First Peoples: We are Trinis too

Originally published in Newsday
Sunday, October 8, 2017

Narad Mahabir acts as Hyarima in the play Hyarima and the Saints written by Gyasi Garcia of St Francis College during the First Peoples Schools Outreach programme, UWI-ROYTEC North Campus, on September 26. This was one of the events leading up to Friday’s First Peoples holiday.

After years of clamouring for greater national acknowledgement, the First Peoples in TT will be recognised formally on Friday with a one-off public holiday.

And to commemorate the observance, the community has organised a week of activities, under the theme, On Becoming Visible Towards Meaningful Recognition, in an effort to enlighten fellow descendants and others about the history and contribution of the indigenous peoples to the country’s development. 

The activities began on Friday with a lecture on the topic, DNA Testing of the First Peoples of Trinidad and Tobago: Identification of their genealogical ancestry, at the National Academy for the Performing Arts, Port-of-Spain.

Later that day, the group hosted a Waponaka Concert, a rich mix of parang, calypso and other cultural presentations at the Santa Rosa First Peoples Centre, Paul Mitchell Street, Arima.

Today, at 6 pm, the community is expected to host an orientation ceremony for visiting First Peoples delegates at the centre on Paul Mitchell Street. 

Tomorrow, the group is due to host an ancestral journey to Moruga, at which celebrants will perform sacred rites and various musical expressions.

Other events scheduled for the week include a symposium, titled, From Chrysalis to Butterfly: On Becoming Visible Towards Meaningful Recognition, at the University of Trinidad and Tobago’s O’Meara campus; a children’s rally and a ceremonial walk through Arima.

For Chief Ricardo Bharath-Hernandez, president of the Santa Rosa First Peoples, Arima–perhaps the largest and most vocal First Peoples community in the country–the holiday is not intended to encourage relaxation.

Rather, he said, apart from reflecting on the atrocities which were committed against the indigenous peoples, centuries ago, the holiday presented an opportunity to truly celebrate their contribution. 

It gives First Peoples descendants, numbering close to 1,500 in Arima, and others a chance to participate fully in the community’s events.

“Because, in ordinary times, without a holiday, people would usually say they can’t come because they have to work or their children can’t come because they have to go to school. So, my feeling and the community’s feeling was that with a national holiday, nobody cannot use that excuse not to participate.”

Outside of Arima, First Peoples descendants can be found in Lopinot, La Pastora, Maracas/St Joseph, Santa Cruz, Paria, Brasso Seco, Tabaquite, Moruga, Brazil, San Rafael and Talparo.

Bharath-Hernandez, who has said repeatedly they are not just another minority cultural group, insisted they had inherent rights with respect to land titles, which were supported by the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Some 144 countries, including TT, voted for the Declaration.

Bharath-Hernandez was cautiously optimistic that the group’s lobby for a heritage park–a permanent place to call their own–will become a reality.

Plans for the park began during the former People’s National Movement administration, under late prime minister Patrick Manning. A Cabinet decision was taken to give the First Peoples a five-acre plot of land along Blanchisseuse Road, Arima, which they found to be inadequate. The community later identified a hilly piece of land which had once been occupied by First Peoples centuries ago.

When the People’s Partnership came into office, in May 2010, it rescinded the PNM’s offer of a five-acre plot, and gave the community an additional 20-acres at the same site. The land has since been surveyed, following which an offer of lease was issued to the community from the Commissioner of State Lands on September 9, 2015. Alluding to the movement toward economic diversification in this year’s budget, Bharath-Hernandez said First Peoples in other parts of the region, namely Dominica, Guyana and Suriname, were already firmly entrenched in their islands’ tourism initiatives.

“We are still to reach that point but we see potential in our vision for a permanent space to call our own. We can contribute to the tourism sector".

Bharath-Hernandez said the parcel of land which the community has received for its park, is expected to provide employment in the areas of food processing and sales, handicraft, wildlife farming and eco-tourism.

The facility also will contain a museum, cultural/recreational space and living quarters for the Carib Queen and about a dozen families.

Carib Queen to descendants: Get involved.

Carib Queen to descendants: Get involved.
Trinidad Express Newspapers | Sep 2, 2012 at 10:54 PM ECT

Carib Queen Jennifer Cassar is pleading with young people of Amerindian descent to get involved in the work and traditions of the Indigenous Community.

Speaking with the media at the 226th Anniversary of the Carib festival of Santa Rosa De Lima yesterday, Cassar said her main focus at this time is to sensitise young people who are of Amerindian blood to be a part of the community.

"We are pleading for them to come and join with us, because as seniors we will not be here forever and we need to pass on the traditions onto the younger folks."

Cassar said she also wants to see the indigenous people playing a more active role in the government.

"We have the ear of the government but we need to do a little more," she said.

She also called for unity among the three groups that make up descendants of Amerindians which she said have already reached a mutual understanding.

"We have been meeting with the two other groups one off the southwestern peninsula and the other in Arima in the past and have reached a memorandum of understanding and that has not been signed on yet but they are a part of us.

"And they are going to be celebrating with us on a united front at the Amerindian Heritage Festival on October 14," Cassar added.

First Nation peoples lauded as they celebrate Amerindian Heritage Day.

First Nation peoples lauded as they celebrate Amerindian Heritage Day.
By Michelle Loubon
Trinidad Guardian Online | Monday, October 17, 2011

Edris De Freitas knits a hand-woven basket.

Craft, indigenous cuisine, basketry and traditional vestments took centre stage as the Carib community celebrated Amerindian Heritage Day in the precincts of the Santa Rosa RC Church, Arima, on Friday. The cultural extravaganza featured Maypole dancing, drumming, singing, chanting and the playing of wooden musical instruments. The celebrations began at pre-dawn with a smoke signal ceremony at the base of the Hyarima statue. Among those attending were contingents of Surinamese, Dominican and Guyanese Amerindians. They added their local arts and craft to the cultural potpourri. Amerindian visitors fielded questions about the mores, customs and folk traditions of the Amerindian.

On Thursday, Santa Rosa Carib queen Jennifer Cassar said Amerindian Heritage Day was celebrated to remind indigenous people about the contribution of ancestors of First Nation peoples. She said: “We cannot get a holiday so it is a day to remind us of our ancestors who were there before us and to sensitise us to the contribution of our ancestors. That is the only day we have at this point to commemorate the memory of most of our ancestors and exhibit the local craft.” Special tribute was paid to tribal queen Hummingbird Ramirez from Miami, USA. Members of the Orisha movement were also in attendance.

Apart from the Santa Rosa activity, events were launched at the Arima Town Hall. School children from the community learned about the contribution of First Nation peoples. Canadian High Commissioner Karen Mc Donald also hosted the contingents at a Canada sponsored Culture of the Cloth exhibition at the National Museum, Keate Street, Port-of-Spain on Wednesday.

Peters: They have contributed greatly to society

In his congratulatory message, Peters lauded First Nation peoples for their contribution to T&T. He said: “The First Nation peoples have contributed greatly to our multi-cultural society. With their presence, most evident in our place names like Tunapuna, Caroni and Chaguanas, we realise their contribution to national history. I hope First Nation peoples would pass on their rich heritage to the next generation and the legacies would live on forever.

He noted the Santa Rosa community has been struggling assiduously to stabilise issues like land settlement, protection of sacred sites, raising public awareness, promoting education, curriculum revival and cultural exchanges. Peters urged them to continue to negotiate outcomes for the benefit of the Santa Rosa community.

Amerindian Heritage Festival in Trinidad: Argument Erupts in Public between Two Groups

First published in The Trinidad Express

By Rickie Ramdass

15 October 2010

 

An argument between two groups over which one represented indigenous people erupted in Arima yesterday.

Representatives of the two groups argued during the Amerindian Heritage Festival celebrations that they were the original representative body of indigenous people in this country with the other being fakes.

The groups—The Santa Rosa Carib Community and The Partners for First People Development—had gathered at the park to perform a smoke ceremony in celebration of the victory of Nepuyo warrior Hyarima over Spanish invaders in this country in 1637.

Kendel Reyes, one of the members of the Partners for First People Development, accused the other group of denying indigenous people of non-Catholic belief entry into the group.

"Our group is about all people who have indigenous blood regardless of how you look or your religious persuasion. The Santa Rosa Carib Community is a Catholic mission and their present chief and president Ricardo Bharath (Hernandez) has decreeded that if you are not Catholic you cannot be a member of the Santa Rosa Carib Community.

"The Government (in 1980), through its wisdom or non-wisdom has seen it fit to recognise only the Santa Rosa mission as the representative body of peoples with indigenous blood. But the Santa Rosa Community does not represent all people with indigenous blood but only those who belong to the Catholic faith," he said.

He said it was also the tradition of the indigenous people to perform their ceremonies before 6 a.m., and this was not being done by the opposing group. His group, he said, had performed the smoke ceremony to the spirits at 5.30 a.m., while 7 a.m., was given by the other group as the time to perform the ceremony.

Hernandez however, accused the Partners for First People Development of perpetuating that there was a division in his group in order to gain control of it.

"As far as I am aware, there is no division in the Santa Rosa Carib Community. The Santa Rosa Carib Community existed since the 1700s. There is a small group of people who came on the scene just a few years ago and they are trying to make a division because they want control of the Santa Rosa Carib Community, and they will say all sort of things and do all sorts of thing to give the impression that there is a divide, but as far as I am concerned, there is no division."

Hernandez said a person's religion was not relevant if they chose to join the group. He said members of the group would meet every last Sunday of each month to attend meetings and if anyone with indigenous blood wished to join they could do so.

Also, please see Max Forte's 2002 interview:

INTERVIEW with Roger Belix, on Partners for First Peoples Development in Trinidad and Tobago 

Cristo Adonis, Speaking on Amerindian Heritage Day in Arima, Trinidad, in 2008

Cristo Adonis is one of the key figures at the heart of Arima's Santa Rosa Carib Community, a shaman, a nationally noted parang singer, a builder of Amerindian thatched huts, a hunter, a gardener, and much more. In a series of interviews below he expounds on the meaning of Amerindian Heritage Day, the problems of recognition and survival, and the continuing challenges to the viability of the Carib Community.

Some notes on the first in the series of video segments of an interview between Tracy Assing and Cristo Adonis (Tracy Assing is a member of the community who would later produce a film, to be discussed in future posts on this site):

• Adonis says the "day of recognition" (Amerindian Heritage Day), is an important day for young people of indigenous blood to become more aware of where they came from--then interrupted...

In the second video segment, these are some points to note:

• Resuming from before, Amerindian Heritage Day will help raise awareness among the young people of the indigenous community itself, and to him personally, to give him more strength to carry on a fight begun long before;
• After eight years that this Day has been instituted has there been any "measurable progress," Tracy Assing asks? Adonis says he is not satisfied, that the Day is not doing anything, it is only a show for people;
• He says there is a need for land, for more educational events, and for greater youth involvement--there is a need to teach people in the Community, especially young people, respect for the elders, and also to teach elders how to pass information on to the young people;
• Adonis remarks on the growing age of those who regularly attend meetings in the Carib Community, and what will happen tomorrow when we are gone? "Where do we go from here?"
• Indigenous People have something to contribute to this country (Trinidad & Tobago) and the world; protection of the environment, self-sufficiency, etc.
• "Do you feel recognized in your country?" Assing asks, saying that on the street he looks like everyone else, so how does he make his presence felt as Amerindian? He begins by answering, before being interrupted, about being more vocal and more visual.

In the third video segment, these are some of the main points expressed by Adonis:

• Resuming from before...the Caribs have to be more vocal and more visual, and they need to do that themselves;
• He says they cannot only depend on the authorities to announce a day of recognition...and is then interrupted again...

Some interesting points to note from this, the fourth and final video in the series of segments:

• Adonis speaks of the three members of the Santa Rosa Carib Community on the Government's Cabinet-appointed Amerindian Projects Committee, as having a unique take on events;
• He says that when the Caribs depend on being showcased, certain unspecified impositions are placed on the Carib Community, one of them seeming to be the constant request for information from schools.

Ricardo Bharath Hernandez, Chief of the Santa Rosa Carib Community, Speaking in Arima in 2008

Ricardo Bharath Hernandez is shown below speaking during the occasion of the eighth Amerindian Heritage Day, 14 October 2008, in Arima, Trinidad, and the week of events surrounding it. The speech took place in the Arima Borough Council. He welcomed several indigenous delegations, especially from Dominica, Suriname, and the United Confederation of Taino People. The Carib Community prepared a flyer/pamphlet, "Hyarima, Relentless Warrior," for the event.

Ricardo Bharath lists a series of demands/goals for helping to protect Amerindian heritage:

• A once only public holiday to honour Amerindian history, which as the chief explains, represents a change of goals for the Carib Community, which previously had explicitly not sought a holiday--he feels that such a holiday would allow for nation-wide cultural events, expositions, parades, a rally, and reaching out all sectors of the nation, in order to "sensitize" and give "national visibility," gain greater recognition of the Carib Community, and aid it in attaining its vision; it is the only way for the government to make a major statement to the whole nation, and everyone would know why they have this holiday;
• Chief Bharath refers to Suriname in noting that on the UN's International Day for Indigenous Peoples, that country has a public holiday;
• Speaking on the "model Amerindian village," he calls for reflection on the past; he says the Carib Community is not asking for "compensation," but support for helping to develop themselves and preserve their unique history;
• Chief Bharath thanks successive governments that have supported the Carib Community in many different ways, but does not want to rely on handouts, and does not wish to simply produce "cultural events" (dance, talks, etc.) that result in nothing tangible and lasting;
• He emphasizes that the Carib Community does not seek to segregate itself, that it has always welcomed others with open arms, and as a testament to that fact it is a very "mixed" community;
• He speaks of the First and Second UN Decades for the World's Indigenous Peoples, lasting to 2014, as an opportunity for government to do more to assist the local indigenous community--he notes that on 12 September 2007, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago voted in the UN General Assembly for the adoption of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which includes recognition and land appropriations, Chief Bharath uses this as a reminder to government;
• Chief Bharath ends on a note of a common, Caribbean indigenous struggle.

Vel Lewis, Head of the Amerindian Projects Committee, Speaking in Arima in 2008

The video below dates back to Amerindian Heritage Day, 14 October 2008, in Arima, Trinidad, and the week of events surrounding it. The speaker opening the event is Vel Lewis, the head of the government-appointed Amerindian Projects Committee, one of whose main purposes was to reach a decision on the allocation of lands to the Santa Rosa Carib Community.

Some interesting points to note:

• Lewis, using terminology adopted from the Canadian context, refers to the local community as the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community;
• He says that "we all know what happened" since the days when Trinidad was populated entirely by Amerindians--in actuality, it is that history of what happened since the arrival of colonizers that has been the subject of great dispute, especially as "we all what happened" has usually prefaced the assertion that the Amerindians became extinct;
• Lewis salutes the Santa Rosa Carib Community for maintaining the Carib culture, which in itself is just one of very many statements that serves as acts of routine, everyday official recognition;
• Lewis praises the work of the Carib Community on the international front, in hosting international indigenous gatherings during CARIFESTA V in 1992, and again in 1993, and then becoming the chair of the Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples;
• He promised that during 2008-2009 there would be an intensification of the work of the Amerindian Projects Committee, and a campaign to raise public awareness--he refers to two films and a book to be used in schools (no further information provided), plus the work of the National Museum and National Trust to develop the exhibits at the Carib Community Centre;
• Lewis talks about the development of a "model heritage village" which would be like an "outdoor museum"--this refers to the Amerindian village the Carib Community has long sought to establish; and,
• In 2008, Trinidad and Tobago would be represented for the first time at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and Lewis draws attention to other aspects of UN work to develop awareness of local indigenous communities, as well as mentioning the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.