Trace A. DeMeyer's Blog, page 6
August 18, 2025
Recovering The Lost Knowledge of Our First Nations
A Used Book from 1896 Yields a Fascinating Find
Some History and a Challenging Question by Steven Newcomb
A Used Book from 1896 Yields a Fascinating Find
Read on Substack Excerpt:Two of the contributors to the book were U.S. Senator Henry L. Dawes from Massachusetts, and his wife Anna L. Dawes. She wrote Chapter XIII of the book, titled “The Story of the Indian.” An excerpt of Ms. Dawes’s chapter (with edits based on my Domination Translator added), reads:
“At the time when our forefathers first landed on these shores, they found the Indian here [living free and independent]. Whether at Plymouth or Jamestown, at the mouth of the Hudson [River] or in Florida, their first welcome was from the red man. . . [T]he white settler coveted the land and pushed the Indian off it that he might dwell there in peace. And it must be said that in the seventeenth century [the 1600s] he [the Christian European] violated no tradition, set himself against no law, human or divine, when he did this [pushed the Indian off the land by establishing domination over it].
“Possession [domination] was still the right of the stronger, the world over, and the conquest [domination] of new countries the chief glory of king and commons alike. To flee away from oppression [domination] was the only refuge, and to the oppressor [dominator] as well as oppressed [dominated] it seemed a natural resort. The country was broad enough for both, thought the white man. If the red man could not live with the new comers on the coast, let him fly to the fresh wilderness of the interior; and so he did, year after year, until one day there was no more wilderness [where the Native peoples could live free].”
Anna Dawes’s explanation acknowledges that the Original Nations and Peoples of the continent had been living perfectly free for countless generations when the Christian Europeans arrived and “coveted the land,” meaning “to desire what belonged to someone else.” She goes on to describe a centuries-long process whereby, for generations, the free Nations and Peoples were forced by foreign and invading colonizers and their descendants to live under the invading People’s claim of a right of domination, which she calls “oppression.”
As question arises: Will it be possible for the Original Nations and Peoples which have been living under the invading claim of a right of domination for so long, to one day free themselves from that claim?
CLICK LINK:
DAWES ACT:
READ: https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/dawes-act Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.me
Rebuild progress two years after the destructive Lahaina fires
MAUI and Lahaina's wealthy residentsAnd it’s now been over two years since Lahaina was destroyed by the tragic wildfires of August 8th of 2023, that killed 102 people, left thousands of people homeless.
??? “Lahaina’s not going to get rebuilt for another five years.” ? WTH? I'd say this was expected... Native Hawaiians are stuck, out of luck and cannot afford to live on their own lands! ... That was THE PLAN! Trace
READ: https://www.hawaiifreepress.com/Articles-Main/ID/45975/Lahaina-rebuild-could-move-along-faster-if-
Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.meWho are Museums Really For?
The film tells the story of the accidental discovery of the Cheguigo Monolith, an ancient stone figure, by a 14-year-old boy exploring the countryside in 1960.It’s a stark reminder: Sometimes the best way to kill something and rob it of its history is to place it in a museum.
Binnigula’sa’ (Ancient Zapotec People) (2024) is directed by Jorge Ángel Pérez and was screened at the Blackstar Film Festival. It is available for viewing online.
Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.meAugust 17, 2025
The Indigenous Paleolithic - Paulette Steeves
My friend Paulette!
Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.meAugust 13, 2025
Meet Raven Reid | Reverie 2024
In the fall of 2024, @cbcmusic and @SOCANmusic launched Reverie: The Indigenous Music Residency, an initiative created to foster the talents of Indigenous musicians. The program brought together six artists, including singer-songwriter @ravenreid9080 , an incredible artist with ancestral ties to the Mikisew First Nation. Originally from Yellowknife, NWT, and raised in Prince Albert, she now lives and creates in Saskatoon. Reid’s voice is powerful both in and out of her music. She is also a respected public speaker, using her platform to share her personal story and advocate for survivors of the Sixties Scoop.
Meet Raven Reid | Reverie 2024, Raven Reid, Sixties Scoop survivor, Indigenous folk music, singer-songwriter, Indigenous artist, Mikisew Cree First Nation, Yellowknife, Saskatoon, healing music, storytelling, folk singer, Canadian music, protest songs, social justice, Indigenous rights, mental health awareness, resilience, overcoming adversity, inspirational music, new music, independent artist, live performance, guitar songs, powerful vocals, songwriter, Indigenous culture, First Nations, singer, acoustic, folk
Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.meAugust 11, 2025
Erase the People and Sell The land
PLEASE CLICK THE LINK AND READ ON SUBSTACK... very important story! ... Trace
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Erase the People and Sell the Land by Sean Sherman
Live Streaming Genocide and Famine... Thoughts from 1863 Minnesota to 2025 Gaza
Read on SubstackQuestions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.meAugust 9, 2025
Piapot First Nation members learn more about their family histories at genealogy workshop
Dwayne Noname is happy he found out more about his great-grandparents and wants to share with family what he has learned. (Louise BigEagle/CBC)
Dwayne Noname always wanted to know where exactly he came from and a workshop in Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan is helping him find out.
Noname's community, roughly 90 kilometres north of Regina, hosted a genealogy and kinship workshop on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Piapot members were taught how to trace their family trees and how to gather and organize family photos, documents and oral stories, something Noname said he was happy to see people participating in.
"It's quite interesting to see where everybody comes from, my parents, grandparents," said Noname.
Noname said now that he has a paper trail of his ancestors, he hopes to pass the knowledge down to his relatives' children who want to know more about their family and where their last name came from.
Through learning more about his great-grandparents, Noname also learned that he is Saulteaux.
"I thought I was Cree," he said.
"I feel confident and feel really great about myself who I really am as a person."
Chief Mark Fox said In a written statement that the workshop was held to help reconnect members to their roots, family names and stories. Fox said the workshop will also help Sixties Scoop and residential school survivors recover their loss of identity.
"Knowing your history is knowing your story," Fox's statement said.
READ MORE: https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/piapot-family-genealogy-workshop-1.7603484
Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.meIndigenous historian Cody Groat credits Laurier with shaping his path as a storyteller and scholar
Groat's father, Bill (left), a survivor of the Sixties Scoop, passed away in 2022. The sharing of his story, with an examination of broader themes including intergenerational trauma, Indigenous masculinities and the long-term effects of colonial policies, is Groat’s latest project. Groat’s time as a PhD student also led to his first university teaching role, stepping in as a sessional instructor at St. Paul’s University College (now United College) at the University of Waterloo. The course on Indigenous Studies provided Groat with an opportunity for a deeply personal teaching moment.
“My dad, Bill, was a Sixties Scoop survivor and a transport truck driver — just an average guy,” says Groat. “I asked him to come speak to my class about his experience as an Indigenous person in the child welfare system. About three minutes into the lecture, he just started bawling his eyes out. He’d never talked about his life before, and it was just a release.”
The experience resonated deeply, and Groat’s father went on to guest lecture several more times, including for Brookfield’s History of Adoption classes at Laurier Brantford.
“He never finished high school and had some literacy issues, but he loved being a ‘university instructor,’ as he called himself,” says Groat. “He wanted to tell his story so others could learn from it.”
Groat is Mohawk and a band member of Six Nations of the Grand River.
Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.meKamloops #60sScoop survivor finally finds family roots at age 70
It's NEVER too late! ... Trace
Herb Charlie is a Sixties Scoop survivor and member of the Sq’ewlets First Nation who lives in Kamloops, pictured here at the Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society. (SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)CONTENT ADVISORY
Kamloops Indigenous elder Herb Charlie was forcibly removed from his biological mother two days after he was born in Vancouver in 1955.
He was placed in an orphanage with hundreds of other babies for two-and-a-half years before being placed in the foster home of a white woman.
Charlie was one of more than 20,000 First Nation, Metis and Inuit children in Canada removed from their homes from the early 1950s to the early 1980s in a government program known as the Sixties Scoop, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia. Indigenous babies were placed with non-Indigenous families without the parent or band’s consent as part of an effort to assimilate them into white society.
According to a report Charlie recently obtained from the federal government, during his first two years of life he was over institutionalized resulting in delayed walking and speech.
In that same report, Charlie is described by professional social and care workers as an unattractive baby, a dirty little Indian, a retard and a moron.
“Back in the time when I was born it was an era where prejudice was very high against Indigenous people, the racism was worse back then,” he said.
keep reading👇
The foster home Charlie was placed in was a subsidized toddler home for children awaiting committal to Woodlands, a mental hospital in New Westminster that shut down in the 1990s.
His foster mom, Mrs. Thereux, decided to keep him, while countless Indigenous children came and went.
“She saw something in me and kept me, so I was lucky,” he said. “I was always afraid of the social worker coming to the house. I always asked my mom how come they’re only here a short time and they go? My mom said they’re sick. They’d take (children) away so it made me scared and I’d run out the back door when workers came.”
From left to right: Jennifer Nickel, Herb Charlie, Dee-Anna Charlie. (SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)As a teenager, Charlie’s closest two friends were also Indigenous. The friends started smoking hash, then huffing nail polish remover. Their addictions eventually turned into the use of LSD, then injecting drugs. Charlie left the friendships behind and at age 17, his foster mother got remarried and he headed into the world on his own after completing grade 11.
He went to Vancouver to track down his family history but was denied the information until he was in his early 20s, but by then it was too late meet his biological mother, as she had passed eight years prior.
“If the government would’ve told me back then when I was first asking, I would’ve been able to meet her,” he said.
Charlie learned he is from the Sq’ewlets First Nation near Harrison Hot Springs and was able to meet his aunt and uncle, cousins and grandparents living on reserve there.
“There was a sense of belonging meeting them,” he said. “When I was growing up, I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t grow up with cultural teachings but over the years they taught me about sweat houses and talked about cultural dancing.”
Six years ago, Charlie obtained records with more information about his upbringing as it was required for his Sixties Scoop settlement provided by the federal government as a part of the reconciliation effort. Much of the report is blacked out and there is racist, derogatory wording in it.
Recently, an Indigenous roots worker with Secwepemc Child & Family Services, Jennifer Nickel, was able to fill in the remaining gaps in Charlie's ancestry. She works to find the genetics and genealogy of Indigenous youth and elders.
“Doing this for elders is the most rewarding,” she said. “For many of them there is shame associated with not knowing their parentage and the way it was taken from them. There are many Indigenous elders who are disconnected from their families and not because of a failure of the family, it was a failure of the system.”
Nickel submitted Charlie’s DNA into a database and later discovered the man listed as his biological father in government records was not related to him.
“Herb’s DNA testing came back we discovered his biological father wasn't white, he was 100% Chinese, from a region in southern China," she said. "He’d likely come over in the early 1900s and worked in the area, probably on the railway. We don’t really know the person but we know the story.”
The DNA results arrived on BC Family Day.
“At the age of 69, to find out he is not white, but Chinese, to finally find out who he is and why he looks like he does, that was important and unforgettable,” Charlie's wife Dee-Anna Charlie said.
Nickel said technology is increasing making it easier to delve into genealogy and piece together family trees with what DNA results offer. She also uses her professional access to obtain records, along with newspapers and obituaries to pull family history together.
“For the people who grew up never knowing, finding out that information can be overwhelming but also incredibly healing. I’ve not dealt with a single person who hasn’t been brought to tears by it,” she said. “You can bring a 75-year-old woman to her knees in grief talking about what she went through when she was 11 or 12 or 13. Because there has never been an opportunity for healing.”
When asked if he was angry about the way he was treated by society and the government growing up, Herb shook his head, no. To this day, he doesn’t express emotions like regular people do.
“That’s what attachment disorder does,” Nickel said, who has seen the same characteristics in other Indigenous survivors. “If you place a baby in a crib and nobody attaches to them, they learn people around them aren’t safe and are not going to be responsive to their emotions. For Herb, there would be no space for negative emotion because nobody cared. It was a survival technique to not be angry, it would’ve rendered him homeless.”
Dee-Anna said she is grateful for the closure about Herb’s upbringing that Nickel provided. She said his story has a much brighter ending than other victims of the Sixties Scoop.
“His has a good ending. He did have a good foster mom, he did have a good path compared to what trauma it has been for others,” she said. “Other kids were moving from foster home to foster home. But by the grace of Mrs. Thereux, Herb would’ve been in an institution with all those other Indigenous children.”
NOTE TO READERS: If you find yourself in need of support please contact one of these organizations.
Hope for Wellness Helpline: 1-855-242-3310 Sixties Scoop Foundation: 1-877-313-7011 Questions? EMAIL: tracelara@pm.meTrace A. DeMeyer's Blog
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