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Foreword
I have been asked
to pen a few words with regard to my mother's book, and I am very
pleased to help in this way. Any time that people put their whole
life into written form I think they run the risk of misapprehension
and even criticism from others. Richard Daly has taken on
the monumental task of listening to and recording my mother's
thoughts and memories about her life. For this I am very grateful.
This book has been an ongoing project for many years, and both
Richard and Rena have devoted countless hours to making this book a
reality. Richard's training in the field of anthropology, together
with his self-critical attitude toward his work, lends itself very
well to the task at hand.
For too long,
anthropologists and historians have written about Aboriginal people
from a purely academic perspective, with their mind on audiences
somewhere else, perhaps in Europe. This has produced some marvellous
reports, but in some cases it has resulted in a
one-dimensional, ethnocentric, and subjective analysis of people
about whom the writer in fact knows very little. That is, such
accounts simply describe the surface and not the depth of Aboriginal
people's reality.
Richard Daly has
chosen a much different approach, in that he spends time with the
subjects of his study, attending gatherings and feasts and even
residing inside their communities so that he can gain a
deeper, inside perspective that later informs his written work. He
brings a passion for learning and a compassion for the people he
studies. His voice is not demanding, nor is it condescending or
fraught with the attitude of superiority that too often prevents
some writers from getting at the broader and more complex story
before them. I am very pleased with the end product of his long and
hard work.
So that there could
be no mistake, in September of this year, 2012, at Chilliwack, I
presented Richard with a talking stick. This stick was presented to
him at my home in the presence of my mother and with her approval,
so there is no doubt that he speaks on behalf of my mother in this
book. Richard and Mother have done a marvellous job and I know that
you will enjoy this book, as I have.
Steven Point
20 October 2012
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