One of the most interesting things I was told at the 25th anniversary for the GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement was that they werenSA国际影视传媒檛 hosting any hand games for the evening.
All of the other communities had hand games for their corresponding celebrations.
Purely from my work-driven need for photography opportunities, I was hoping for hand games in Inuvik and curious why they werenSA国际影视传媒檛 on the agenda.
Apparently not everyone here likes hand games. Some view it, I heard, as a Sahtu tradition. ItSA国际影视传媒檚 not part of the history of the people here and not something many of them want to engage in.
Learning that made me reconsider how I report aboriginal issues in general.
Being non-aboriginal myself, it is natural and easy for me to report on aboriginals as a block, writing that they are engaging in an SA国际影视传媒渁boriginal traditionSA国际影视传媒� or showing their SA国际影视传媒渁boriginal culture.SA国际影视传媒�
Even if I donSA国际影视传媒檛 personally like to use those kind of blanket terms, cookie-cutter reporting kind of writes itself.
But hand games are as much an SA国际影视传媒渁boriginal traditionSA国际影视传媒� as hockey is a SA国际影视传媒渨hite tradition.SA国际影视传媒� It would be bizarre to refer to it like that.
Closer would be calling hockey a Canadian tradition, and in this sense rather than taking such a broad brush of ethnicity, calling something a GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n or Inuvialuit tradition would be more accurate.
Traditions across aboriginal cultures are not all the same, and neither are traditions across white cultures or any other ethnicity. Broad brushes paint a poor picture.
It bothers me to ever refer to someoneSA国际影视传媒檚 race but as a journalist I canSA国际影视传媒檛 escape the fact SA国际影视传媒渁boriginal issuesSA国际影视传媒� is a repeated theme of coverage in the North. Almost all the institutions, government to private sector, use the same blanket terminology.
To an extent it makes sense, as the subject of aboriginal history is its own niche considering the circumstances in Canada, whereas SA国际影视传媒淐anadiansSA国际影视传媒� is used only as a matter of fact and identification.
Although many aboriginal people speak proudly of the fact they are aboriginal, I canSA国际影视传媒檛 help but wonder if any get tired of all aboriginals getting lumped together like tends to be done.
I personally bristle at any sort of group identity being placed on me, whether itSA国际影视传媒檚 Canadian, white, male or what have you. I am all of those things but donSA国际影视传媒檛 want to be reduced to one and equated to everyone else who shares that trait.
ISA国际影视传媒檓 sure there are individualist aboriginal people out there who are rather sick of being recognized for just one characteristic of the many they have. Some, I would bet, are also tired of having SA国际影视传媒渁boriginalSA国际影视传媒� put in front of every title they have, whether theySA国际影视传媒檙e an aboriginal musician, aboriginal businessman, etc.
Same goes for women, who are also often treated by the media as a block, all thinking the same and being invested in the same issues. The blunt presumption of using group identity to determine an individualSA国际影视传媒檚 opinions is inaccurate at best and downright offensive at worst.
When youSA国际影视传媒檙e writing on a deadline, SA国际影视传媒渁boriginal traditionSA国际影视传媒� is an easy way to get through a sentence and move on, without being more precise.
But perhaps I owe the same nuanced view I have of myself to the people on whom I report.
