Hi all, I've just put together a mini-documentary focusing on an individual I learnt about on this very forum - one Jamake Highwater, the consultant for Chakotay's backstory on Voyager. This guy's life was a big mystery and it seemed like contradictions constantly followed him. I tried taking a neutral tone on such a controversial subject. Turns out his association with Rick Berman goes back further than just Voyager, though.
I don't think a consultant was necessary. They just borrowed from common perceptions of Native Americans, lit a candle, and played the infamous flute. Not especially complicated.
If he consulted with Star Trek, it was only in 1993, and possibly for the TNG episode "Journey's End." This comes from one of his own statements. He is no where credited as a consultant for any Voyager episode, even though every other type of consultant is. He doesn't seem to have done any work for Voyager. Edit: there was a thread about this a year or two ago, and there's literally nothing out there to be found about his supposed work for Voyager other than an obscure quote by him(claiming to have been consulted in 1993). There are, however, a few articles written about him mentioning his connection, but the only source for those was this one quote, which may have originated from his fake resume. He may have used the connection as Chakotay was a popular character among native American audiences back when Voyager came out. Chakotay was supposed to be from a tribe that had roots in the jungles of Central America, like one of the Mayan or Inca tribes.
That's non canon. Robert Beltran said in an interview something like "Wouldn't it be cool if Chakotay was just like me? From south of the US border?" If he could assert that, then there was nothing in stone one way of the other when he said that. Although if you google "rubber tree". Yes the rubber tree is from the Amazon, but unless the tribe's name was translated into English, rubber itself was not invented until 1839, which doesn't mean that they could have been named after the tree before any one knew how to vulcanize. "logically" if they traded rubber tree, with whitey, their tribe name might have changed at that point, becuase whitey is lazy and racist, and it just saved time to play along with whitey.
They visit his ancestral lands in a flashback, in central america. Also, "Rubber Tree People" is simply how it is said in English, like any other English translation of any actual native American names.
Well, if he did, that doesn't reflect on Berman in any way. The guy was involved in numerous productions. As for Star Trek, all indications are that he had zero involvement with Voyager or TNG. He isn't even listed as (uncredited) anywhere, for any series or episode. As far as his own claims(or simply.. a remark on a fraudulent resume), if he did any consultation regarding Voyager, it was in the very early stages of series development, during the 6th or 7th season of TNG. Caretaker was written and filmed in later summer, early fall, 1994, and aired in early 1995. The idea that he was some guy on staff for Voyager throughout the series, that I've seen people present here, is patently false.