I had a lot of replies to my thread expressing how they were “shocked” at the events taking place across Canada targeting Indigenous people or that it was a “devastating” thread.

I want to make it very clear: these attacks are not new.

This shouldn’t be surprising to people.

Canada is built on the oppression and genocide of Indigenous people. The government and its people have fought us every step of the way. We have always been seen as the “Indian Problem” that needs to be solved.

There was a report that came out recently about how CSIS (Canada’s CIA) monitors Indigenous people because Indigenous resistance threatens Canada’s sovereignty. We’ve always been the targets.

If you don’t believe me, I present to you: a thread of homework (aka: things to Google and educate yourself about)

(In no order)
• The Pass System
• Denial of Status to Native Women
• Enfranchisement and how it worked: ie, if you go to university you lose your status
• How and why reservations were created
• The prohibition of gathering funds for legal services for Indigenous people

• Residential schools (actually research them/listen to survivors)
• Indian hospitals (also TB sanitariums)
• The prohibition of the sale of alcohol to First Nations folks
• How FNs weren’t allowed into pool halls
• The history/function of Band Councils and how bands work

• Métis scrip and how it worked / why it was implemented
• The prohibition of our languages
• The prohibition of our cultural practices (See: The Potlatch Ban)
• When Indigenous women were given the right to vote
• The ban on our religions

• The outlawing of wearing our regalia in any public place
• The denial of our right to vote (this affected men and women differently)
• The Oka Crisis (which has never been resolved)
• The First Nations Water Crisis (which is still happening)

• Bill C-45
• The White Paper
• The White Paper 2.0 (all eyes on you Trudeau)
• Temagami, ON
• Clayoquot Sound, BC
• Ipperwash, ON
• Gustafson Lake, BC
• Burnt Church, NB
• Rexton, NB
• March on Parliament 1981
• Mi’kmaq Blockade on hwy 134

• Kenora, ON
• Grand Remous and Val D’Or, QB
• Deseronto, ON
• Blockade at Bouleau Lake, BC
• March on Parliament 2013
• The history of Treaties and how they work / why they were implemented
• The history of the RCMP: why it was created and how it operates

• The 60s scoop
• The millennial scoop
• The disproportionate number of Indigenous youth in the Child Welfare system
• The theft of Indigenous children
• Forced sterilization of Native women
• Forced experimentation on Indigenous people

• Lachine Massacre
• Massacre at Fox Fort
• Attack at Mocodome
• St Francis Raid
• Fraser Canyon War
• Cypress Hills Massacre

• Intergenerational trauma (how it works, where it comes from)
• The Highway of Tears
• Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
• How many times more likely Indigenous women are to be murdered than non-Indigenous women

• Robert Pickton and how he trawled through the DTES for years, while Indigenous voices were being ignored
• How man camps and resource extraction affect Indigenous women, trans, twospirit and nonbinary folks
• Indigenous people shot by RCMP / police

• systemic racism in the medical field
• systemic racism in the police force
• what having status actually means and how the “benefits” work (you know those stereotypes: ‘free gas’, ‘free school’, ‘no tax’.)
• where these stereotypes come from

I could go on, but that’s enough homework for now. And hey, if you learned something new, here’s my PayPal! I’m currently unemployed with a broken back and can’t even bead at the moment. http://PayPal.me/bmacabre