Mark MiLan is a Métis Cree Artist. You can see his artwork at his website.
The start of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver is almost a week away, but don’t expect Métis Cree artist Mark MiLan to get too excited about it. It isn’t because he’s against the Olympic Games, like many other Aboriginal Canadians. In fact, Mark says in a lively and hurried tone in a phone interview, he was one of the first people to get fully behind the Olympic Games.
No, the main reason he won’t be looking forward to the Olympics as much as he hoped for six years ago, is that there will be no meaningful display of the Métis culture when the world comes to visit.
Mark MiLan’s story may be based on political decisions made outside of his control, but the man isn’t into politics. His points all come back to the same theme: a missed golden opportunity.
He regards the Vancouver Olympics as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for both his business, the MiLan Métis Healing Art Project, and the exposure of Métis culture to a world that knows practically nothing about it. When people come across his artwork, he tells me, many have never heard of the Métis, and know nothing of their existence.
The federal government recognizes natives in Canada as Aboriginal peoples. They are designated into three groups: First Nations, Inuit and Métis. First Nations and Inuit cultures have meaningful representation in the Olympics [The Inuit Inukshuk is the symbol for the Games, and there are many Coast Salish designs on products licensed for sale on the VANOC/FHFN web pages and at Pavilions], but there are no Métis designs or products either for sale or visible on any Olympic web pages.
The Hudson Bay Company carries official Olympic Aboriginal merchandise promoting Canadian Aboriginal culture, except for Métis products. “Considering we helped found the Hudson’s Bay Company, I thought it would be nice if we could have our accessories sold with them as well,” Mark MiLan remarks wryly.
When I pointed out that the symbols and artwork of the Lil’wat, Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations people were merely being licensed and then mass produced in China, Mark wasn’t at all cynical about the complaint that it doesn’t really help aboriginal artists.
“Some people in the First Nations/Inuit communities complain that some Aboriginal items are made overseas, but at least they have items which promote their cultures”, he explains. “The Métis have no items to complain about being made overseas, and I assure you that to have Métis items available to the world on-line would have still been great, regardless where they were produced.”
Unfortunately for Mark, a combination of factors has prevented his artwork and accessories, or any other Vancouver Métis artists, from being front and centre for the Olympics.
One the problems he has encountered is in getting unanimous support from his own people. While the Vancouver Métis Community Association wrote him letters of recommendation to the Four Hosts First Nations Society [FHFNS], and the Coordinator for the Venues Aboriginal Arts Program, Rena Godard, Mark wasn’t admitted into the official VANOC gifting program he so coveted. In fact, he says, he did not even make the short list. He believes that may be because of Métis politics, an acknowledgment he makes without bitterness, but with evident disappointment.
The Métis Nation British Columbia [MNBC], which requires blood proof that one is a descendant of the historic Métis Nation based in Western Canada, would not issue Mark a citizenship card unless he revoked his local Métis group membership he has had since 1998, and join the MNBC Vancouver chapter. Mark refused.
After he decided not to join the MNBC, he said that opportunities for his business and his artwork seemed to be blocked. He finds this curious, because he was allowed to participate in the Four Host First Nations Arts and Culture Fair in 2007 in conjunction with VANOC’s promotion of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
J. Paul Stevenson, president of the Vancouver Métis Community Association, who provided Mark MiLan with the letters of recommendation into the VANOC gifting program, doesn’t believe the Olympics will be good for the Métis people in general. And because VANOC didn’t work with the Métis people in a coordinated plan to promote the culture, he doesn’t believe his people will be properly represented. He said that because VANOC only chose to work with MNBC, those Métis who don’t meet the citizenship requirements are being excluded from having a voice.
But Mark isn’t quite so quick to blame his fellow Métis. Nor does he want to point the finger at the city of Vancouver, the Province of British Columbia, or the federal government. But based on letters he forwarded to me, the paper trail attempts to get representation at the Olympics is both long and fruitless.
After the November, 2007, Four Host First Nations Arts and Culture Fair, Mark mailed the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Chuck Strahl, to see whether he could become a gift supplier for the Olympics or the federal government. But he was deferred to the MNBC Executive Director, Keith Henry.
He also mailed the Queen of England, his local MLA, Gordon Campbell, the Governor General, the Minister of Tourism for British Columbia, and the Mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson, over the next year and a half. In addition to each letter, he presented them with a gift of a traditional Métis Sash and an explanation of his desire to get his artwork in the Olympic Games. He was always deferred either to the MNBC or FHFNS, where he hit a wall.
In December of 2008, he received a letter from Industry Canada, verifying his business as a “pre-qualified Aboriginal Supplier”, which he hoped would finally gain him acceptance into the Olympic Gifting program.
In the end, it looks like Mark MiLan, and perhaps even the Métis people, will be shut out of the Olympics. The MNBC insisted in a recent article in the Georgia Straight that they will be “heavily involved” in the event, but Mark has his doubts. The MNBC Vancouver chapter President recently was quoted as saying that the MNBC “dropped the ball.”
In the end, he points to the fact that the Olympics were promised as a means of promoting aboriginal culture in Canada, yet there is currently no official material on the Métis provided by any tiers of government, or by VANOC.
You will not find the Métis infinity symbol, which appears on the Métis flag, anywhere on Olympic web pages. This, Mark explains, proves they are not going to be a meaningful part of the Olympics.
Unlike the many people in Vancouver who don’t want the Olympics here, Mark MiLan regrets only that he and his people’s artwork and accessories won’t be able to participate as he had hoped.
“A person could have gone back home from visiting us for these Games with a souvenir reflecting Metis culture and this would have thus educated further Metis culture abroad,” he reflects. “People from around the world also would have had the chance to purchase Metis products from the VANOC web page, or even as they step off the airplane in the Vancouver airport, but this is not possible. It is a missed opportunity for all involved.”
Mark MiLan encourages people to visit his web page at www.milanart.ca so they can see what Métis artwork looks like, and possibly support his project.
