Makivik Magazine Issue 72

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22
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Donat Savoie, George Berthe, Nobuhiro Kishigami and Victor Mesher
in the museum.
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BOB MESHER
of the symposium, which was funded by the Japanese hosts, was
to discuss the indigenous movements of the Ainu and the Inuit,
and their relationships with their larger native societies as well
as with the major societies of their respective countries. The two
indigenous groups in two different situations were compared and
it provided an opportunity for dialogue between the Ainu, Inuit,
government officials, and anthropologists.
This event also took place momentously during the conclusion
of the International Decade of Indigenous Peoples. It was
soon clear at the symposium that the Ainu are struggling to revive
their culture due to a long harsh policy of forced assimilation by
the Japanese. The Ainu were discriminated against for using their
native language and rituals, and their resources were taken away.
Today, for the most part, the Japanese are not very familiar with
Ainu issues.
While their word for human being is "Ainu" and the Inuit word
is "Inuk", the two northern cultures have other traditional similarities.
For example the Ainu used to live by fishing, hunting, and
gathering, although they also grew crops. They made clothes from
available materials such as animal hides, fur, and bird skins. The
Ainu also originally did not have a written alphabet but transmitted
their knowledge orally through stories and songs and they had
their own spiritual beliefs.
Sadly, the effect of assimilation by the dominant society has
been far greater in Japan than in Canada's North. Unlike the Inuit,
the Ainu no longer have territory for a land claim settlement and
thus reap the benefits of such a treaty, nor do they have rights
to any areas for traditional hunting and gathering practises. As
George Berthe pointed out, "Without land, you just float around
like a feather."
Not only would there be no profit for an Ainu person to claim
their native status; but to do so would mean discrimination by the
larger society. Now while many Ainu still deny their own culture,
hope and acceptance is gleaned from the Law for the Promotion of
the Ainu Culture and for the Dissemination and Advocacy for the
Traditions of the Ainu and the Ainu Culture, established on May
14th, 1997. This law was made to preserve and promote the Ainu
culture and to permit the Ainu to regain their ethnic pride.
Various groups carry out activities to recover and transmit the
Ainu culture throughout Japan since the law was established but
many feel that it has been reduced to a museum topic. However,
as George told the symposium, "It's all good to put everything in
a museum, but you are not dead. A culture has to be alive."
Without resources for a traditional livelihood, the Ainu discovered
that they could create arts and crafts to earn money, which
some say has contributed to them becoming "museum people".
The authenticity of these products, which are sometimes imitated
by non-Ainu producers, is also questioned. Craft production is now
on the decline and it is mainly women who are around 50 years
old that still produce them. Men's crafts are very scarce because
these items are related to traditional hunting rituals and they are
unable to exploit resources to use such items.
The Hokkaido Ainu Foundation was also formed, based on the
Island of Hokkaido, where it is estimated that 40 percent of the
Ainu there are members. Although Kazuyki Tanimoto is Japanese,