Flat Bay Elder Calvin White talks his new book and seeing the fruits of his labour at powwows
Flat Bay’s Calvin White has been to many a powwow in his time but remembers a time when they never would have happened in Newfoundland and Labrador.
White, a member of the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador and Order of Canada has spent over 50 years advocating for Indigenous recognition and rights in Newfoundland and Labrador.
He shares his journey through life as a Mi’kmaw person searching for recognition in his new book, One Man’s Journey. Before the start of the Bay St. George Powwow in his home of Flat Bay, he spoke about the book and what the event means to him with the CBC’s Alex Kennedy.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Calvin, first of all, congratulations on the book. How did writing it come about for you?
A: In 1972, I committed my life to correcting the wrongs of Aboriginal people in Newfoundland by being penciled out in the 1949 Terms of Reference. And it’s a lifelong journey. So a couple of years ago, I realized that I’m not getting any younger. There hasn’t been a lot of material that I and other people can find when it comes to looking at the history of the… I call it the revival. So I was inspired then, and by the support of my family and some friends, to take this on.
Q: And from what I know, the book starts right in your childhood.
A: It starts in my childhood at about the age of four.
Q: Why start there?
A: From my perspective it was very important to show my readers, especially young people who this was targeted for, young university people, and other young people who are pursuing their education, it was very important to show people that you don’t have to come from what is termed to be an elite society, or a family of power, or a family of money to make a change in life. All you need to do is have the truth on your side and have the willpower to pursue it.
Q: Your book goes through the struggles that you went through in getting recognition for Mi’kmaq, Mi’kmaw culture, and Mi’kmaw people. What kept you going through that struggle?
A: There was always a small number of people who are very, very inspired about the challenge. And they continued to motivate me. They continued to talk to me about it, and while they were, you know, they were in the shadows. I get phone calls if I met them somewhere in public [saying] they wanted to talk to me. They invited me to their house.… A lot of them were afraid of what was happening, yet they wanted me to do what I was doing.
Q: When people read this book, what do you want them to take away from it?
A: When people read this book, what I want them to do is, I want them … to become hungry for more information. There’s been a fair amount of information that has surfaced over the last 50 years since we started the movement, and other academics and professors in university and whatever — who are also academics by the way — have taken the time to write papers and to do research. So there’s much more material, way more material out there now than there ever was. So I referenced that material in my book, and hopefully, people will be able to go to it and better prepare themselves to take on the challenge.
Q: Have you seen that hunger change?
A: “Very positively.… If you look at the powwows … when you look at all of these activities that are now materializing from what was started in the ’70s, it shows that this is alive and well.
Q: We’re here on the grounds of the Flat Bay Powwow. You’ve been a part of this for quite a while, but I want to ask you, what does it mean to you to step on this ground every year for the powwow?
A: I’m always excited. When I come here I see the [fruition] of my work. I see, you know, my work and other people who were with me. I see the success and the challenges that we overcome. I see it from a degree that I’m proud and excited about it. And when this is over, I’ll come here like for probably a week every day and I’ll be lonesome when I come to this ground.
Q: When we were talking Thursday, you talked about … how this powwow is proof that we’ve gone from a time of denial and shame to thousands of people coming out to celebrate Mi’kmaw culture. Can you expand on that for me?
A: Rightfully or otherwise, I look at denial and shame [as] the tools that prevented our people from being included in the terms of the union when the negotiations to join Canada were taken. And it continued after that. Even when we started the movement in the ’70s, what we found is that there was still a lot of denial. Not only in the people [and] the non-Aboriginal people, but some of the Aboriginal people themselves were in denial because they were afraid of the consequences of coming out and identifying as Aboriginal people.
Maybe not for every family, but for many, many, many families, that shame is no longer there. Tomorrow, if you’re here, you know, you’ll see children five, six, seven, eight years old with regalia on. They’ll be out dancing, you know, they’ll be taking the spotlight. And if we can continue to provide opportunities for them to grow with that, the shame will be eroded.
