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Saturday, February 8, 2025

Decolonizing our Minds & Hearts

Here in Canada, we are very fortunate to be in a reconciliation process with our indigenous relations. As much as some may make bogus complaints about “special privileges” being afforded to indigenous people, those who do so are inadvertently exhibiting their lack of awareness and understanding of what has gone down here in Canada over the last 400 years. Frankly, they are telling us a lot about their ignorance. They perhaps do not realize that South Africa’s colonizers took learning from the Canadian reservation system, and used it to establish their system of Apartheid. Maybe they are unaware that there was a longstanding, clear, well- documented policy of assimilation here in Canada, with respect to First Nations. And “assimilation” is simply another word for ethnic cleansing, which taken to its extreme is genocide. Genocide’s legal definition includes the intent to destroy a people in whole or in part. It does not rely on the number of people killed; it is about intent, and actions taken in a systemic and widespread way to realize that intent. Canada’s official policy certainly filled that bill. It is hard to admit that our beloved country could be a place of genocide. Ethnic cleansing was bad enough, but genocide? We need to face it and continue to make every effort to rectify the damage it caused, for as long as it takes.

The convenient concepts of “terra nullius” and the “Doctrine of Discovery” have long been debunked, and my father’s narrow idea of “winning the battle, conquering the people, and therefore being entitled to their land” no longer indicates anything other than an outdated colonial concept that people can come and take other people’s land and resources without agreement, fair compensation or accountability. That supremacist idea was a product of colonial, war system mentality, and any thinking person knows that it no longer holds water. It never did to those who were the victims of that way of thinking.

In the 21st century, we know these ideas serve only the oppressor and I am grateful that Canada has committed to a process of reconciliation. The apology made by the federal government many years ago is only the beginning of that process. This is going to take a very long time; after all, as the late UBC Professor Paul Tennant, a respected authority on indigenous & non-indigenous relations, remarked: it took 400 years to set up this system; it is not going to be turned around overnight.

I almost have to laugh when I hear people complaining that there is “so much corruption” in Band councils and governance on reserves. Who do they think established reserves and the “Band” system in the first place? Who attempted to displace hereditary leaders and indigenous systems of governance established over millennia? Who outlawed the indigenous elegant and complex potlatch system, where grievances were settled, debts were paid, relations acknowledged and mended as needed? Who kidnapped indigenous children from their very homes and removed them from their world to attend residential schools, purposely far away from their communities, in order to “wipe out the Indian” in them?

We have so much to atone for here in Canada and thankfully we are officially engaged in reconciliation. When I returned to my BC birthplace in 1975, after a 7 year hiatus, I realized I

knew almost nothing of the first peoples here. And what I did know was stereotypes, generalizations, and institutionalized racism. Finally living back on my beloved west coast, I committed to get going on a learning journey. I read every book I could get my hands on, went to courses and conferences led by indigenous women, started studying the amazing artistic and cultural heritage shared with us by indigenous artists, started learning about indigenous legal orders and ways of governance. As I have said before though, my greatest teachers have been the people I’ve met, the indigenous friends I’ve made, the many generous indigenous students and colleagues I have worked with over the years, who have shared with me their stories, their struggles and their wisdom.

The next time you find yourself complaining about indigenous people getting more breaks than you are, give your head a shake. Place your mind on reset and consider what steps you might take to de-colonize your thought processes. I figure this is the biggest task of all for those of us who are non-indigenous. It is though, a most rewarding journey, and best yet, it is life-long, so you never need to worry about boredom creeping into your life!

Now we need to grow, we need to expand our “tribe” to include all humanity, because if we don’t, we will not survive as a species. I am so thankful to be part of Hornby and Denman communities who I see are making committed efforts at reconciliation and building strong bridges with K’omox & Pentlach peoples, on whose traditional territory we live. Many of us are listening and learning, and our world is becoming much the richer for it. Onward, or as indigenous folks say, “All my Relations”!

Next week: Working the Medicine Wheel

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