Tla-o-qui-aht staff, council and Ha’wiih were given a glimpse of the healing that’s “in us” as Lisa Charleson and Anita Charleson Touchie led participants through a Lateral Violence Workshop.
Lateral Violence is the shaming, belittling or violent behaviour between members of the same culturally-oppressed group, said Lisa Charleson. It is the transfer of feelings of shame to those who are perceived as having equal or, most often, less power than the person doing the shaming, she explained.
The workshop took place May 14 in the heart of Tla-o-qui-aht territory looking out over the water towards the nation’s ancient capital of Opitsaht.
Statements came from the group about family, honesty, Iisaak (respect), and self-respect, shared as each participant spoke of a value they would not live without.
“How does that make you feel to hear each other’s most important value?” asked Charleson. Replies included “strengthening” and “admiration”.
Chief Councillor Moses Martin explained that the 2012 election and a vote on a Treaty Agreement-in-Principle created division in the community.
“We thought we had to do something to pull our people together and begin to work together like we’re supposed to for the benefit of our people,” he said of the workshop.
Part of the healing journey is understanding who we are as Quu?as (native people) and understanding what happened to us in the last 200 years that brought us to where we are today, said Charleson. “In the universities they are calling it a cultural genocide now,” she said.
“Before our visitors came they lived in societies similar to ours; partnership societies,” Charleson said. “Before they came here many of their partnership societies lived under domination for maybe 500 years. The topic I’m talking about is not about non-native versus native, it’s about value systems.”
Charleson explained that in partnership societies people understood their roles and all had respect for the roles each performed. There was respect for gender differences, reverence for all life and understanding of the mutual need for sharing and cooperation.
“We still have this in us, because it’s only been a couple hundred years that we’ve been living under a different system,” said Charleson.
“You will recognize some of the values of the dominant society seeping into ours,” she said. “You will also see they are alive in society today: competition, comparison, sameness. One of the most hidden values is that all members of this system must be more or less the same. You will also see an acceptance of the belief ‘the end justifies the means’ and male dominance.”
“All the evidence is out there of what they tried to do,” Charleson said. “The Truth Commission shows all the things done to keep us down and those had consequences on us: residential school, legislation, there’s lots of examples. I’m going to focus on the cultural part. What was really interesting to me, when they looked at us aboriginal people, they had to make it look like we were inferior in order to continue on whatever they were going to do. Like they attacked our language. How many here can speak the language.” Only two people raised their hands out of 46 participants.
Once the group becomes convinced they are intrinsically inferior, individuals feel shamed and traumatized by what evolves into cultural self-hate, Charleson explained.
“The underlying, seldom spoken message is that no matter what a person does it will never be enough to overcome the soul deep sense of inferiority The shame impacts a person’s ability to honor themselves, to form healthy relationships and is passed on to each succeeding generation.”
Cultural oppression impacts children most deeply because they don’t understand what is wrong with them, their family or their nation. It influences three vital questions we ask ourselves: Who am I? Where do I belong? And what do I have to offer the world?
“I knew what it was like to feel like I didn’t belong anywhere,” said Charleson. She noted that the modern tools of cultural oppression, include government policy, mass media (i.e.[ a hate letter] published in Nanaimo Daily News), the legal system, educational system and health care system.
“I wonder what our young people are thinking. Are they buying into that thinking,” ask Charleson.
“The path to healing conflict within our communities lies within our own culture,” she said. “I believe we have our own answers. The answer’s within our culture.”
How? Learn to recognize when we’re feeling shame and how it was triggered. Learn about the brilliance and sophistication of our culture. Be grateful for all gifts from Nas (Creator).
“It’s not saying university is wrong, but our education is just as valuable… I was listening to this report from Harvard. What they are finding now is related to a neurotransmitter that allows the baby in the womb to actually feel what the mother is going through. We knew that a long time ago.”
“If we’re mean to each other, we’re not going anywhere. This is a good beginning for us as staff and council to move forward,” said Nora Martin.
“Returning to who we are, to the traditional values of our partnership society is a step that can free us from the lateral violence we see in our communities today. Our elders can bring our values forward in their ha-hu-pa (teachings), in our ceremonies, our history.”
“We are bi-cultural,” added Anita Charleson Touchie. “We have many in universities, sports and we have to participate sometimes in competition.” Then, if you look at the support a person gets from our traditional society, from each holding a person up in their unique role, it’s the foundation of our culture that gives strength.
Chief Councillor Martin concluded, “I always think we have the ability to live the best of both worlds. And I want to acknowledge all people who are here today for being part of the beginning of a healing journey. It gives us hope that yes, we can come together and work together, not for ourselves, but for the people that we represent, because there’s lots of people that we can help out there. I’m always really proud of where I come from, Tla-o-qui-aht, and I always want to speak highly of our tribe and sometimes it’s hard. But if we help each other we can do that.”
