Chief Dan George
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==Early years== | ==Early years== | ||
| + | Burrard Inlet is a relatively shallow-sided coastal [[fjord]] in southwestern [[British Columbia]], [[Canada]]. It separates the City of [[Vancouver]] and the rest of the low-lying [[Burrard Peninsula]] (to the south) from the slopes of the [[North Shore Mountains]]. The area has been home to the [[Indigenous peoples of North America|Indigenous peoples]] of the [[Sḵwxwú7mesh]] and [[Tsleil-Waututh First Nation|Tsleil-waututh]], who have resided in this territory for thousands of years. | ||
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| + | The [[Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation|Salish Band]] of First Nations people are today settled on a [[Indian Reservation|reserve]] on Burrard Inlet. | ||
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| + | The '''Tsleil-Waututh First Nation''', also known as the '''Burrard Indian Band''' or '''Burrard Band' | ||
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Chief Dan George was born as '''Geswanouth Slahoot''' in [[North Vancouver]] [[British Columbia]]. His English name originally was '''Dan Slaholt'''. His last name was changed to George when he entered a [[residential school]] at the age of 5. George worked at a number of different jobs, including as a [[stevedore|longshoreman]], construction worker and school bus driver. He was chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation from 1951 to 1963. | Chief Dan George was born as '''Geswanouth Slahoot''' in [[North Vancouver]] [[British Columbia]]. His English name originally was '''Dan Slaholt'''. His last name was changed to George when he entered a [[residential school]] at the age of 5. George worked at a number of different jobs, including as a [[stevedore|longshoreman]], construction worker and school bus driver. He was chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation from 1951 to 1963. | ||
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Chief Dan George, accomplished performer, poet, philosopher, champion of First Nations peoples, loving patriarch of a large family, was born in 1899 on a Salish Band reserve on Burrard Inlet, in North Vancouver, one of twelve children of the chief. His given name was Teswahno, meaning "thunder coming up over the land from the water." Like most native children at that time, under the influence of the Catholic Church, and need of white culture's education, he went to a residential school at the age of five, so as not to be seperated from his cherished brother Harry. The next eleven years were difficult ones, being distanced from family, culture, language and customs. Schooling ended at sixteen, and he went immediately into the forest to harvest trees. | Chief Dan George, accomplished performer, poet, philosopher, champion of First Nations peoples, loving patriarch of a large family, was born in 1899 on a Salish Band reserve on Burrard Inlet, in North Vancouver, one of twelve children of the chief. His given name was Teswahno, meaning "thunder coming up over the land from the water." Like most native children at that time, under the influence of the Catholic Church, and need of white culture's education, he went to a residential school at the age of five, so as not to be seperated from his cherished brother Harry. The next eleven years were difficult ones, being distanced from family, culture, language and customs. Schooling ended at sixteen, and he went immediately into the forest to harvest trees. | ||
At nineteen, in an arranged marriage, he and a sixteen year old Squamish girl, Amy, entered into a devoted union of fifty-two years duration. They had eight children, six of whom survived into adulthood. Dan worked as a longshoreman off and on for the next twenty-seven years, during frequent strikes supplementing his income with hunting and lumbering, until he had a serious accident on the docks in 1947, which damaged a hip and leg. In the forties, with his children and a cousin, who billed themselves as Dan George and His Indian Enterainers, he played for dances three or four nights a week throughout British Columbia. Traveling and sleeping in a covered truck, they would spend summers picking hops and performing country and western music, with the kids doing special requests for extra money. Dan's instrument was the bass fiddle. He always remembered those years as the happiest times of his life. | At nineteen, in an arranged marriage, he and a sixteen year old Squamish girl, Amy, entered into a devoted union of fifty-two years duration. They had eight children, six of whom survived into adulthood. Dan worked as a longshoreman off and on for the next twenty-seven years, during frequent strikes supplementing his income with hunting and lumbering, until he had a serious accident on the docks in 1947, which damaged a hip and leg. In the forties, with his children and a cousin, who billed themselves as Dan George and His Indian Enterainers, he played for dances three or four nights a week throughout British Columbia. Traveling and sleeping in a covered truck, they would spend summers picking hops and performing country and western music, with the kids doing special requests for extra money. Dan's instrument was the bass fiddle. He always remembered those years as the happiest times of his life. | ||
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==Acting career== | ==Acting career== | ||
In 1960, when he was already 60 years of age, he got his first job acting in a [[CBC Television]] series, ''[[Cariboo Country (TV series)|Cariboo Country]]'', as the character "Ol' Antoine". He performed the same role in a [[The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney Studios]] movie, ''[[Smith!]]'', adapted from an episode in this series (based on ''Breaking Smith's Quarter Horse'', a novella by [[Paul St. Pierre]]). At the age of 71, George won several awards for his role in the film ''[[Little Big Man]]'', including a nomination for the [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]]. He continued to act in other films, such as ''[[The Outlaw Josey Wales]]'', ''[[Harry and Tonto]]'' and ''[[Americathon]]'', and on television, including a role in the miniseries ''[[Centennial (miniseries)|Centennial]]'', based on the book by [[James A. Michener]]. | In 1960, when he was already 60 years of age, he got his first job acting in a [[CBC Television]] series, ''[[Cariboo Country (TV series)|Cariboo Country]]'', as the character "Ol' Antoine". He performed the same role in a [[The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney Studios]] movie, ''[[Smith!]]'', adapted from an episode in this series (based on ''Breaking Smith's Quarter Horse'', a novella by [[Paul St. Pierre]]). At the age of 71, George won several awards for his role in the film ''[[Little Big Man]]'', including a nomination for the [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]]. He continued to act in other films, such as ''[[The Outlaw Josey Wales]]'', ''[[Harry and Tonto]]'' and ''[[Americathon]]'', and on television, including a role in the miniseries ''[[Centennial (miniseries)|Centennial]]'', based on the book by [[James A. Michener]]. | ||
Revision as of 22:34, 3 May 2009
| Dan George | |
| File:Chief dan george.gif Chief Dan George | |
| Date of birth: | July 24 1899 |
| Date of death: | September 23 1981 (aged 82) |
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| Death location: | Vancouver, British Columbia |
Chief Dan George, OC (July 24, 1899–September 23, 1981) was a chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, a Coast Salish band located on Burrard Inlet in North Vancouver, British Columbia. He was also an Academy Award-nominated actor and an author.
Early years
Burrard Inlet is a relatively shallow-sided coastal fjord in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It separates the City of Vancouver and the rest of the low-lying Burrard Peninsula (to the south) from the slopes of the North Shore Mountains. The area has been home to the Indigenous peoples of the Sḵwxwú7mesh and Tsleil-waututh, who have resided in this territory for thousands of years.
The Salish Band of First Nations people are today settled on a reserve on Burrard Inlet.
The Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, also known as the Burrard Indian Band or Burrard Band'
Chief Dan George was born as Geswanouth Slahoot in North Vancouver British Columbia. His English name originally was Dan Slaholt. His last name was changed to George when he entered a residential school at the age of 5. George worked at a number of different jobs, including as a longshoreman, construction worker and school bus driver. He was chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation from 1951 to 1963.
Chief Dan George, accomplished performer, poet, philosopher, champion of First Nations peoples, loving patriarch of a large family, was born in 1899 on a Salish Band reserve on Burrard Inlet, in North Vancouver, one of twelve children of the chief. His given name was Teswahno, meaning "thunder coming up over the land from the water." Like most native children at that time, under the influence of the Catholic Church, and need of white culture's education, he went to a residential school at the age of five, so as not to be seperated from his cherished brother Harry. The next eleven years were difficult ones, being distanced from family, culture, language and customs. Schooling ended at sixteen, and he went immediately into the forest to harvest trees. At nineteen, in an arranged marriage, he and a sixteen year old Squamish girl, Amy, entered into a devoted union of fifty-two years duration. They had eight children, six of whom survived into adulthood. Dan worked as a longshoreman off and on for the next twenty-seven years, during frequent strikes supplementing his income with hunting and lumbering, until he had a serious accident on the docks in 1947, which damaged a hip and leg. In the forties, with his children and a cousin, who billed themselves as Dan George and His Indian Enterainers, he played for dances three or four nights a week throughout British Columbia. Traveling and sleeping in a covered truck, they would spend summers picking hops and performing country and western music, with the kids doing special requests for extra money. Dan's instrument was the bass fiddle. He always remembered those years as the happiest times of his life.
Acting career
In 1960, when he was already 60 years of age, he got his first job acting in a CBC Television series, Cariboo Country, as the character "Ol' Antoine". He performed the same role in a Walt Disney Studios movie, Smith!, adapted from an episode in this series (based on Breaking Smith's Quarter Horse, a novella by Paul St. Pierre). At the age of 71, George won several awards for his role in the film Little Big Man, including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He continued to act in other films, such as The Outlaw Josey Wales, Harry and Tonto and Americathon, and on television, including a role in the miniseries Centennial, based on the book by James A. Michener.
George played the role of Rita Joe's father in George Ryga's stage play, The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, in performances at Vancouver, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Washington.
During his acting career, Chief Dan George always worked to promote better understanding by non-aboriginals of the First Nations people.
Lament for Confederation
National and international recognition of Chief Dan George grew following a speech he gave on Canada Day 1967. As the nation celebrated its centennial, he chose this day to perform his soliloquy, Lament for Confederation. With an audience of 35,000 in the Empire Stadium in Vancouver, he was accompanied by family members, who drummed and chanted as he spoke.
Lament for Confederation[1]
"How long have I known you, Oh Canada? A hundred years? Yes, a hundred years. And many, many seelanum more. And today, when you celebrate your hundred years, Oh Canada, I am sad for all the Indian people throughout the land.
"For I have known you when your forests were mine; when they gave me my meat and my clothing. I have known you in your streams and rivers where your fish flashed and danced in the sun, where the waters said 'come, come and eat of my abundance.' I have known you in the freedom of the winds. And my spirit, like the winds, once roamed your good lands.
"But in the long hundred years since the white man came, I have seen my freedom disappear like the salmon going mysteriously out to sea. The white man's strange customs, which I could not understand, pressed down upon me until I could no longer breathe.
"When I fought to protect my land and my home, I was called a savage. When I neither understood nor welcomed his way of life, I was called lazy. When I tried to rule my people, I was stripped of my authority.
"My nation was ignored in your history textbooks - they were little more important in the history of Canada than the buffalo that ranged the plains. I was ridiculed in your plays and motion pictures, and when I drank your fire-water, I got drunk - very, very drunk. And I forgot.
"Oh Canada, how can I celebrate with you this Centenary, this hundred years? Shall I thank you for the reserves that are left to me of my beautiful forests? For the canned fish of my rivers? For the loss of my pride and authority, even among my own people? For the lack of my will to fight back? No! I must forget what's past and gone.
"Oh God in heaven! Give me back the courage of the olden chiefs. Let me wrestle with my surroundings. Let me again, as in the days of old, dominate my environment. Let me humbly accept this new culture and through it rise up and go on.
"Oh God! Like the thunderbird of old I shall rise again out of the sea; I shall grab the instruments of the white man's success-his education, his skills- and with these new tools I shall build my race into the proudest segment of your society.
"Before I follow the great chiefs who have gone before us, Oh Canada, I shall see these things come to pass. I shall see our young braves and our chiefs sitting in the houses of law and government, ruling and being ruled by the knowledge and freedoms of our great land.
"So shall we shatter the barriers of our isolation. So shall the next hundred years be the greatest in the proud history of our tribes and nations."
Later years
The Order of Canada is Canada's highest civilian order and is the centerpiece of the Canadian system of honors. It is a three-tiered order established as a fellowship that recognizes the achievement of outstanding merit or distinguished service by Canadians, through life-long contributions in every field of endeavor, and who made a major difference to the nation.[2] On June 25 1971, Chief Dan George was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. He was recognized for his "services both as an actor and as an interpreter of his people."[2]
On September 23 1981, Chief Dan George died of natural causes in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the age of 82. He was interred at Burrard Cemetery in his native birthplace. George was succeeded as tribal Chief by his son, Leonard.
Notable family
- Chief Leonard George - Also known as "Smoke Signals", Leonard George is the son of Chief Dan George. He became chief of the Burrard Indian Band after his father's death.
- Lee Maracle - The granddaughter of Chief Dan George, Lee Maracle was one of the first Canadian aboriginal people to be published in the early 1970s. She has since become one of the most prolific aboriginal authors in Canada and a recognized authority on issues pertaining to aboriginal people and aboriginal literature. She is an award-winning poet, novelist, performance storyteller, scriptwriter, actor and keeper/mythmaker among the Stó:lō people, as well as a serving as a university professor.
- Columpa Bobb - Columpa Bobb is the daughter of Lee Maracle and the great-granddaughter of Chief Dan George. She is an accomplished photographer, actor, playwright, poet and teacher. She has served as a cultural instructor and faculty member of the Centre for Indigenous Theatre in Toronto, as well as the Program Director and instructor, teaching classes for the Aboriginal Arts Training & Mentorship program at the Manitoba Theatre for Young People in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
- Sid Bobb - Sid Bobb is the son of Lee Maracle, and younger brother of Columpa. He graduated from the University of Toronto, having majored in Drama and Sociology. He is a respected theater actor, and has also starred in films.
- Charlene Aleck - Charlene Aleck is the granddaughter of Chief Dan George, and niece to Chief Leonard George. She is a well-respected television actress in Canada.
Dedications
- Chief Dan George Middle School in Abbotsford, B.C. Known as "The Wolves".
- Chief Dan George Public School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Chief Dan George Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, University of Victoria, BC.
Notes
- ↑ Dan George and Helmut Hirnschall. The Best of Chief Dan George. Surrey, B.C.: Hancock House, 2003. ISBN 0888395442
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Governor General of Canada. Honours, Order of Canada Retrieved April 28, 2009.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- George, Dan; and Helmut Hirnschall. My Heart Soars. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1974. ISBN 0919654150
- George, Dan; and Helmut Hirnschall. My Spirit Soars. Surrey, B.C., Canada: Hancock House, 1982. ISBN 0888391544
- George, Dan; and Helmut Hirnschall. The Best of Chief Dan George. Surrey, B.C.: Hancock House, 2003. ISBN 0888395442
- Mortimer, Hilda; and Dan George. You Call Me Chief: Impressions of the Life of Chief Dan George. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1981. ISBN 0385048068
- Petten, Cheryl. Footprints: Chief Dan George Acclaimed actor, gentle soul Buffalo Spirit. Retrieved April 25, 2009.
External links
- Chief Dan George at the Internet Movie Database
- Dan George at Find A Grave
Credits
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