Indigenous knowledge

Vincent J. Curtis

11 Feb 23

RE: Contract to search for graves criticized.  CP story by Stephanie Taylor.  The Hamilton Spectator 11 Feb 23.

I’ve always wondered at the expressions, “indigenous knowledge” and “indigenous wisdom.”  What makes them different from knowledge in general and wisdom in general?  Now, we have enlightening examples of Indigenous knowledge and indigenous wisdom, and they turn out to be species of the crudest self-dealing and racism.

To advance the identification of bodies buried in these alleged residential school graveyards, the federal government issued a $2 million contract to the International Commission on Missing Persons.  This Netherlands-based institution specializes in identifying human remains of those killed or gone missing in war and major disasters.  The Commission was hired to help after the 2013 Lac-Megantic rail disaster, which saw the center of the town burned out.

Not good enough for Kimberly Murray, former executive director of Canada’s inaptly named Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and an “independent” special interlocutor on residential school graves.

“They have no competency with aboriginal people within Canada,” she protested, as if the bodies of ‘Aboriginal people within Canada’ were different as human bodies from all other human bodies around the globe.  In what respect, Murray did not say; but her reasons become apparent presently.  Giving this contract to a non-aboriginal organization “risks causing harm” and “lacks transparency.”

If the contract had been awarded to some stood-up aboriginal organization that, in turn, sub-contracted the Netherlands based Commission to do the actual work, that would be okay.  The Indigs would get a cut.  By Ottawa hiring the Commission directly, the indigs got cut out.

The whining continued.  “They don’t understand the constitutional regime that we’re under.  They don’t understand Section 35 constitutional protected rights. They don’t know anything about Indigenous laws and protocol.”  As if any of this mattered in the identification of bodies.  As if Dutch people were incapable of understanding a briefing on matters relevant to their charge.  What plainly matters to Ms. Murray is that they’re not indigenous.  Federal silver is being passed out, and an indig isn’t getting his palm crossed with any this time.

This could also be a case of psychological projection: the incompetence Ms. Murray sees in her compatriots in race she thinks is also true of white people, disregarding how we came to this pass.

Then, Murray comes clean: “My concern is that it’s not indigenous led.”

There it is.  Ms. Murray is in no sense an “independent” anything in respect of indigenous anything.  She’s up to her neck in conflict of interest, and her complaints here are nothing but special pleading.

It would be disastrous if these radar indications turn out not to be graves at all.  The country would have been pulled through an emotional knot-hole unnecessarily, and the backlash would be terrific.  By keeping control over all aspects of excavating ground radar indications, Big Indig hopes to avoid a massive embarrassment.

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BTW. Kinberly Murray is a member of the "Kahnesatake Mohawk nation" in Quebec.  Independent, indeed!