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Chapter 16 | Joy Cohnstaedt (continued) It should not be surprising that Aboriginal artists chose to take control of the representation of their own culture, whether through the short-lived group of seven Aboriginal artists associated with “Woodland School,” artists such as Norval Morrisseau and Daphne Odjig, who have recently been credited with being the first truly modern indigenous Canadian artists, or by studying at the non-Native art schools and in university degree programmes. The new visual languages in which the artists were trained formed the basis for anti-colonial rhetorical strategies in art making by contemporary Aboriginal artists such as Joane Cardinal Schubert, a Blackfoot. The Indian Federated College was among a few post-secondary institutions welcoming students of Aboriginal heritage in the 1980s, and was important in helping develop a number of prairie artists. Later, some of these young artists became teachers at the College. Bob Boyer, for example, developed a specialized Aboriginal studio art curriculum. 5 In 1980 I was appointed to the Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee. It was the first comprehensive review of arts and culture since the Royal Commission on Arts and Letters, which reported in 1951. We reported to the Minister of Communications in November 1982. Although no specific recommendations addressed First Peoples issues, we did call for the elimination of discriminatory barriers as part of Canada’s social policy. We said we were “convinced that Native Artists must be recognized first and foremost as contemporary artists, whatever their field, and that federal policy should give special priority to promoting both traditional and contemporary creative work by artists of Indian and Inuit ancestry.” In 1982 I left the position of Executive Director of Saskatchewan Arts Board to become Deputy Minister of Culture, Heritage and Recreation in Manitoba. It had frustrated me that the Arts Board in response to the maturing arts community had narrowed its support for arts and culture to complement the goals of the Canada Council. By doing so, the activities of culturally and ethnically diverse community organizations promoting Ukrainian dance or Scottish bagpipe music were not supported. The paintings of reservation life by self-trained First Nations artists such as Allan Sapp and Michael Lonechild were excluded from the Board’s collection, although folk artists of European descent were included. Support for artists of Aboriginal heritage remained the responsibility of the DIAND and the Indian Art Centre in Ottawa — the division between federal and provincial responsibilities was maintained. Elsewhere the Saskatchewan government accepted a role in the support of First Nations peoples living off the reservation and in urban areas. Alberta’s Glenbow Museum sponsored the exhibition “The Spirit Sings” for the 1988 Winter Olympics with financial support from among others, Shell Canada. That became a flashpoint for demonstrations by the Lubicon Indians and drew attention to the massive First Nations collections held in foreign countries. As deputy minister, I was able to begin to address systemic discrimination against minorities and those with minority characteristics, including those of Aboriginal heritage. New legislation established the Intercultural Council that sought to improve relations among culturally diverse communities. The Council advised government on all matters under its jurisdiction, such as education and the recognition of foreign credentials. When the heritage legislation was revised, consultations included the Aboriginal community. The range of designated heritage sites and events to be honoured by the province expanded to include among others, Métis communities and labour. Sacred indigenous and other camping sites located outside federal lands were protected. When our support for the film and publishing industries expanded, Aboriginal themes were encouraged and supported. The Aboriginal broadcaster, Native Communications Inc., located in northern Manitoba, was in regular consultation with our offices. Radio and later TV, had become important elements in a northern strategy to maintain and develop Aboriginal languages and cultures. These first steps supported the initiatives that followed on the recognition of the existing Aboriginal and treaty rights of Canada’s indigenous peoples in the Constitution Act of 1982 and the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Affairs that reported in 1996. The Royal Commission was established in 1991 as a consequence of the Oka crisis to report on the situation of Aboriginal peoples. |
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