'Attraction for tourists': Mi'kmaq man fears festival may exploit Indigenous culture

A Mi'kmaq man from Stephenville Crossing has concerns about an Indigenous festival planned for this summer on Newfoundland and Labrador's Northern Peninsula.

Hayward Young says the festival is ill-timed and doesn't have the right people involved in its planning.

The Gros Morne Indigenous Cultural Festival is a three-day event that will take place Aug. 4-6 at the day use area of the Shallow Bay campground in Gros Morne National Park.

It's a new event to showcase Mi'kmaq and other Indigenous cultures and is the result of a partnership between Parks Canada and the Qalipu Cultural Foundation.

Not just a tourist attraction

Young is a former chief of the Indian Head First Nation Band, in the days before Mi'kmaq received recognition under Qalipu.

He's worried his culture is being put on display and exploited at a time when many Mi'kmaq in Newfoundland are just re-learning the customs and practices of their people.

It will be basically an exploitation of our culture.- Hayward Young

"I don't think people need to come in and take part in our sacred cultural things. And we're still learning that in a lot of cases, our own people," Young told the Corner Brook Morning Show. 

"We know why the government wants us there. The government wants us there because it's an attraction for tourists to the area. And that's not what we're about."

Bad timing

Young said the timing of the event in the Canada 150 year is also a sore point for him, since Mi'kmaq were here long before Confederation in 1867.

"If you did this next year or even six months after this celebration, it would be great. But, if this festival goes ahead as planned, it will be basically an exploitation of our culture," he said.

"We're still in the revival mode. We're still learning ourselves, and here we're going to showcase our culture and teach the tourists what it's all about it, and it just don't make sense."

Young said he's also concerned that elders in the Mi'kmaq community were left out of the initial planning for the festival.

"I think this cultural committee was hand-picked," he said. "If they would have approached Calvin White or Misel Joe, who are well-known elders in our community, I think you would have things done properly."

Event organizers optimistic

The organizers of the Indigenous festival are confident that things will work out, and they urged people not to jump to conclusions about how planning will unfold.

Sherry Dean, chair of the Qalipu Cultural Foundation, told CBC that elders will be involved, and a meeting with some elders is planned for Wednesday night in Corner Brook to talk about how everything should roll out. 

Hayward Young was asked to come to that meeting, but he said he won't attend, because he considers the invitation an effort at "damage control."

Even though some of the people Young mentioned aren't on the cultural foundation, Dean said that doesn't mean they won't be consulted. She said she's already met with Chief Misel Joe of Conne River to discuss the festival.

A story of struggle

Young worries that the Indigenous Cultural Festival will gloss over some of the more troubling aspects of Mi'kmaq history in this province, including a misconception that European settlers brought Mi'kmaq here from Nova Scotia to exterminate the Beothuk.

He said drumming, dancing and smudging are vital parts of his culture, but the more challenging story deserves to be told as well.

"Tell our story, how we survived here in harsh times in Newfoundland. And we've had demons, just like everyone else. We've had family violence; we've had abuse. People need to know that what we lived was not a perfect life."

Certainly not about putting anyone on display for the gratification of tourists.- Carla Wheaton, Parks Canada

Dean said she's confident the festival will include all the elements that people would like to see.

"There's going to be storytelling. There's going to be a campfire, with opportunities for people to tell their stories, not only their good stories, their bad stories, their stories of growing up and hardship, and being denied access to the person that they really are. So this is a forum for people to share their authentic stories."

Carla Wheaton, the visitor experience manager with Gros Morne National Park, said Parks Canada certainly never meant to offend or exploit.

"I certainly wouldn't characterize it as just an attraction for tourists. It was to be an opportunity for sharing, and very much a participatory thing. So certainly not about putting anyone on display for the gratification of tourists."

Wheaton said the festival is just the first of many projects on which Parks Canada will work with the Qalipu First Nation. 

The two groups have a memorandum of understanding to work together on things such as natural and cultural heritage conservation.