The Tsimshian 4: Corey Moraes on History and Reconciliation (4)

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 2

Section: A

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 30

Formal Sub-Theme: “The Tsimshian”

Individual Publication Date: February 1, 2024

Issue Publication Date: May 1, 2024

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Word Count: 1,910

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

*The interview was conducted on May 10, 2020.*

Abstract

Corey Moraes is Tsimshian. He was born April 14, 1970, in Seattle, Washington. He has worked in both the U.S.A. and in Canada. He has painted canoes for Vision Quest Journeys (1997). He was featured in Totems to Turquoise (2005), Challenging Traditions (2009), and Continuum: Vision and Creativity on the Northwest Coast (2009). He earned the 2010 Aboriginal Traditional Visual Art Award and Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. His trademark artistic works are Coastal Tsimshian style with gold jewellery, limited edition prints, masks, silver jewellery, and wood carvings. Moraes discusses: Europeans; Residential School system; New Metlakatla; the Canadian government; discussion around reconciliation; the lack of care; the education system; personal experience and observation; Attawapiskat; and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Keywords: Chief Dan George, Corey Moraes, Lax Kw’alaams, Magna Carta, Metlakatla, Reconciliation, Tsimshian, Truth & Reconciliation, Tsleil-Waututh, William Duncan.

The Tsimshian 4: Corey Moraes on History and Reconciliation (4)

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, this is the land, Residential School, TRC, session. As Europeans continued to encroach and steal land from the Tsimshian, especially from 1862 forward with the Anglican missionary William Duncan, what were some of the losses of a connection to the land, as is a common phrase for the Tsimshian?

How did this transition into further encroachment into the stealing of children in the cases of the Residential School system?

Corey Moraes: The Residential School system did not continue once they reached the Alaskan island of Annette Island, as it was called. So, they left behind that construct. Surprisingly, I did not should have mentioned this previously. 

To this very day, they celebrate annually what they call Founder’s Day.

Jacobsen: What is that?

Moraes: That is where they celebrate the founding of New Metlakatla on August 7. 

Jacobsen: What year was it founded?

Moraes: I imagine the year they landed there.

Jacobsen: Was it 1862?

Moraes: I believe it had something to do with ’87. In 1987, they had their centennial. So, it would be 1887. 

Jacobsen: What about the portions that were in the context of Residential Schools within the confines of the Canadian government? Obviously, in America, it is a different context and a little bit different.

Moraes: I’m not sure. I have more knowledge about New Metlakatla, their transition there, and their celebration of – what would they call it – almost emancipation.

Jacobsen: Was this a formal documented event, as in signage, emancipation, or one that simply happened over time and was celebrated?

Moraes: I believe it had to be formal because it came from the government, and the United States government was involved. Interestingly, they are the only recognized reservation in Alaska. Everything else is just a village.

Jacobsen: In Canada, there is a conversation, at a minimum, depending on the areas of the country. In America, is there even a conversation around issues facing individual peoples and communities you would find in Metlakatla and similar ones around the United States or the more extensive discussion around reconciliation, even on a more global level?

Moraes: I do not believe so. In my personal experience, in the six and a half years I spent as an adult in the United States, because of the Magna Carta, because they conquered First Nations people there, there was no interest from the government, through the media, all the way down, in any discussions or recognition of the peoples, the original inhabitants. They do not care.

Jacobsen: Why the lack of care, the void?

Moraes: In the United States, I believe it is because of the Magna Carta. They conquered and, therefore, they are the ruling party. Meanwhile, there was a cession in Canada – the “C” word “Cession.” They promised the First Nations people that in exchange for the Canadian government taking care of their lands, they would be taken care of. 

What most Canadians don’t understand is that it is not taxpayer money. It is money that was put into a trust. The monies that were distributed were the interest from the monies in the trust. Many Canadian taxpayers get a hair across their back because they think they are pennying for all of the Canadian Aboriginals. 

That’s not the case at all. 

Jacobsen: Is part of this misunderstanding grounded in the education system? Is another outcropping of this a resentment on the social level, forgetting government, reconciliation between Settlers and Aboriginals? 

Moraes: Yes, a trust was established. The interest from that trust is distributed to Indigenous tribes annually. I think it is sociocultural. As I have stated, there has yet to be an accurate depiction of Canada’s history with First Nations people at an academic level.

They don’t recognize or distribute through their scholastic system any sort of accurate recording of the history between the Canadian government and First Nations peoples.

Jacobsen: I know this for a fact, from personal experience and observation and extrapolating to a larger minority cultural phenomenon. I don’t mean “minority” as in people. I mean small cultural phenomena in the country, where among many Christians.

I state this as a non-religious person. So, there is a bias there. In that context, I have witnessed elder Christians in their 70s lying or telling what they think is the truth and is not about the fact of part of the colonization, part of the Residential Schools, and so on, only being a governmental phenomenon. 

However, the case that came to mind was with the Residential Schools. The individual was telling the younger Christian, who didn’t know the context because they were an international student in this country.

They were telling them it was just the Government of Canada rather than approved by the Government of Canada and then implemented by the various churches in Canada regarding the Residential Schools.

So, there is probably out of embarrassment and protection of the faith, an active effort, on some part of at least even elder Christians in this country, to ignore, dissimulate, or outright lie about the history. 

So, when I reflect some more, you’re right about the sociocultural level of this phenomenon. If we implemented a proper education system, perhaps some of the reason for this dissimulation, lying, etc., comes from a context of feeling this would put a blight on the faith.

Moraes: Sure.

Jacobsen: In my estimation, and it’s only an opinion, an active history would humanize everyone. That would, on a social level, provide a basis for better reconciliatory efforts and healthier relations.

Moraes: For sure, yes, I mean, that is supposed to be the mandate of the reconciliation process. It is to bring to light the things that have occurred, which people in power, such as RCMP or the law segment.

So they can understand. That there has been an egregious fault on the part of the Canadian government to repress and suppress the Aboriginal peoples to this day. Some reservations do not have drinkable water, for example.

What do they call it?

Jacobsen: Those who do not know may only think about Attawapiskat. However, that is not an isolated community. There are many like it. 

Moraes: There was CBC Indigenous or APTN. They staged a series based on sharing the truths about Aboriginal Canadians with people who do not believe that we are disenfranchised or that we deserve certain rights.

I am trying to remember the name of it right now. It was a three-part series at the time. What they did was bring them – I don’t know if you’re aware of this – to villages to show them how they have lived and how they have been oppressed over all these years.

It is a scared, straightforward culture. Have you heard of that?

Jacobsen: No.

Moraes: It scares people straight. The purpose is to shock them into reality about how oppressed we really are. It is really easy to say that we’re the type of demographic that gets a lot of breaks, and all of our problems are self-made.

I agree, and wholeheartedly admit, that there is a vast amount of nepotism within band councils across the country. But I believe that is a divide-and-conquer method the Canadian government hopes will lead to us disbanding as people.

Jacobsen: Where were many born and raised?

Moraes: Like the majority of our membership, I was born and raised in the city. Actually, a minority of our members live in the village. That applies to all tribes in British Columbia. I can’t speak for any of the other provinces. 

The minority of the membership lives on a reserve. 

Jacobsen: Is that a common occurrence across the country?

Moraes: As I said, I cannot only speak for part of the provinces.

Jacobsen: How has the Truth and Reconciliation Commission been received?

Moraes: I can speak directly to that because of my wife Karen, a founding member of Truth and Reconciliation within the Township of Langley. In her experience with getting educated individuals to implement these programs across the Township, for example, when people discover the truth about what has occurred, there has been zero rejection of it. 

The majority, almost 100%, are shocked that the Canadian government has done the level of the things that they have done. They are shocked at the inaccuracies of what, for instance, status Indians benefit from. 

Speaking for myself, I cannot even remember the last time I used my status card. If I’m in North Vancouver, for example, there is a Canadian superstore on Native land. I can get gas tax-free, but “tax-free” only means 12% less. 

I cannot even remember the last time I was there. One half of Park Royal Mall, South, not North, is on Squamish land. I can’t remember the last time I bought anything there. So, I am a taxpayer like anybody else. 

I don’t benefit. I’d say 99% of things offered as benefits to status Indians don’t benefit me. As an example, when we moved here in 2006, we moved to the Tsleil-Waututh reserve in North Vancouver, which is where Chief Dan George was from.

We did not have to pay taxes because we were on a reserve. People don’t understand. When you don’t have to pay taxes, you can’t get loans. You’re invisible on the credit report. So, there’s a lot of drawbacks to being on reserve. 

When I bought my iMac in 2010 from Simply in Willowbrook Mall, I wanted to avoid the tax on it because it was over a $1,000 purchase. They asked me if I could give them an address on reserve. They would ship a rock, a rock, in the approximate weight of the computer to that address.

That way, I could avoid taxes, which I did. It was sent to my adopted mother’s reserve in South Vancouver. They were shocked when they got a package with an address from me. There was a rock in there. When you buy a car on reserve, for example, it has to be delivered to the reserve. They hand the keys over to you on reserve. That is how we get tax-free. 

Jacobsen: What are the manifestations of this? Some other examples.

Moraes: To buy anything like cigarettes tax-free, you must drive to a reservation. You have been here. We have to go to Tsawwassen. You buy your cigarettes on reserve, usually at a gas station. You show your status card and go back home with some cigarettes. I do not do things like that.  

Jacobsen: Any other points or motions before we end this session today?

Moraes: There is a vast misunderstanding about the majority of status Indians. Like I said, we don’t live on reserve. We can’t maintain our lifestyles on reserves because if you’re not a Salish person, and we’re not, you’re from Northern BC. We will not move to Lax Kw’alaams, Port Simpson, just North of Prince Rupert. 

It is not a place that we want to live, and it is not a place where they want us to live. They are very reluctant to take in newcomers. Back in the ’80s, I received a letter when I was in my late teens. It said the Lax Kw’alaams band was being given a lump sum of money to establish housing on reserve. 

In the letter, they said, ‘Even if you don’t plan on ever living here, please check off the box that says you want a house. That house will be built.’ [Laughing] I did.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Jacobsen S. The Tsimshian 4: Corey Moraes on History and Reconciliation (4). February 2024; 12(2). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-4

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Jacobsen, S. (2024, February 1). The Tsimshian 4: Corey Moraes on History and Reconciliation (4). In-Sight Publishing. 12(2).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): JACOBSEN, S. The Tsimshian 4: Corey Moraes on History and Reconciliation (4). In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 2, 2024.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. 2024. “The Tsimshian 4: Corey Moraes on History and Reconciliation (4).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 2 (Spring). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-4.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Jacobsen, S “The Tsimshian 4: Corey Moraes on History and Reconciliation (4).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 2 (February 2024).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-4.

Harvard: Jacobsen, S. (2024) ‘The Tsimshian 4: Corey Moraes on History and Reconciliation (4)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(2). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-4>.

Harvard (Australian): Jacobsen, S 2024, ‘The Tsimshian 4: Corey Moraes on History and Reconciliation (4)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 2, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-4>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. “The Tsimshian 4: Corey Moraes on History and Reconciliation (4).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 2, 2024, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-4.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Scott J. The Tsimshian 4: Corey Moraes on History and Reconciliation (4) [Internet]. 2024 Feb; 12(2). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-4.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright© 2012-Present by Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing. Authorized use/duplication only with explicit and written permission from Scott Douglas Jacobsen. Excerpts, links only with full credit to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with specific direction to the original. All collaborators co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their purposes.