Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Go Back Home - Settler - Land Back

There is a movement called Land Back. Indigenous people are stating Land Back. 

Had a conversation with my wife a while back. She commented on how people must be comfortable to know there are whole countries with people like them. A country where they can go back to and just fit right in. Like Russia, China, England, Poland, France, India, South Africa, Israel, Saudi Arabia for example.  Well it's not like that for Indigenous folk. Our countries are infested with other people who have a country to go back. Doesn't matter if they have lived here all their lives, they still have a home country. Do you realize how amazing this is?

For Indigenous folk they don't have this luxury. In Canada, and in the United States, we have Reserves, Reservations. In Canada, that equates to zero point two percent of the Land (0.2%). Not a whole lot of Nation to go back to. Imagine that eh?

There is this Tagish guy I know.  He was one of those Indian's who were adopted out to a White Family. He went back home, found his relatives and was active in the community, Carcross First Nation. He is one of those very smart, educated Indians. We had a visit when he came on business to Winnipeg. As with all things Indians, we talked about the issues we face in Canada. He said something which I found interesting and just wrong. He said he understood the wish of Indians to get back their land but it's just a dream. He said it in a way that what Indians wish and believe is not really true, that is empty rhetoric. I let it slide as he is smarter and younger than me. Still I know he was and is wrong. It can happen and why should this not be the goal? Why can't settlers go back home?

There are many examples of Indigenous people and original inhabitants who are getting their world back from colonizers and settlers. In our lifetime we have witnessed the return of Hong Kong, South Africa, Ukraine, Latvia (and many other Countries), Rhodesia and so on. Colonizer's have left.   So why not the United States, New Zealand, Australia and Canada?  The British rule left Indian in 1947 after years of rule and attack. After all the Colonizers have a home country. They can always go back home. In some cases Countries have been divided into autonomous communities

Canada does not have a real claim to the Country. The whole foundation of their existence is based on a lie.  In this case no amount of lying is going to make it the truth, Canada is living a lie.  Canada is a colonial beast.  As far as beast go, Canada is young and it has been done where the beast had to flee.

The world is filled with areas where the colonizer, the settler should let it go. Canada, New Zealand, United States and Australia are no exception. Settler go home.

Land Back is really about the decision-making power. It’s about self-determination for our Peoples here that should include some access to the territories and resources in a more equitable fashion, and for us to have control over how that actually looks.

Jesse Wente, Chair, Canada Council for the Arts




2 comments:

  1. What if that "other country" I as a settler Canadian can supposedly go to isn't really my home?

    I'm of mixed British, Irish, and German descent. Which of those places do I go to? Do I even have any sort of right to claim that heritage and history as my own? There are more and more black and brown people making those places their own. To my mind, they would have more of a right to claim things like the works of Shakespeare, the defeat of Napoleon, Doctor Who and afternoon tea than I ever would. That heritage and history belong to those POC more than they ever would to me. Things like the Log Driver's Waltz, the "cabane a sucre", the '72 Summit Series, the discovery of insulin, are things I could have more of a claim to.

    Whatever the UK, Ireland or Germany are, they're foreign countries to me and aren't really "mine". To my mind, the heritage and identity of those countries belongs to the people who live there now, regardless of how pale or dark their skin is. So what else can I even claim as my own?

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  2. That is a predicament for sure. North America has groups of people displaced. Those displaced are being attacked now, by people who moved from somewhere else. Isn't it ironic? The US and Canada are telling people to go back home or doing everything to stop them. Why is that? They are privileged to be here because they were "let in". So now when it comes up about the European settler being told to go home, it sounds ugly. Weird isn't it?

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