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if you have no plans for Canada Day can I recommend spending some time getting to know your country better
Start with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission summary report, written so *all* Canadians could begin to comprehend what residential schools, and Canada’s “Indian policy” have done. http://nctr.ca/assets/reports/Final%20Reports/Executive_Summary_English_Web.pdf
Then read the report of the inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. It was *also* written for all Canadians, to tell us how especially brutal our systemic anti-Indigenous racism is on women, femmes, 2S and others:
https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Executive_Summary.pdf
https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Executive_Summary.pdf
THEN, for historical context, check out the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, written to tell Canadians that our position toward Indigenous peoples is socially, physically, and economically abusive and in need of healing: https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/aboriginal-heritage/royal-commission-aboriginal-peoples/Pages/introduction.aspx
Report after report packed with testimony and evidence and expert opinion drawn from a sizeable and reputable subset of Canadian and Indigenous society, and here we are in 2020 scratching our big white heads on national news wondering if systemic racism exists? Nah. NOPE. No.
All these reports come with recommendations. CLEAR and NUMEROUS directives on how Canada can act to stop systemic anti-Indigenous discrimination and work to reverse the damage.
And by “Canada” I mean Canadians. All of us. Governments and and corporations and individuals. YOU.
And by “Canada” I mean Canadians. All of us. Governments and and corporations and individuals. YOU.
Look at TRC’s 94 Calls to Action. Really look. Find one that you can contribute to.
Here’s one I can work on: terra nullius still helps rationalize land theft, and archaeology bears some responsibility for substantiating the myth. We can refute it too.
http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf
Here’s one I can work on: terra nullius still helps rationalize land theft, and archaeology bears some responsibility for substantiating the myth. We can refute it too.
http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf
Look at the MMIWG inquiry recommendations. Organized *by theme and colour-coded*, making it impossible to misunderstand. Impossible to deny. Impossible to keep debating and inquiring and researching and polling and summarizing.
Or, if you’re not into reports, there’s Art Manuel’s Unsettling Canada or @apihtawikosisan’s Indigenous Writes or @TanyaTalaga’s Seven Fallen Feathers (consider ordering all for your classroom or office)
Or you could watch nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, https://www.cbc.ca/cbcdocspov/m_episodes/nipawistamasowin-we-will-stand-up or @RMComedy’s Colonization Road https://www.cbc.ca/firsthand/m/episodes/colonization-road, or anything Alanis Obomsawin made.
Or how about podcasts! Listen to @connie_walker’s Missing and Murdered: Finding Cleo, @theRickHarp’s @mediaINDIGENA, or @gindaanis’s Medicine for the Resistance. Just listen. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/findingcleo
There is just NO excuse, in July 2020, for not learning about and acting immediately to address the harms of Canada’s anti-Indigenous racism.
There is a veritable buffet of facts and solutions laid out before Canadians to learn about de/colonization. https://redpaper.yellowheadinstitute.org
There is a veritable buffet of facts and solutions laid out before Canadians to learn about de/colonization. https://redpaper.yellowheadinstitute.org
Imagine if most Canadians just sat tf down on Canada Day and educated themselves with one true account of Canada’s relationship with Indigenous peoples and lands?
I’m not saying we could be a measurably better country by Thursday, but it would be a good start. #stayhomeandread
I’m not saying we could be a measurably better country by Thursday, but it would be a good start. #stayhomeandread
