The Remarkable Legacy of Chief Dan George

By Rev. Ed Hird

 

Like Chief Kenny Blacksmith and Chief Joseph Brant, Chief Dan George has left a remarkable legacy across Canada. In the 1990 North Vancouver Centennial book, Chuck Davis describes Chief Dan George as one of North Vancouver’s most famous citizens.  Born on July 24^th 1899, Chief Dan George died at age 82 on September 12^th 1981.  His birth name was Gwesanouth/Teswahno Slahoot, meaning ‘thunder coming up over the land from the water.’  He memorably said that “A man who cannot be moved by a child’s sorrow will only be remembered with scorn.”  In getting to know and pray with his son Robert/Bob George, I gained a glimpse of the deep spirituality and humanity of his father.

 

I recently had the privilege of attending the fifth Annual Tsleil-Watuth Nation Cultural Arts Festival held at Cates Park/Whey-ah-Wichen. This year the festival celebrated the 30-year legacy of Chief Dan George.  While there, I attended the Legacy tent where I was videoed sharing my understanding of Chief Dan George’s legacy.  Afterwards, the Legacy Tent leader Cheyenne Hood agreed to be interviewed for this Deep Cove Crier article: “…My mother is Deborah George, who is the daughter of Robert George, who is the son of Chief Dan George. He is my Great-Grandfather.  A lot of people while I was growing up used to ask me what it was like to have Chief Dan George as your Great-Grandfather. To be honest, I never really knew of his fame, the things that he had done, because I was a fairly young child. To me, he was always just Grandpa Dan, or Papa Dan. I didn’t know that he was a movie star.  I didn’t know that he went to Hollywood. I didn’t know that he was a writer or a poet.  He was just a grandfather.”

 

“‘My best memory of him’, said Cheyenne, “is after his wife died.  He used to take turns with different children and spending time in their homes.  His daughter Rosemary used to have an old house that had a steep set of stairs. It faced the Burrard inlet. They had a swing in the backyard.  We were over visiting my grandparents and we went trucking over there to see who was at the swing, to see who I could play with for the day.  I saw Grandpa Dan sitting on the porch, facing the water. He had his face up to the sun, and he kind of reminded me of a turtle on the rock.”

 

“My curiosity got the better of me, so I walked up the stairs and said: “Grandpa, what are you doing?’ He took a few minutes to answer me and said: ‘I am sitting’. He said: ‘Do you want to come sit with me?’ So I climbed to the top of the stairs, and sat down there beside his feet. He was sitting there with his face to the sun. I said: “Grandpa, what are you doing?” He said: ‘Do you feel that?’  And he leaned his head back and he had his eyes closed.  I kept looking at him: ‘What is he doing?’ So I mimicked him, copied him and closed my eyes with my face to the sun.  He said: ‘Do you feel that?’ After a few minutes, I said: ‘Yes, I do.” He said: “What is that?”  I said: ‘That is the sun on my face.’  Then he started to talk about the importance of the sun and what it does for mother earth, and what it does for nature, and nature’s cycles. I sat there feeling the warmth of the sun spread across my face.” 

 

“Grandpa Dan said: ‘Do you hear that?’ So I listened quietly.  I said: ‘Yes, I do.’  I said: ‘What is that?’ He said: ‘That is the wind blowing through the trees.’  Grandpa smiled, a really faint kind of smile.  Then he started talking about the importance of the wind and the role that it plays with the trees and the music that it makes.” 

 

“Then he said: ‘Do you smell that?’ I am still sitting there with my eyes closed. I said: ‘Yes, I do.’ He said: ‘What do you smell?’ I said: ‘I smell the salt from the inlet.’ Then he started talking about the role that the water and the inlet played for our people and our nation, and how when the tide went out, we were able to go out and feast and eat. We had clams and mussels and crabs and we could fish, and we could harvest sea food.  He said: ‘Do you hear that?’ I sat for another few minutes listening, and then I said: ‘Yes, I can hear that.’ He said: ‘What do you hear?’ I said: ‘I hear the waves crashing against the rocks.’  Then he started talking about the history of the Tsleil-Watuth Nation people, and how we came to be, and how we moved through this life and this world.  I sat and I listened and we were quiet for a few minutes, and then I opened up my eyes.  He was looking down at me and he was smiling. I said: ‘What are we listening for now, Grandpa?’ He said: ‘Nothing’. I said: ‘What are you going to do now, Grandpa?’ I just wanted to be near him, I just wanted to be with him.  He said: ‘Now we are going to go inside and have tea and bannocks’. And we did.”

 

Chief Dan George once said: “I would be a sad man if it were not for the hope I see in my grandchild’s eyes.” Chuck Davis of the Greater Vancouver book commented that Chief Dan George “embodied the dignified elder.”  As one of eleven children, he became a longshoreman, working on the waterfront for twenty-seven years until he smashed his leg in a car accident aboard a lumber scow.  Chief Dan George also worked as a logger, construction worker, and school bus driver. He formed a small dance band, playing in rodeos and legion halls. His instrument was the double-bass. 

 

In the original Deep Cove Heritage book ‘Echoes Across the Inlet”, it speaks about how Chief Dan George gave his historic Centennial ‘Lament for Confederation’ address in 1967 to 30,000 people at the Empire Stadium in Vancouver.  Memorably he commented: “I shall see our young braves and our chiefs sitting in the houses of law and government, ruling and being ruled by the knowledge and freedoms of our great land.  So shall we shatter the barriers of our isolation.  So shall the next hundred years be the greatest in the proud history of our tribes and nations.”  Sent to residential school at age 5, Chief Dan George never lived to see the day when Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Government of Canada apologized to the First Nations people for the trauma many experienced in the Residential Schools.

 

He first acted in the 1968 TV Series ‘Cariboo Road’ which became the movie “Smith”.  He went on to win the 1970 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the hit movie Little Big Man.  Chief Dan George made famous the phrase: “It is a good day to die”.  Dustin Hoffman commented “I was amazed at his energy (he was in his seventies); he was always prepared with his lines; it was a six-day week; we were shooting thirteen hours a days.” Helmut Hirnschall noted that “His quiet assertion, his whispered voice, his cascading white hair, his furrowed face with the gentle smile became a trademark for celluloid success.”

 

From there, he went on to act in many films and TV shows, including The Outlaw Josey Wales, Harry and Tonto, and the TV series Centennial.

 

Many honours have been given to Chief Dan George including being made an Officer of the Order on Canada in 1971.  In 2008 Canada Post issued a postage stamp in its “Canadians in Hollywood” series featuring Dan George. Schools and theatres have been named after him.  In the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympic Games, his poem “My Heart Soars” was quoted by Actor Donald Sutherland. To me, Chief Dan George was a Benjamin Franklin of the indigenous world.

 

His poetry and prayers are gripping and unforgettable.  As Chief Dan George said; “…I am small and weak. I need your wisdom.  May I walk in beauty. Make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things that you have made, and my ears sharp to hear your voice.  Make me wise so that I may know the things that you have taught your children, the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.  Make me strong not to be superior to my brothers but to fight my greatest enemy –myself.  Make me ever ready to come with you with straight eyes so that when life fades as with the fading sunset, my spirit will come to you without shame.”

 

The Rev. Ed Hird, Rector

St Simon’s Church North Vancouver

 

Anglican Mission in the Americas (Canada)

http://stsimonschurch.ca

-an article published in the October 2011 Deep Cove Crier

-award-winning author  of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’

http://battleforthesoulofcanada.blogspot.com

-In order to obtain a copy of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘Ed Hird’, #1008-555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7N 2J7. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD.  This can also be done by PAYPAL using the e-mail ed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $9.99CDN/USD.

-Click to download a complimentary PDF copy of the Battle for the Soul study guide :  Seeking God’s Solution for a Spirit-Filled Canada 

-You can also download the complimentary Leader’s Guide PDF: Battle for the Soul Leaders Guide

Chief Kenny Blacksmith: walking together in forgiveness

By Rev Ed Hird

 

Recently my wife and I attended the First People’s Forgiven Summit in Ottawa.  Over 4,000 First Nations, Inuit, Metis and others came from all across Canada to officially respond to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s apology two years ago.  It was a moving three days of forgiveness, reconciliation and healing that has had a lasting impact on us.

 

The reason why we attended the Forgiven Summit is that we met locally with Chief Kenny Blacksmith in January 2010 at the beginning of the six-month Journey of Freedom across Canada.  When Chief Blacksmith told of his having been abused in residential school and yet has found the ability to forgive, it touched me deeply. I experienced Chief Blacksmith that day as having a transparent soul.  When he said that he forgave us, I experienced this forgiveness as real, deep and costly.

 

During this Journey of Freedom, I was invited to the Tsawwassen First Nation for a time of restoration.  It became clear to me that God is doing a powerful work among the First Peoples across Canada.  He is giving them beauty for ashes, and releasing the power of forgiveness in a way that is bringing life transformation.

 

Dr. Billy Graham once said: “The greatest moments of Native History may lie ahead of us if a great spiritual renewal and awakening should take place. The Native American has been a sleeping giant. He is awakening. The original Americans could become the evangelists who will help win America for Christ! Remember these forgotten people!”

 

Out of the great trauma that the First Peoples have been through, it seems that they as national gatekeepers are now leading the way in the message of reconciliation and forgiveness.  Chief Kenny Blacksmith is indeed a statesman in the message that he carried all across the nation. On Canada Day, Chief Blacksmith said: “Canada in its restoration and freedom will be a healing to the nations…. I believe because Canada and the original and host peoples of this land have made significant spiritual amends through an act of forgiveness, Canada will not only take back what the enemy has stolen but it will take new land for the Kingdom of God, and it will dig new wells of revival in its restored relationships and freedom from a negative past.” 

 

It was a great privilege at the Ottawa Forgiven Summit to stand with other Church leaders and express our repentance for the way that the Churches have let down and hurt the First Peoples, particularly with the residential schools.  The joy that flowed during the Forgiven Summit was palpable.

 

Here is how Chief Kenny Blacksmith describes this new beginning for Canada: “On this 1st of July 2010 let us begin to dream big once again, the best of what could be for our people and nation because the Lord God is mighty!

 

On this 1st of July 2010 let us arise determined more than ever to design and deliver a shared improved future built on a solid rock foundation on the best of what should be, and the best of what will be – for all our people and for our nation!

 

Let the path of the righteous in our nation be as the first gleam of dawn shining ever brighter till the full light of day.”

 

Chief Blacksmith went on to say:

“Canada – Arise and shine for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you! Canada – this is your time of restoration.  Canada – this is your time of promotion! Canada – this is your time! God bless Canada!”

 

I thank God for Chief Kenny Blacksmith and other First Peoples who are leading the way in the message of forgiveness.

 

 

 

Rev Ed Hird, Rector

St Simon’s North Vancouver

Anglican Mission in the Americas (Canada)

http://stsimonschurch.ca 

-published in the August 2010 Deep Cove Crier

-award-winning author of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’

http://www.battleforthesoulofcanada.blogspot.com

p.s. In order to obtain a copy of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘Ed Hird’, #1008-555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7N 2J7. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD.  This can also be done by PAYPAL using the e-mail ed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $9.99 CDN/USD.

-Click to download a complimentary PDF copy of the Battle for the Soul study guide :  Seeking God’s Solution for a Spirit-Filled Canada 

You can also download the complimentary Leader’s Guide PDF: Battle for the Soul Leaders Guide

Thousands of Aboriginal People Converged on Ottawa

By Rev Ed Hird

We will never forget the Forgiven Summit in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada at the Ottawa Civic Centre.  My wife and I, with thousands of others from across Canada, travelled to our nation’s Capital to share in this historic gathering convened by Chief Kenny Blacksmith. I had the privilege of meeting with Chief Kenny Blacksmith and Chief Linda Prince back in January 2010 when the Journey of Forgiveness began.

 

Being struck by Chief Kenny Blacksmith’s powerful message of forgiveness, I knew that we needed to be there that June for the Forgiven Summit.  Only God knew what was going to happen this weekend, but I had sensed that there will be a great breakthrough for our nation of Canada. God is doing a powerful work of reconciliation and restoration for all the people groups in Canada, both the first peoples and the later peoples whom God has brought to this great land.

         In Christ, Ed Hird+

         http://www.battleforthesoulofcanada.blogspot.com

News Updates

June 10, 2010 Thousands of Aboriginal People Converging on Ottawa to Respond to Prime Minister’s 2008 Apology NATIONAL FORGIVEN SUMMIT BRINGS HOPE   OTTAWA, June 10 /CNW/ – Thousands of Aboriginal individuals are assembling in Ottawa to release this weekend the forgiveness that Prime Minister Stephen Harper requested in 2008. The Prime Minister concluded his apology for Indian Residential Schools by requesting “the forgiveness of the aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly.” “At that moment” says Chief Kenny Blacksmith, “the onus was placed on our people as individuals to respond. The only way to come into our full healing as the First Peoples of Canada is to forgive. Forgiveness is not political; it cannot be bought or sold; it cannot be legislated. It is an individual choice that can break the generational cycle of victimization and accusation.” Blacksmith meets tomorrow with Prime Minister Harper, who cannot attend the event on account of international obligations, but has been very supportive, and will address the Summit via video on Saturday. The National Forgiven Summit comes out of the vision and leadership of Chief Blacksmith, a residential school survivor, former Deputy Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec, and founder of Gathering Nations International. “Vision is not reactionary to the past,” says Blacksmith, “but we have to release ourselves and others from the burden of the past so we can look with hope to the future.” The Summit runs from Friday to Sunday evening at the Ottawa Civic Centre. Open to the public, it is also drawing hundreds of non-Aboriginal people, government leaders, and international observers to witness this historic moment. The response aims to bring healing and freedom to those negatively affected by the legacy of the Indian Residential School system. On Saturday, Chief Blacksmith, in the company of youth and elders from across the country, will present a Charter of Forgiveness and Freedom to the Government and people of Canada. Authored by residential school survivors, elders and youth, this Charter will be signed by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal adherents and witnesses throughout the weekend. Cabinet Minister Chuck Strahl will be present to accept the Charter on the government’s behalf. A Press Conference will be held at 3:30pm on Saturday June 12, 2010 at the Ottawa Civic Centre with Minister Strahl and Chief Blacksmith. To attend the Summit as media, please visit the website to access the Media Guide. The Summit can be viewed by live webstream at www.i4give.ca  and www.nouspardonnons.ca .   For further information: For Media Inquiries contact: Shauna Simmonds, Media Relations, National Forgiven Summit, shauna@i4give.ca, 647.244.1486; For National Forgiven Summit Inquires contact: info@i4give.ca Aboriginal Canadians Prepare to Respond to the 2008 Apology June 08, 2010 Aboriginal Canadians Prepare to Respond to the 2008 Apology THE NATIONAL FORGIVEN SUMMIT TAKES PLACE THIS WEEKEND IN OTTAWA   Ottawa. June 8, 2010: Rod Bruinooge, MP for Winnipeg South and Chief Kenny Blacksmith from Gathering Nations International launched the National Forgiven Summit today. The summit will include a public response to Prime Minister Harper’s 2008 apology and his request for forgiveness.     “I believe this will be a meaningful time of healing for many Aboriginals,” said Bruinooge. “Past challenges can be overcome to prepare for a brighter future.”   The summit will take place in Ottawa, June 11-13, 2010 at the Ottawa Civic Centre. The three-day event is expected to draw thousands of Inuit, Métis, First Nations, non-natives and government leaders. Summit organizers want to share the message that forgiveness brings healing.   During the summit, participants will present a Charter of Forgiveness to Minister Strahl, and symbolically, to the entire nation. A coalition of residential school survivors prepared the charter and it will be available to sign throughout the weekend.   To prepare for the summit, a Journey of Freedom is taking place in aboriginal communities, churches, and regional centres throughout the country. The journey began in January 2010 and the national summit will conclude the journey.   “What a joy it will be when thousands of individuals come together to release forgiveness,” said Chief Blacksmith. “We have the capacity to forgive, and we will experience greater healing if we choose to do so.”    On June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper extended an apology to the residential school victims. This weekend is the two year anniversary of that apology.   For more information: Myrrhanda Novak Director of Communications Office of Rod Bruinooge, MP Tel: 204.984.6787 Email: bruinr0@parl.gc.ca   Shauna Simmonds Media Relations National Forgiven Summit Tel: 647.244.1486 Email: shauna@i4give.ca