Remember when entire families in a remote northern community were living in severely inadequate shelters in the wintertime, and the federal government reacted to this emergency quickly, and with compassion? I don’t either. What I do remember, is Prime Minister Stephen Harper making a claim about $90 million dollars, adding official legitimacy to an already…
Category: Decolonisation
Undermined at every turn: the lie of the failed native farm on the Prairies.
What do you know about farming among the Prairie nations? Here’s what I knew. I knew that after the annihilation of our main economic base, the buffalo, native peoples in the Prairies were encouraged to become farmers. I knew that ‘experts’ were sent by Indian Affairs to teach on-reserve populations how to farm. I knew…
Treaty Talk With âpihtawikosisân
tânisi nitôtêmitik, welcome to Treaty Talk With âpihtawikosisân! In previous episodes, we’ve explored the way in which modern treaty making resembles the approach taken during the creation of the historical numbered Treaties. We’ve also looked at how ‘without prejudice’ agreements stall and perhaps undermine the maintenance and exercise of Aboriginal rights, as an alternative to…
The Stolen Generation(s).
If you’ve ever heard the term “60s scoop” and thought it had something to do with ice-cream in the old days, I’m here to enlighten you. I prefer the term Stolen Generations, because the scooping I’m about to discuss did not end in the 60s. In fact, many argue that it didn’t end with a…
Canada’s closets packed with skeletons
There are many stories that Canadians do not regularly learn in school. Its history is littered with forgotten events, either deliberately overlooked, or rationalised away somehow. This lacuna in our collective knowledge is not limited to events which impacted indigenous peoples. You might reach adulthood without ever once being aware that in 1918, twelve ‘enemy…