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Pages 97 - 142, Chapters 12 - 15
Ochek tells Morgan and Eli about the arrival of the White Time. Earlier, during the plentiful Green Time, a man entered the North Country through the Great Tree. The Great Tree is the portal where the North Country links to the attic in Winnipeg. He was not the first human to come to Askí, but he was the first human to betray the inhabitants.
The man, Napéw, was at first welcomed onto the land, but began to take more than he needed from it. The more he took, the more gaunt and unhealthy he became. Because of his disrespectful actions, Misewa’s Council, under the guidance of Chief Muskwa, banished him.
Instead of returning to Earth, the man fled elsewhere in Askí. Tahtakiw the crane joined him, for reasons they can only speculate about. When the two fled, they took the summer birds with them. This theft led to the onset of the White Time, and an even greater scarcity of resources followed.
Because of the man’s betrayal of Misewa, Ochek has kept Eli a secret. He fears how Misewa would react to new human visitors. What sets Eli apart, however, is that he greeted Ochek at the portal with “the good words”—Cree—and has earned Ochek’s trust and respect by learning how to responsibly live from the land.
Because time moves more slowly back in Winnipeg, Morgan agrees to stay in Askí for a while longer, so she can accompany Ochek and Eli on their long journey to Ochek’s trapline.
At the trapline, they discover a talking squirrel that stands on two legs. Her name is Arik, and she is stealing a rabbit. Ochek tries to kill Arik for food, but Eli and Morgan intervene to save her. Arik tells Ochek that she knows where the summer birds are hidden, and if he lets her live she will bring them there.
The four return to Misewa to seek council’s approval to rescue the summer birds. Council members are wary of humans but determine that they cannot let one bad man’s actions come to represent all humans. Ochek is granted permission to set off with Arik, Morgan, and Eli to rescue the summer birds.
Teacher Background Information: Aboriginal Hunting and Fishing Rights
Ochek invites Morgan to join him and Eli on a journey southeast of isewa to check his traplines. The traplines provide the villagers with animals that will become clothing, utensils, and food. That is, the hunting that Ochek does is a way that the land provides Misewa with its needs for survival. This is one aspect of the special relationship that Misewa’s inhabitants have with the land.
Misewa’s special relationship with the land is akin to the special relationship that the original inhabitants of what is now Canada have with the land that we all share today. This special relationship is recognized in Canadian law, through Aboriginal Rights.
Aboriginal Rights include the right to:
• occupy and use Traditional Lands and resources
• continue cultural and social practices
Aboriginal Rights belong to the Indigenous Peoples who lived in what is now Canada. It is important to understand that although these rights are recognized in Canadian law they were not created by Canadian law. They are inherent rights Indigenous Peoples have based on their prior occupation of what is now Canada. Many Indigenous Peoples view limits placed on these under Canadian law as an infringement of their inherent rights.
Under Canadian law, Indigenous Peoples have the right to continue their practices, customs and traditions that existed before contact. The activity can evolve over time. Hunting with weapons that did not exist is an example of a right changing over time. The present-day activity must be connected to a pre-contact activity.
Under Canadian law, every pre-contact activity did not create an Aboriginal Right. Activities that were an essential part of the group’s culture became Aboriginal Rights. The community
does not need to be the only community that engaged in the activity. The community does not need to have continuously exercised the right.
Examples of rights that have been recognized by courts include a right to:
• fish for food, ceremonial and social purposes
• sell fish
• hunt
• harvest timber
Courts have ruled that these rights are not general rights of all Indigenous Peoples. They belong to the specific group claiming the right because the activity was an essential part of their culture before contact. The right can be exercised over the area where they historically exercised. Some courts have only looked at where the activity took place and not outlined the whole area where the right exists.
Métis Activities
Under Canadian law, Métis Peoples have the right to continue the practices, customs and traditions that existed after contact but before colonial powers controlled the area they inhabited. To exercise these rights the person must:
• identify as a Métis person
• be an accepted member of a present-day Métis community
• have ties to a historic Métis community
The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized the Métis right to hunt for food as an Aboriginal Right. Most of the rules about Aboriginal Activities apply to Métis rights. The activity
must have been an essential part of the Métis community’s culture before colonial powers controlled the area.
CLASS DISCUSSION
Reading Reflection
Indigenous Peoples have the right to continue their practices, customs and traditions that existed before Europeans arrived here. Activities that were an essential part of the group’s culture have become Aboriginal Rights.
Much the same with The Barren Grounds, the land in Askí has cultural significance to the animal beings of Misewa. The land’s significance is not just related to how it provides food and medicines. It also includes the spiritual ways that the land is used.
1. On Page 101, Ochek explains that Eli is living the same way that the animal beings of Misewa live. He joins Ochek to “check my snares and reset them, to forage for foods and medicines, and to hunt.”
a. Why do we all need foods and medicines to survive?
b. Why are Ochek’s activities an essential part of his group’s culture?
2. Consider how Ochek describes Eli on page 106. As he says,
“He respects this place and the beings within it.”
How would respecting the land and the beings within it help to provide food and medicine, not just for now but also for the future?
Looking Forward
As you read forward in The Barren Grounds, watch for activities that Ochek engages in, from hunting to harvesting sweetgrass to saying prayers.
• How does Ochek honour the land and animals that give resources?
• What ways do Ochek’s actions show us that these activities are essential parts of his people’s customs and traditions?
Responsibility
