User:Alemichx/sandbox

Ga’axstal’as, also known as Jane Constance Cook, was born in 1870 and died in 1951. She was the daughter of a missionary couple: her mother was a white fur trade and her father was a Kwakwaka’wakw nobleman.

Her childhood was marked by an enduring colonialism, a profound characteristic of the era she lived in. When she was 6, the Canadian government implemented the Indian Act, several governmental agents raided her village to make sure colonial rulings were being implemented, and her ancestors’ lands were stolen and reconverted into reserves. As a result, this colonial scheme in which she grew up, considerably shaped her culture and the values she was to fought for later on, feeding her resentment and indignation towards this oppressive system.

She was profoundly pious and was raised in Christianity. She fought her whole life for the rights of the Aboriginal people as well as for women’s and children’s rights. Indeed, she lobbied for First Nations to give them rights of access to resources and land. She was considered as a coordinator among the Kwakwaka’wakw community for she had developed some strong literacy skills and a well understanding of cultural and legal systems. Beside her political activities, she worked as a midwife and raised sixteen children.

Despite her political engagement in favor or Aboriginal cause in the beginning of the XXth century, she was a partisan of the ban of the potlatch(link to the potlatch Wikipedia page). However, the potlatch was considered a very important culture within the Kwakwaka’wakw community, to which Jane Constance Cook belonged. Hence the path that she took was perceived as a betrayal by the Kwakwaka’wakw people and her family. The latter had to live with the burden of an ancestor who had somehow stand with the enemy, and was remembered as a “colonial collaborator”. However, she was highly criticized by some member of her community because she was in favor of banning the potlatch. Therefore, her role as a leader of the Kwakwaka'wakw, was highly controversial.

As she had been raised combining the aboriginal and colonial culture, she did not fully belonged to one precise culture, and did not properly fit in both. Jane Cook had an outstanding role in politics as she was, in 1922, the only female member of the Allied Indian Tribes of British Columbia. However for a woman in this period of time, it was uncommon to engage in politics, and part of the resentment addressed against her might be explained merely for she was a woman.

Ga’axsta’las, Jane Constance Cook, ‘Yalis, 2 June 1914. Photographer unknown. Image H-07220, Royal BC Museum, BC Archives.