed with many friends and family accompanying Dick on the journey to Ottawa bringing along masks, medicine and regalia and conducting the entire ceremony on a printed-out sheet of then Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s apology for the residential schools on behalf of the Canadian government.
Dick gave a kind of prayer before the ceremony itself, synthesizing the issue at hand: “In breaking this copper we confront the tyranny and oppression of a government who has forsaken human rights and turned its back on nature in the interests of the almighty dollar, and we act in accordance with our laws.”
In addition to the meaning of the ceremony itself, part of the idea behind breaking copper in front of Parliament was to show an important part of their culture: a practise that is central to many west coast First Nations’ people system of economy and justice.
“It was identity and authority that were demonstrated,” he says.
Destination and journey
There was no shortage of anecdotes about the journey itself and the time shortly after, such as the government’s response to the ceremony (sending the piece of broken copper left behind to a museum), and dancing in full regalia outside the Canadian museum of history in Quebec.
But one incident Dick says he’ll never forget occurred in Winnipeg, where one evidently well-off man’s livid response to being asked to contribute to their journey, “I’m tired of feeding you people,” was met by an equally quick response by one of the younger members of the group along the lines of “Quit stealing from us then” – a reference, in short, to the history of colonialism and its consequences today.
For Dick, the exchange illustrated a piece of wisdom from his uncle: “You’ll learn more from people who will teach you how not to be, so have some appreciation for them!” It also exemplified the continuing struggle between those who prioritize ‘the almighty dollar’ and those who place more importance on nature.
“They probably don’t even care, but we do,” says Dick.
