K I said I had some thoughts about the sheer amount of wealth that exists on stolen lands, I'm going to try to unpack my feelings a bit.

This long weekend, we went on a family bike trip. We knew we'd have to avoid major routes to keep safe, and we had to be flexible, so if we saw a big group coming towards us we'd head off onto another street. We ended up riding through Glenora.

If you don't know Edmonton, Glenora is a really rich neighbourhood. Maybe not as ultra-rich as others; after all houses there are on average a million dollars, and not much higher than three million usually.

It's an older neighbourhood so it's got some mid 20th century bungalows in the $500K range, but it's also home to a lot of lawyers and dentists, in unbelievable mansions. There's a section that has this huge green space overlooking the river valley.

That's why we went there, because those green spaces aren't used much. We ended up being driven out anyway by two groups of rich residents who approached us directly. I don't for a second think it was accidental.

ANYWAY. So for a few hours we rode through neighbourhoods with mansions is the point. At first I liked it, because I LOVE looking at houses. But it started to rankle. We rode through two rich neighbourhoods just PACKED with million dollar homes (and even more expensive).

TWO neighbourhoods in ONE city. Hundreds of extremely rich people. Thousands upon thousands of extremely rich people throughout all these stolen lands. It's easy to forget, when you live like we do, that this kind of wealth exists.

That it exists, and exists for SO. MANY. PEOPLE. Mostly white, but not always. And certainly not for most Indigenous people.

These are OUR territories. OUR resources "created" this wealth.

And when we dare to set foot in a rich neighbourhood, they send out the "welcoming committee" to push us off "THEIR" view of the river valley.

It stings to be reminded just how rich non-Indigenous peoples are able to be on our lands.

One thing I have learned over the years is to never underestimate how fucking rich so many white people are. What's gnawing at me is how many of these people are "nice, progressive" white people. People with "good" politics. People who donate to charity.

But they do NOTHING to threaten their own security. Their wealth is at our expense, and they "give back" in ways they feel appropriate, but they continue on being rich on stolen lands. Their politics don't mean shit, wealth is still being siphoned away.

I used to feel really bad about asking white people to fund things, to send money, to buy this, to buy that. And then I met genuinely nice white people with resources I couldn't fucking dream of. Who could literally donate tens of thousands of dollars (hundreds of thousands even)

and not feel it at all. There are people who can give away millions and it's NOTHING.

Why are these people entitled to mansions and so much wealth? They aren't better, smarter, harder working...they have intergenerational wealth. Indigenous peoples have intergenerational trauma.

So yes. I am going to demand that people with means do something about it. Give me your damn money. Buy us land. Give us your cottage, your second or third or fourth home. Give us the materials we need to do the work that we need to do.

And I will not ever again feel guilty for making those demands. You shouldn't either.

I'm not joking.
http://paypal.me/apihtawikosisan 

Got a summer cottage? I'll take the keys and the title. Got a mansion? Me and my buds will take the keys and title. Step. The. Fuck. Up.

I guarantee you that poor BIPOC can do more with your money than any of your charities ever will.

Everything has to change. Everything. And in the meantime, give up the stolen wealth.

Like in PARTICULAR, your sweet cabin on Lac Ste. Anne, Lake Isle, or Wabamun Lake. Send me the keys/title. The fact I can't access my own territory because your family and other non-Indigenous families drove us out and built there is obscene.