Tsuu T'ina: It's time to welcome Ruby Starlight and her children home.

I write this article in honour of my mother, late grandmother and countless First Nations women who have been discriminated against by their people and nation. It is a honest and frank discussion meant to engage people in understanding historical injustice and talking about a way to overcome this injustice for the purposes of community empowerment. Specifically for my family’s interests I am writing this article as open conversation with the Tsuu T’ina Nation and people to attempt to tear down barriers created by the Indian Act and hopefully work towards the reconciliation and repatriation of my grandmother and her children to the Tsuu T’ina Nation.

As a history student I was taught to dig deep for information, use multiple sources of reference and think critically about different opinions to get to the bottom of the truth. As a young native man confused by his identity and history I indeed searched deeply to find out the history of my people, the challenges and oppression they faced and how I could overcome the legacy European colonialism had on my people.

To this day I struggle to find information, fact, proof and history that states/directs that First Nations people would abandon their women and children. That this is okay, that it is right to push women and their children to the edge of the nation, turn your back and never look back on your relations again. This blog and discussion is about my search and quest to understand why my grandmother Ruby Starlight was abandoned by her nation and people and why to this day my mother is considered a non-status Bill C-31 Indian.

My name is Joshua Fraser, I am a proud First Nations man born and raised in Calgary though has tried to maintain a relationship and understanding of his people and culture. I am proud of the great history, culture and struggle my family has had in bringing me into this world. My mother is Linda Brass (Fraser) born to Ruby Starlight and Samuel Fraser. My father is Darryl Brass, son of Sarah Lucier and former Chief of Peepeekisis First Nation Herbert Brass. Though this discussion will focus on my mother and grandmother’s lineage because my father is a Treaty/Status Indian and he is well recognized by his people.

To understand a rational reason why First Nations would turn their back and abandon their women we must look first to the legacy of European colonialism and its affect and intention for the Indigenous people of this land. How do you assimilate and indoctrinate a people? Simply attack, weaken and dissolve the family unit which is the basis for the success and ongoing health of the people and nation you are trying to take over. This meant taking away the traditional role as provider of the males and warriors in a society but more importantly and sinister it was the destruction and decay of the women who traditionally were the keepers of the family unit passing on the culture and traditions of the people.

Let us be very honest about the intentions of European and finally British colonialists with their approach and interest to this land and its Indigenous people. I speak broadly here, as nothing is black and white, and I am sure there were those who had our best interests in mind. However by and large it was the clear intention of these colonialists to assimilate and indoctrinate the First Nations people to strip our native people of their culture, history and traditional ways and assimilate them into good Christians and western folk, basically to take the Indian out of the Indian. This is well documented, researched and understood by our people and many non-Native people. To my knowledge and understanding it was not or nor was it ever the intention of First Nations people expel and abandon their women but rather an intentionally planned attempt by Indian Affairs and Indian Agents to assimilate the First Nations people.

Our historical leaders and ancestors were well known speakers and warriors who spoke with truth, conviction and honour. These leaders had the forth sight to sign the treaties to protect their people including women and children. Through education, healthcare and other provisions our ancestors were attempting to ensure our survival and success as a distinct and original people of this land. They did this under extreme pressure and hardship. The buffalo were quickly being erased from this continent by overhunting and by deliberate extermination policies of the colonialists to wipe out our natural food sources so that we would rely on them. Foreign disease and sickness was taking its toll on the health and growth of our population. But our ancestors remained steadfast and courageous and demanded these human rights (healthcare, education, etc.) so that our people could continue.

If the Treaties were fully implemented and respected by the British Crown and later Canadian government First Nations would likely be far better of then they are now. But instead a sinister and greedy government decided they would rather dwindle our rights and continue their manifest destiny to assimilate or destroy our people and culture. This is where the Indian Act, paternalism and Indian Agents began to take control to continue with these reckless policies. The Indian Act is often called the “cradle to grave” legislation which means it governs our lives from when we are born until we die. It is an old, archaic and racist legislation that continues to hurt and undermine our communities. It is this Indian Act that has continued to divide our people and I believe the legacy of this act is what prevents my late grandmother and mother being welcomed home from their nation.

How else do you assimilate and break down a people and their culture? Divide and Conquer. For this is what the Indian Act has done to our people. It had divided and estranged families. It has decided who was Indian and who was not. It has separated people and outcast women and their children. Over decades of implementation of the Indian Act I believe First Nations chiefs and councils have wrongfully began to believe that the Indian Act and its destructive policies are actually their tribal customs, laws and traditional ways. Really these divisive policies are the legacy of colonialism, assimilation, indoctrination and cultural genocide.

I ask myself deeply and thoughtfully what tribe, what nation, what people would intentionally abandon, exclude and turn their back on their women and children. It makes no sense, when it is the women and their children that will strengthen, build and maintain their communities and culture. Old provisions of the Indian Act stated that First Nations men could marry non-status/treaty women and those women and her children would get his status and rights. However if a First Nations women married a non-status/treaty man her and her children would lose all their rights. Where is the fairness and rationale behind that decision? In my mind it set the conditions for the continual and maybe intended total assimilation of a First Nation and its people.

by: Joshua Fraser (November 25, 2010)

My grandmother was a proud and strong Tsuu T’ina woman. She was the daughter of Chief James Starlight Sr. and was born and raised on the Tsuu T’ina Nation. I look back on her legacy and I too am proud and humbled by what she has passed on to me and my relations. That is respect, courage and the conviction to understand and speak with people in a fair and honest way. I am reminded of my history classes and the unimportance women played in western society. One thing that I remembered through my history classes when looking at photo archives was that if a woman was named specifically she was generally respected and prominent. As a younger man I went to the Glenbow Museum to look at photo archives of my Tsuu T’ina family and I remembered that my grandmother Ruby Starlight was always named and was in many pictures, happily and generally close to her father James Starlight Sr.

Later in life my grandmother Ruby Starlight out of love married my grandfather a Cree/Metis trapper and rancher from Pigeon Lake, Alberta. I hear good stories about my grandfather and his respect for people and his knowledge of land and his traditional ways. Though because of the old provisions of the Indian Act and because my grandfather was non-Status my grandmother lost her rights and membership into the Tsuu T’ina Nation. Meanwhile non-Native women would be welcomed and accepted onto Tsuu T’ina and other First Nations and their children would get the rights and band membership. I ask myself again, how can this be fair, how can this be legal, how can this be right. It is outright discrimination and sexist policy which unfairly punished and ripped the status and identity away from these First Nations women and their children. 

My family the descendents and children of Ruby Starlight have been fighting and protesting these discriminative policies of the Indian Act in attempt to restore and repatriate their membership and status as rightful Tsuu T’ina people. Are we not also children of Tsuu T’ina? I remember growing up all my life questioning this and asking my mom. She would tell me stories about stories her mother told her about growing up on Tsuu T’ina, the lifestyle and culture. Her father James Starlight Sr. was a great rancher and worked hard to try to help and empower the Tsuu T’ina to become successful under their circumstances. She would tell me stories about how my grandmother’s family would take a horse and buggy down to the Calgary Stampede in its early days and represent the Tsuu T’ina people. My mother would tell me stories about her growing up and always being close to the nation but never being a member. She would visit her uncle James Starlight Jr. often and enjoyed being on the nation. She would run to be the Calgary Friendship Centre’s first Indian Princess, Princess Starlight in fact, proud to be from Tsuu T’ina and travel being a representative of Tsuu T’ina culture and beauty though never being really apart or being accepted by the nation.

Bill C-31 was always a weird word to me, what did it mean. My mom would tell me later that she became a Bill C-31 Indian. In my mind it was just more divisions within our people. I later found out that the federal government was forced to implement Bill C-31 (1985) as sections of the old Indian Act did not stand up to Pierre Trudeau’s Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms particularly the blatant discrimination of First Nations women and their status. From what I understand Bill C-31 was brought into correct some of the previous problems of the Indian Act as it related to band membership. The result should have been that First Nations wrongfully taken off of the band register (like my grandmother) would be restored and so would their children’s status and band membership. This was the case for most First Nations across Canada who opened their arms and doors and welcome their women home. Tsuu T’ina unfortunately was one of the very few First Nations that did not welcome back many of their women.

History is skewed, decades of assimilation and Indian Act policies have infected band council decisions to the detriment and division of their people and nation. I don’t believe the Tsuu T’ina Nation council and people genuinely want to exclude and expel their own family and people. I strongly believe it is the Indian Act and affect of colonialism that blurred their vision and dictated their decisions not to welcome the women back.  

We need to have open, frank and honest discussion about our people, our nations and how we will approach the repatriation and rebuilding of families and communities. People need to be very honest with themselves when considering other nation members and their family and history. Can everyone on Tsuu T’ina honestly say they are full blooded Tsuu T’ina? Tsuu T’ina Nation has a relatively small population it can’t be expected that everyone will marry another Tsuu T’ina person. Tsuu T’ina can ensure that they are promoting and preserving their culture and language and encouraging and supporting current and new band members to learn this as well to strengthen what it means to be Tsuu T’ina.

Can anyone honestly say that it is tradition to kick off and exclude your women because they married a non-Tsuu T’ina person? Do not the women and children have a right to be included amongst their people and counted amongst their numbers? Would the leaders and chief’s of old chase away their women? I think and in my spirit I feel that they would allow the women and children to choose, to make their case, to be part of the people where their mother and father came from. Rather than fighting to keep their women off I think the Tsuu T’ina leadership and displaced families should talk about repatriation and reunification. Rather than spending money on legal cases separating families, why not use the time and resources to fight the true culprit and entity responsible for the initial division, that is the Indian Act and government who has enforced it. I understand one of the fears is the lack of resources on First Nations. The First Nations leadership should be demanding that the federal government compensate their nation with land, money and resources so that they may affectively welcome back their people and provide opportunity for all.

My name is Joshua Fraser, I am the son of Linda Brass (nee: Fraser), grandson of Ruby Starlight, great-grandson of James Starlight Sr. I am proud of my Tsuu T’ina heritage and my relations that I know and have yet to know. I speak to you with truth, respect and deep conviction about correcting this historical wrong. I am thankfully a Treaty Indian through my dad’s side but I will fight for and engage people to discuss the Repatriation of the Ruby Starlight (Fraser) family and particularly my mother. Let’s end this discrimination, legacy of colonialism and work towards reuniting lost mothers, daughters, sisters and families with the community and people they belong too. As a united people we can become strong together to empower our communities to successful, healthy and happy. All my relations.