The Big Lebowski: Jeff Bridges Chills in a Cowichan CardiganOf all the mismatched, gaudily patterned and coloured attire Jeff Bridges as ‘The Dude’ wears in The Big Lebowski (1998, directed by the Coen Brothers), that ubiquitous Cowichan-type cardigan sums up his character best of all. Threadbare, scruffy and in need of a good wash, the pair sure do go well together.What it signifies:Born out of the West Coast of America, specifically San Francisco, in around 1965, in sartorial terms alone the hippie craze was part of an anti-fashion explosion sweeping across the world at the time. It was another way to thumb one’s nose to the establishment, or perhaps more customarily ‘The Man’.
In the sixties there was as emergent back-to-nature feeling in response to increasing global capitalism, mainly spurred on by youth. Knitwear was more popular in the sixties than any other decade since World War I. Indigenous clothing, such as Cowichan, expressed affinity for Mother Earth.Comment: For more on the subject, see Genuine Cowichan Sweaters in Store and Hudson Bay Company Invented Cowichan Sweaters?!
By Dirk MeissnerTraditional sweaters hand-made by B.C. aboriginal knitters will be part of the official line of Olympic clothing, after an agreement was reached between Vancouver Island's Cowichan Tribes and the Hudson's Bay Company.
Hudson's Bay spokeswoman Shari Burnett said Monday there now is a deal with the Cowichan Tribes of the Duncan area, 60 kilometres north of Victoria, to sell genuine, hand-knit Cowichan sweaters in the company's flagship Olympic store.
"We are expecting some sweaters from the Cowichan Tribes to be inside the Olympic superstore on Feb.1," Burnett said.
The Cowichan Tribes objected publicly last fall when the Bay introduced its Olympic apparel because one sweater, selling for about $350, appears to be similar in design and look to the Cowichan sweaters, for which the Cowichan Tribes are widely known.Comment: For more on the subject, see Olympics Cave to Cowichan Pressure and Non-Cowichan Sweaters Are Fakes.
Recent stories about the Vancouver Olympics and the role the federal government is playing are troubling.As Adolph Hitler found out when he staged the 1936 Berlin Olympics and introduced the torch relay to the modern Games, it is easy to persuade people that your government is on their side through the clever use of propaganda. No matter how many Aboriginal symbols and people are used in these Games, it is important to remember that only Canada and the United States have not signed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Organizers of these Games constantly state that Aboriginal participation is unprecedented, but even Tewanee Joseph, CEO of Four Host First Nations—the organization that is the bridge between organizers and the community—admits he can’t name one Aboriginal athlete on our Olympic teams—winter or summer. If there are 200 athletes on the team to these Games, in terms of population ratios, six or seven should be Aboriginal.
Other issues to think about:
VANOC—the Vancouver Olympic Committee—asked the City of Vancouver for an injunction against the planned Feb. 14 women’s march on East Hastings Street. Every year people march on Valentine’s Day to remember the missing and murdered women of the city’s eastside, and to bring attention to ongoing issues of violence against Aboriginal women. VANOC said the march would cause traffic jams. Vancouver disallowed the injunction and the march will proceed.
Cowichan First Nation knitters had offered to supply their famous and beautiful hand-knit sweaters as an official sweater for the Games. VANOC turned down them down. This fall The Bay, an official sponsor, came out with $350 sweaters copied from traditional Cowichan designs. The nation luckily took the organizing committee to task and settled, but imagine the economic benefits—not to mention the pride—had VANOC gone with First Nation knitters.
Mi’kmaw Children’s Se’t A’newey Performance Choir say that in 2007 Premier Gordon Campbell twice invited them to sing at the opening ceremonies. This fall VANOC told them they were not on the program, and the premier had nothing to do with the opening ceremonies. They were then allowed to sing at the Aboriginal Pavilion at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre during Newfoundland and Labrador Day, but proudly replied that they weren’t interested in "playing second fiddle."
The Aboriginal Pavilion at the Olympics is not in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, but rather is a temporary tent in the theatre’s parking lot.
There are no plans to ensure that Aboriginal youth have access to Olympic facilities. With the exception of the First Nations Snowboarding Team, an initiative of the Squamish First Nation, and "Chill Out"—a snowboarding program for inner-city youth started by Metis, not VANOC—there are no other programs in the 22 sports for Aboriginal youth to access.
Participants in the Olympic Indigenous Youth Gathering from Jan. 30-Feb. 14 were asked on the VANOC website, "Want to be part of the Olympic Games?"—yet are sent home the day after Olympic competition begins on Feb. 13. They had to send a photo of themselves in regalia, not 21st century clothing, and must be able to dance, drum, take instruction and perform for an international audience. They must "volunteer" for all performances and can be sent home for even talking to the media should they have a problem with arrangements, such as "dorm-style accommodations" during the H1N1 pandemic, or other restrictions. Such restrictions include having no rights to their own image, or creative work, so if the youth are performing in the opening ceremonies, which bring in revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars, they have no rights to claim a single penny. If their image, artwork, or written work appear in the "official" books of the Olympics, they have no rights to any of the profit generated by the books. If they create a song, dance or piece of visual art while at the Youth Gathering, VANOC holds 100% of the rights to all of these creations in perpetuity and does not have to pay the writers, dancers or musicians anything.
"Authentic Aboriginal Designs" on t-shirts, scarves, toques, vests and other memorabilia is mainly made in China, Bangladesh, Haiti, Honduras, and India. Aboriginal artists who wanted their work considered had to agree to allow VANOC to change their work should they so desire . . . and the Games have not yet begun.
Laura Robinson is a former member of Canada’s national cycling team and will cover the 2010 Winter Olympics for the Anishinabek News.Comment: I presume Laura Robinson is the author of this fine piece. People are reposting it without noting who wrote it or where it came from.
By Daphne BramhamIt took the threat of an Olympic torch-relay protest, but Cowichan Tribes' knitters now have a contract even far more valuable than providing Team Canada's uniforms.
Instead of knitting identical team sweaters, the knitters will become licensed suppliers to the Olympics and will be able to use the Olympic logo in retailing. That's something that the B.C. company that is supplying the Cowichan-like, official Team Canada sweaters cannot do. That company signed a confidentiality agreement that doesn't allow it to reveal its Olympic connection.
But the Cowichan deal reached late Tuesday with Olympic organizers and the Hudson Bay Co., goes far beyond simply being a licensed supplier. It offers the native knitters global exposure and an unprecedented economic opportunity.
The iconic sweaters will be sold at the Hudson Bay Co.'s Olympic superstore in Vancouver as well as at the Four Host First Nations pavilion during the Games.
The agreement extends beyond the Olympic period and contains a knowledge-transfer component, giving the Cowichan access to the Bay's expertise on pricing, marketing and creating a consistent production flow of sweaters into the market.Comment: Another in a long list of examples of how complaining and criticizing--i.e., protesting--work. For those who tell victims of crime and injustice to "get over it," you lose again. Alas, you don't seem to understand how the world works. You must've missed it when someone first uttered the truism that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease."
Native knitters investigated, B.C. MLA saysOn a day when Vancouver's police chief insisted his officers would not act with a heavy hand against Olympic protesters, B.C.'s solicitor general was having to field questions about how heavily Olympic security personnel have dealt with a group of First Nations knitters.
A group of women knitters in the Cowichan First Nation on southern Vancouver Island had announced they planned a protest next week against VANOC for allegedly appropriating their classic native sweater designs.
The knitters had planned to wear their sweaters in protest and line a route to be taken by Olympic torchbearers next week. The plan reportedly caught the attention of authorities and was investigated by the RCMP.
"We have learned that the RCMP have been investigating people organizing this show of sweaters," B.C. NDP MLA Bill Routley told the legislature Thursday, and demanded to know if the solicitor general knew about it.
Someone forwarded this e-mail to me. It was was addressed to several First Nations chiefs and apparently meant to be an open letter:Subject: Blatant colonialism, territorial theft and knock-off sweaters
Good morning chiefs. I am sure you have all been following the news of how the Hudson's Bay Company and the Vancouver Olympic Committee has knocked off the Cowichan sweater to produce their own version for the official uniforms for the 2010 Olympics, and which are being sold at the HBC stores for $350 each. This rip-off is getting heavily criticized in the media, and Cowichan, I understand, is looking into their legal options with respect to their Trademark for Genuine Cowichan.
This morning, the Hudson's Bay Company released a TV ad promoting their sweaters, and it is the most inflammatory, colonial, racist thing I have seen in a long time. You can watch it here:It tells the story of the coming of the white man to the new world, an empty place of rock and snow, which white man tamed and made into Canada. There is a half-second flash of seeing Cowichan-like sweaters hanging in some early settlement early in the ad, hinting that these came with the Europeans too. Through the ad, old Hudson's Bay Company symbols (blankets, chests, crests, etc.) are flashed, as the white man expands their presence.
The history told in this ad writes-out indigenous presence on the land. It popularizes the legal fiction of Terra Nullius, the idea that North America was an 'empty land' here for the taking. It erases the whole place of indigenous people over the last 350 years, from the resistance to colonization, to the contributions made to the building of contemporary society.
I believe that the political leadership of aboriginal communities should be aware of this vulgar portrayal of history by the Hudson's Bay Company, to promote their stolen sweater. The theft and profiteering off the genuine Cowichan sweater, along with the ironically parallel promotion of a re-telling of colonial history without indigenous people on the land, needs to be seen for what it is. Please pass the information along widely to help generate what should be an anti-colonial response.
Sincerely,
Brian Thom
* * *
Brian Thom, Ph.D. Negotiator Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group web: www.hulquminum.bc.ca
Comment: This ad is about as bad as Thom says. And the taming of the supposedly empty land isn't the only problem. The Hudson Bay Company's claim that it led the march of civilization across Canada is offensive. Wasn't anyone else involved in colonizing and "settling" Canada? And naturally there's no mention of how the company might've exploited, cheated, or even killed the indigenous population (through disease and warfare).
Possibly the worst claim is that the Hudson Bay Company has brought Cowichan sweaters to Canada and the world. Hello? The sweaters are a product of the Cowichan Tribes. The tribes bid for the Olympics concession and lost. HBC won by ripping off the Cowichan design and mass-producing it more efficiently than the tribes.
Yet there's no mention of any of this. The video implies that the noble Hudson Bay traders saw the tribal design while swarming across Canada and turned it into a commercial product. This isn't just advertising hype, it's flat-out false.
HBC proud of ripping off Natives
Not only that, it's arguably malicious. It eliminates the long history of the Cowichan Tribes producing Cowichan sweaters to justify HBC's exploitation of Native people. It plays like HBC thumbing its nose at tribes. "Ha ha, losers. We stole your land and now we're stealing your sweaters."
HBC could've and should've done this ad differently. Imagine the white interlopers meeting and trading goods and ideas with the tribes. An homage to the tribes' history of making sweaters. And a tagline such as: "Now Hudson Bay Company is bringing this exquisite tribal design to the world." This would've acknowledged that HBC is doing nothing more than building upon (i.e., profiting from) the tribes' invention.
Cowichan fakes won't win goldOnly Coca-Cola is Coke and only a Frisbee can be a Frisbee--and there is really only one Cowichan sweater. It is one that is produced by the Cowichan Tribes.
Anything else is a knockoff, an imitation.
So while the Cowichan Tribes should feel flattered by the choice of a Cowichan-like sweater as outerwear for the Canadian Olympic team, they also have a right to feel as if they have been ripped off.
It makes sense that the team chose that style of sweater. It has been a symbol of the West Coast for decades and with the Vancouver Games celebrating the wonders of the province, recognizing the iconic sweater is the right thing to do.
Hudson's Bay Company made its near-Cowichan sweaters a key part of its team apparel collection and will sell the hand-knit sweater for $350.
But when the Cowichan Tribes bid for the job, they lost.
Instead, The Bay opted for what some First Nations artisans are calling an expensive knock-off. The Bay is marketing its hand-knit sweater for $350, compared with $215 for the Cowichan original.
"I was disappointed our bid didn't get in," said Emily Sawyer-Smith, assistant manager of Hills Native Art in Duncan.First Nation alleges Olympic rip-offThe art of knitting what locals call "the Cowichan sweater" has been handed down from generation to generation, Cowichan elder Jenny Martin told CBC News Wednesday.
"My mom taught me how to knit when I was 15 … and my mom had-made sweaters and ponchos," Martin said.
Martin said the Bay's version of the sweater has an elk and a maple leaf but lacks authenticity.
"It's not Cowichan-made," she said.And:A provincial government spokeswoman defended the design.
Trendhumper: Cowichan SweatersTo the average consumer, the sweater pictured [below] is just knit with animals on it. But in reality, the buffalo-splashed zip-up is actually called a Cowichan sweater.
The sweaters get their name from the Cowichan, a tribe of native people in British Columbia who originally introduced this style—typically marked by animals and geometric shapes—to the world. And now, some U.S-based brands are bringing back the look for the impending cold months.
