EARTH SPIRIT FESTIVAL 1991

Mike Murakami

It would take more than four decades for all the extraordinary and ordinary Japanese Canadians led by the NAJC (formerly the NJCCA) and the support of Canadian allies to win the battle for Redress. Eclipsed by Redress, some histories, like the Earth Spirit Festival may not have been fully told by those who where there and rolled up their sleeves to make it happen.  The Earth Spirit Festival was an immediate and important Redress legacy initiative to show solidarity with Indigenous Communities. On achieving Redress, many including David Suzuki felt a responsibility to support those who had suffered the most severe injustices imposed by the state.

POST-REDRESS; PLANNING THE NEXT BIG THING

According to Joy Kogawa, “After Redress, Bill Kobayashi and I decided we would put our energies into an alliance with indigenous people. With Aiko Suzuki and Rick Shiomi, we met with the Harbourfront people for a couple of years planning it and, in the end, I’m told we attracted 50,000 people.”

In December 1990, Abe Kabayama, Chairperson of the NAJC Task Force on Native Peoples, in concert with the Native Cultural Centre and the Toronto NAJC, was tasked to spearhead the Earth Spirit Festival project.  Members of the Task Force committee included:  Van Hori, Shin Imai, Kim Koyama, Roger Obata, Tosh and Nobu Oikawa, Aiko Suzuki, John Flanders, Dave Ikeda,

Joy Kogawa, Paul Williams, Dennis Madokoro and Jim Dick (Executive Director, Canadian Alliance in Solidarity with Native Peoples). 

Shirley Yamada recalls: 

“When this collaboration of Natives and Japanese Canadians was introduced, I thought about what we had in common.  It’s true, though, that if you seek commonalities, you will find them.  Any difference was interesting, and a learning lesson for me.

Our meetings were held at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto on Spadina, just north of Bloor.  We had potlucks afterward.  At one meeting, we saw a file of people helping themselves to our food buffet.  We pointed it out to our hosts, a bit worried, and they calmly said, “Yes.  They are our seniors who live in their residence next door.  If they want to eat, they are welcome to it.”  They respect their seniors and the elders get the best, not the leftovers.”

THE FESTIVITIES

“All of the arts – oral traditions, music, ritual, the visible arts, the theatre – must singly and together create the most comprehensive art of all, a humanized society; and its masterpiece, transformed human spirits.” –anon

Food was important at the Festival and included corn and bannock.  Sushi was a major food offering but was a near disaster. For Opening Day, the sushi was stored overnight in in the food tent.  When volunteers arrived early the next morning, it was discovered that the refrigerator was unplugged and the sushi had to be thrown out. Roger Obata saved the day by finding freshly made sushi to the relief of all. Other food offerings included fried garlic thanks to Reiko Mizuyabu.  

The Indigenous group came in, boiled a pot of water, put in the corn and were in business in five minutes. They had two chefs including Dave Wolfman who had a thick recipe book and later became a well-known chef with his own cooking show. And Mark Eshkakogan from Wikwemikong, one of seven Reserves on Manitoulin Island which remains an Unceded Reserve.

The Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation, notable Japanese Canadian artists and many individuals, businesses, and organizations contributed funding, time and talent to the Festival.  Aiko Suzuki and Bryce Kanbara coordinated a Harbourfront exhibition centred on the shared experiences of the three cultural groups who, through their history in Canada, have faced a power structure that has devastated their respective cultures and published ‘Visions of Power: Contemporary Art by First Nations, Inuit and Japanese Canadians”.

The three-day festival was attended by thousands with performances by three Indigenous groups; the Ainu from Japan, Indigenous peoples the Greater Toronto Area and Inuit women, who performed throat singing while locked shoulder to shoulder. Manasie Akpaliapik, renowned Inuit sculptor played the big flat drum. Handicrafts were sold and hilarious comic skits were performed by the Indigenous community. It would have been difficult to see everything. 

The Indigenous band, Kashtin, sang on the outdoor stage, which was lit up for the evening performance with a banner backdrop which read:  The Earth Spirit Festival – The First Nations People – And Japanese Canadians – “At one with Mother Earth.”  Their music rang out over the water, as nearby yachts drifted in to enjoy the music.  The finale was spectacular with vocals from Buffy Sainte-Marie and Japanese Canadian taiko drummers and Indigenous drummers in circle formation. A perfect ending.

COMMEMORATION & THE GATEWAY TO UNDERSTANDING SCULPTURE

The Earth Spirit Festival commissioned celebrated Inuit artist David Ruben Piqtoukun to create a commemorative sculpture. His impressive ‘Gateway to Understanding’ is composed of three massive, roughly hewn limestone slabs which creates a narrow gateway facing Lake Ontario.  In the shadows of the CN Tower and Rogers Centre, at the foot of Rees Street, the Gateway to Understanding reminds us of how solidarity was built across our differences.

Near the Gateway to Understanding sculpture, a special presentation took place. Ainu Elder, Shigeru Kayona recognized and thanked Earth Spirit Festival Chair, Abe Kabayama. The Ainu family group sat on the grass and performed traditional ceremonies and taught the audience a few “long words.  Shigeru Kayano was the only one who could converse in his language at that time but has since founded 15 Ainu language schools. His book ‘Our Land was a Forest’ is still available.

This inscription on the plaque by the sculpture reads:

In commemoration of the Earth Spirit Festival held at Harbourfront on July 5, 1991.  Through dialogue and cultural exchange, tolerance and understanding awaken within us.  “This structure will stand tall and bold as a symbol of the earth spirit.”  David Ruben Piqtoukun

Filmmaker, Jesse Nishihata documented the Earth Spirit Festival with the film ‘Catch the Spirit!’ (1991).   Notable works by Jesse include “A Report on the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline’ (1977) – a precedent-shattering examination of Indigenous rights and economic development in Canada’s North and Justice in Our Time:  How Redress Was Won’ (1989).

BEYOND THE EARTH SPIRIT FESTIVAL

Following the Earth Spirit Festival, Van Hori led the Toronto NAJC’s support of the Alberta Lubicon Lake Indian Nation’s legal battle to block the Daishowa forest products company from clear-cutting on unceded Lubicon territory. At issue was settlement of Lubicon land rights and a harvesting agreement that addressed Lubicon wildlife and environmental concerns. A boycott and national and international media attention with the help of the Toronto Friends of the Lubicon’s legal team forced Daishowa to abandon operations on Alberta Lubicon Lake Indian Nation land.

The battles continue 28 years later with the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion, the Coastal GasLink pipeline leaving one to ask whether much has changed.  After the Ottawa Redress Rally on April 14th, 1988, David Suzuki famously said,

“We cannot speak of Canada as just a place, a democracy, a country of equality for all, so long as we fail to address Native claims and Native rights.”  (Page 266, Japanese Canadian Redress: The Toronto Story)

Only now, at the behest of its corporate sponsors did the Edmonton Eskimos agree to change their name. Metis architect Douglas Cardinal lost his court case to have the Edmonton team change the name. And the appalling neglect of law enforcement in the case of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.  

Toronto Redress activists and the organizers of the Earth Spirit Festival set a high bar for succeeding generations. The organizers of the Powell Street Festival are to be applauded for their creativity in applying the lessons of our history to improve the lives of those in the Downtown East Side with their community kitchen project in the former Powell Street neighbourhood that was central to Japanese Canadian lives before 1942. In Vancouver, a shocking 40 percent of Vancouver’s homeless population identifies as Indigenous. That compares to just 2.2 percent of the general population.

Oh Canada. There’s work to be done.