I’ve been doing a lot of learning lately.
I think it started in earnest with Red Man Laughing. Which is rather sad really, since I’ve been surrounded by non-white voices since university. But Ryan’s show is the first one I can remember sitting with me, the stories. And how much similarity there was in some of the shittier aspects. How much colonization had just completely fucked everything up for, well, everyone.
It was also his insistence on talking about the land, and not just his connection to it or First Nations connections to it, but the fact that it was stolen, and the Treaties never respected. And that to fix this shit, we will need to give the land back. So much more than an acknowledgement.
A land acknowledgement shows only that you have done some of the work necessary. A first step. Using Native-Land.ca as my source, in the Lower Mainland of BC where I currently live and work, it’s the stolen/unceded territories of the:
Semiahmoo, Katzie, sc̓əwaθenaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsawwassen), səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil-Waututh ), S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), Qayqayt, W̱SÁNEĆ, Kwantlen, Stz'uminus, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam).
In Ontario where I grew up and most of my family still lives, those various places (Ottawa, and the north shore of Lake Ontario from Toronto to Belleville) are the stolen territories of the:
St. Lawrence Iroquoians, Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ, Mohawk, Huron-Wendat, Omàmiwininiwak (Algonquin) and Haudenosaunee.
We’ve also been a family who’s big on our genealogy. We can trace our various lineages back quite far. My mother’s family is a very settler family, and quite proud of it. We can apply for our United Empire Loyalist (UEL) status, and several of us have. Our ancestors have written famous books about settling “Canada”. Several have researched our earliest ancestors to step foot on the “Americas”.
We have documented proof (including several linked above) of being given free land several times, in several branches. One of the UEL ancestors documented leaving behind 2 slaves with his family, and one of his ancestors apparently signed a treaty for land that is now Hartford, Connecticut…
These are heavy things to learn. Especially given the poverty/lower-middle-class status of most of us. Lots of us have balked at the idea of our privilege, or those historical things meaning anything today. Especially the ones who earn the most money… I wonder if there’s a connection there…
I’m still learning. Still listening to voices other than mine, very different than mine. I’m still working on my own racism, and learning how to call it out and use my voice and privilege. Still making mistakes and saying Sorry…
Do you know who’s land you’re on now? Have you taken that first step yet?