Celebrity Status and the Right to Speak

For a number of years Joseph Boyden, a  bestselling Canadian author and multiple award winner, has spoken out eloquently on a number of indigenous issues including that of the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. He has been given a voice in these issues because of his literacy status and because he has made claim to having links to at least three distinct tribal roots through either his mother or father. The Canadian literary scene is all abuzz with the news that perhaps the author Joseph Boyden is not quite as indigenous as he suggested he was. In theory an author's ethnic background is not particularly relevant  in terms of his or hers ability to write entertaining novels. However, when those novels purport to reflect a specific orientation and/or a specialized understanding of a culture or a history - it becomes critical. When those authors are given specific platforms to speak out because of those assumed cultural or ethnic affiliations - we all need to be sure that they have the right to be there.

There is a long history of Europeans claiming a specific cultural or ethnic heritage to either increase their income or to enhance their message. While Archibald Belaney may be one of the better known names in Canada, the tradition of appropriating another culture is not restricted to Canadians. In the USA a number of individuals have claimed kinship to First Nations including Elizabeth Warren, a US senator and Ward Churchill, a former University of Colorado professor. We live in a world where at least ideally, it does not matter what race we are. We publically espouse the theory that the colour of skin is only skin deep and that individual characteristics such as skills or intelligence are not related to one's race.  So does it matter whether or not Boyden's ancestry is indigenous? If he can eloquently discuss the issues of such communities, if he can bring those issues to our attention in new and attention getting ways - what is the harm?

Canadians have struggled for the last 400 years to accept that the perceptions of Indigenous peoples in terms of history, discrimination and of land use are legitimate.  From the time of the first comments of the Recollet priests in the early 1600 in Quebec, there has been the assumption that oral histories are not valid, that the spirituality and culture of the First Nations lacked legitimacy because it was not written down. Until fairly recently courts have refused to accept oral traditions has having any relevance.  As Canada hopefully matures in its capacity to understand other culture's truths that are expressed differently - we need to continually ensure that those who have the knowledge are given the platform to speak and to be heard.  If those platforms are taken over by individuals who, while they may have the best interests of another culture at heart, are not part of that community - there will be less space for those have been immersed in and who are part of that culture.

For too long we have decided what is best for Indigenous Canadians. That sort of cultural do-gooding is inappropriate. It is the kind of colonialist thinking that allowed for residential schools, out of community adoptions, relocation to other places and the creation of on reserve government that frequently does not work. I do not know if Boyden's cultural/ethnic roots are Indigenous or not, but it is clear to me that it is not sufficient just to think that you are. (Boyden himself has described himself as “white kid from Willowdale with native roots”  (The Star.)

 It is not enough to feel an affinity for another culture, specifically one that has been oppressed - such affinity makes one an ally - not a member of that group. Oppositional consciousness ( sociological term referring to the need to identify with a marginalized culture/group so that one can legitimately protest ) is at best - the appropriation of another culture's truths. Even worse it can smudge the truths and lessen their impact.

We need to be able to let people speak and to be heard even if that means that some of those people do not have celebrity status.