Friday, the 28th anniversary of National Indigenous Peoples Day, is a time set aside for Canada to recognize and honour the diverse cultures, traditions and contributions of its First Nations, Métis and Inuit citizens.
Everything in Canada begins with Indigenous peoples, and our knowledge and relationships in this place for a millennium.
From democracy to health care to multiculturalism to every penny on everyone’s paycheques, everything in Canada begins with Indigenous nations and, after that, the many other important contributions other nations and peoples have made to all of our lives.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
The Manitoba flag is a symbol not of independence but of subjectivity to the British Empire, Ottawa and many rich and powerful individuals who never set foot in this place.
June 21st is particularly important to Manitobans.
One-fifth of us, after all, are Indigenous, with the rest of the province living beside, working with or married to citizens of Indigenous nations.
We’re the first province after this country’s Confederation, the location of Treaty 1, and the homeland of the Red River Métis — a people birthed from the meeting of multiple nations here.
It’s a time to be proud of all we have done to build a complete, vibrant and independent Manitoba.
It’s also a time to revisit and renew the ideas of who we are, why we are here and where we are going.
This begins with the stories we tell about ourselves and the images and principles within those stories.
There is, perhaps, no bigger representation of this than our flag.
A flag is both a story, a representation and a prophecy at the same time.
Indigenous peoples flew the first flag that represented — primarily — this place.
In 1869 and 1870, the Métis-led provisional government in Manitoba flew nine different flags representing the independence of this territory.
Previous to that, the flags of the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company — both featuring a British Union Jack in the top left corner and little else — were the predominant flags flown at forts and trading posts while the red (later blue) “infinity” logo flag of the Métis emerged to galvanize nationalism and Manitoba’s first government.
Faced with the issue of trying to unite all peoples in late 1869, Riel’s government developed a new flag and flew it days after taking Upper Fort Garry, declaring the territory’s independence.
The flag featured a white backdrop with two images; a yellow fleur-de-lis, representing French culture and pride alongside a green shamrock, representing Irish Fenians (an independence movement from Britain) and Catholicism.
A month later a buffalo would be added.
The fact is, a group of mostly Indigenous leaders adopted images from their relatives (and the land) to tell a story about how a community came to together to form an independent, proud mosaic.
It was also a flag that changed over time; a truth in a series of growing truths — probably the most Indigenous teaching of all.
According to Métis historian Calvin Racette of the Gabriel Dumont Institute, the provisional government “took down the Union Jack that was there and flew their own flag to say we are in charge and this is our identity; this is who we are.”
After the Manitoba Act of 1870, various incarnations of the Union Jack flew once again over this territory until Canada’s infamous Maple Leaf flag was adopted in 1965.
The provincial Progressive Conservative government of Duff Roblin didn’t like the new Maple Leaf flag, however. In a statement of resistance, it created a provincial flag that featured the Union Jack in the top left-hand corner, with the province’s coat of arms on a red backdrop. This flag has represented this place since May 11, 1965.
The coat of arms, granted to Manitoba in 1905 by King Edward VII, features the Great Seal of Manitoba (granted by Canada’s Privy Council in Ottawa in 1870) and includes the red-and-white cross of St. George (the patron saint of England) and a bison, which according to the government of Manitoba website, “Represents the Aboriginal peoples of Manitoba, who used the bison for both food and clothing.”
Today, Manitoba’s flag is often confused with the flag of Ontario, with the two virtually the same except for that province’s Royal Warrant, granted by Queen Victoria in 1868, replacing Manitoba’s Coat.
The colonial-centrism, lack of originality and design and exclusionary nature of the provincial flag (collapsing Indigenous nations into a “bison” while virtually erasing French peoples altogether) has been well-documented.
Numerous politicians, academics and other observers have been calling for a new flag for decades, and particularly during Manitoba’s 150th anniversary in 2020.
It’s not that the Manitoba flag is wrong; it’s just a single story and perspective of this place and one, frankly, that comes primarily from elsewhere.
The Manitoba flag is a symbol not of independence but of subjectivity to the British Empire, Ottawa and many rich and powerful individuals who never set foot in this place.
Indigenous Peoples Day might be the best time to revisit the stories we tell.
Maybe, in the process, we could create a flag that actually represents truly where we come from, to help us understand where we are going.
niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca
Niigaan Sinclair
Columnist
Niigaan Sinclair is Anishinaabe and is a columnist at the Winnipeg Free Press.
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