The goal of this web page is to help foster a better understanding of First Nations Peoples’ history, culture and beliefs that are central to the Native way of life. The target audience are individuals of Native and non-Native descent. It is hoped that readers of non-Aboriginal descent will gain a better understanding of First Nations Peoples' cultural roots. In addition, it is sincerely hoped that young people of Aboriginal descent will gain a better understanding and appreciation of their own heritage.
First and foremost, the ideas presented in this initial document have not been obtained from first-hand experience of the Native way of life. Rather, the ideas originate from an outsider, whose admiration of the Native way of life has led to a personal attempt at a better understanding of it.
Ironically, to better understand Native culture and ethics, an examination of European values must be undertaken. This is where an account from first-hand experience can be articulated.
European social values, which form the basis of Canada’s administrative and governmental institutions, are competitive, adversarial and hierarchical.
A hierarchical organization is one that is arranged in order of rank. In each organization, whether it belongs to the private (industry) or public (governmental) sector, there are individuals who exercise authority over others. The command and control of such an organization belongs to a select few individuals. They have the right and authority to impose their will on other less powerful members of the organization. This system of social organization can become adversarial (leading to conflict) when things go wrong. In simple terms, in the European system, when things go wrong, someone has to take the blame.
This naturally leads to selfish and competitive behavior that goes against the best interest of the organization. Individuals will do what they have to do in order to protect themselves. Furthermore, those in power will use their authority to control the behavior of others.
The judicial (court) system in Canada is also adversarial and competitive. The courts encourage the opposing parties to meet face to face and to argue their contrary views. The judge or jury has no interest in restoring harmony between the two parties. The courts simply impose a penalty on one party with the goal of deterring harmful activity.
With this brief look at the European values that govern the behavior of social organizations we can examine the Native people’s set of beliefs that govern their behavior. To best explain the origins of the Native code of ethics, we must understand the conditions under which the First Nations lived. This can be best done by directly quoting Rupert Ross from his book, “Dancing with a Ghost, Exploring Indian Reality” page 34-35:
“The harsh environment (northern Canada) saw small, family-centered groups fending off starvation in virtual isolation from other groups for most of the year. Each extended family had to perform all the necessary survival tasks itself. Family survival required two things: the best efforts by all, and then the sharing of the products of that effort… Not sharing and not working hard were quite simply inconceivable..Doing something incorrectly, or doing something less productively than it might have been done, could carry disastrous consequences for the group”
Over thousands of years the Native Peoples of Northwestern Ontario developed a set of social rules that have enabled them to sustain themselves and thrive in this region. These cultural behaviors are highly developed yet different from the European social customs.
Due to the harsh climate and vast distances, each extended family, or Nation, lived in isolation. The individual members lived in close proximity. Therefore cohesion (unity) was of upmost importance. Since each member had to fully cooperate with the group, there was no room for anger, competitiveness, or interpersonal antagonisms. This peaceful cohabitation was passed from generation to generation. To many Native people today, anger is viewed as a destructive force. Furthermore, to compete with, and to try and outdo another individual are foreign behaviors to many Natives. Amongst traditional First Nations’ peoples, cohesion, harmony and respect are important social values.
Communal decision making is a value that is held in the highest regard with First Nations peoples. Every member is given an equal voice and no one is deliberately left out. During difficult times when starvation was the common enemy, the equal and shared contribution of every member was needed to sustain the Nation.
Since Aboriginal social values encourage openness and full disclosure of wrong doings, and do not promote punishment of any kind, the act of telling a falsehood is rare and is even considered a sin.
The process of finding a peaceful solution to interpersonal conflicts is also a tradition that can be attributed to Aboriginal People. The result of any dispute between two or more parties is the acknowledgement of wrong doings, the restoration of friendships between conflicting parties and reintegration into the community. Today, attempts are being made to integrate the Aboriginal conflict resolution process in mainstream Canadian public institutions.
An understanding of these behavioural traits should be a source of pride for young Aboriginal Persons. However, there is the danger that as young Aboriginal People become more exposed to the mass media, as they abandon their hunter – gatherer traditions, and as they adopt Western lifestyles they will lose these admirable cultural traits.