WARNING: Some of the ideas and images on this page may be triggering to Indigenous people, People of Colour, and LBGTQ2+.
“How we are in relationship with one another and the actions that can result from this work are a necessary mechanism for transformation.”
–Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara & Gladys Rowe
For settlers coming to this for the first time, welcome. This is a long…life-long process. It is a path that begins today, and it is one that you must commit to every morning when you wake up.
Take a deep breath.
Sometimes, especially early on, it is going to feel like you are entering a conversation already in progress. It is, and we are coming late to it. Decolonization, Land Back, Indigenous Resurgence, these have been going on since the very first European set foot on Turtle Island (a general expression that in the 1970s began to be used to apply to North America, even if it isn’t always culturally accurate).
Finding out what the above words mean will help you start this journey in a good way. More importantly than terms, building relationships with the Nations on who’s territory you live is one of the most meaningful ways to support Indigenous people, projects, and aims.
Before you do, take a moment to ask yourself some very serious questions. Some of the below (the first 8) come from a form that was used for settler supporters before joining the Land and Water Defence in ‘Namgis territory during the Maya’xala xan’s Awinakola (Respect Land, Sky, and Sea) or Fish Farms Out. Others are taken from my experiences and the experiences of my friends and relations who have aided me on my part of this journey.
Self-Reflection
Self-Reflection and being able to handle moments that unsettle you will be your greatest guides in seeing the path before you.
- Do you understand the the concept of privilege?
- Where do you stand in terms of relative privilege compared to the Indigenous People leading the movements you wish to support?
- How does this privilege affect how you carry yourself?
- What do you offer that can help or benefit Indigenous Resurgence, Indigenous Self-Determination, and Land Back?
- What is your relationship with the Indigenous people of the land you live on?
- How will you approach your relationship with the Indigenous people on those lands during your undertaking this work?
- Can you think of at least 3 examples of specific ways you have materially benefit from the colonization process: Residential schools, assimilation practices, land alienation, etc?
- What are your responsibilities towards the decolonization and land back process as a person who is in possession of wealth and privilege gained from the colonization of Indigenous peoples lands?
- Why are you drawn to this work?
- Does your walking this path support the wellbeing of Indigenous people?
- Are you prepared to accept a world where settler colonial institutions (like the government, like the police, like the globalized economy) are no longer centred in the way that they are right now?
- Are you aware of the idea that owning real estate, or inheriting wealth from your parents, or having a university education, is directly benefiting from Indigenous genocide and the removal of Indigenous peoples from their territories?
- When your ideas conflict with those of your Indigenous hosts, are you prepared to ask yourself where your ideas come from? Are you prepared to challenge them even if challenging them feels “wrong” to you?
- Do Indigenous people “need” you to be here?
- Did Indigenous people call for your doing this work?
- How do your words and actions continue to support structural racism and colonial violence even if that’s not your intention?
Go outside and put your bare feet on the Earth. Our being here is violence.
Take another deep breath.
Unsettling
Being unsettled is that feeling of deep “this is wrong” in your gut that calls the mind to quickly find examples from your life or from the narrative you’ve been told about being white, being “canadian,” or being male, middle class, etc, that come to you to reject the information you’re being confronted with. This is structural racism, structural patriarchy, and class war, and they’re trying to keep you comfortable in those racist, patriarchal, and classist assumptions that maintain this colonial society.
Being unsettled is a great opportunity to ask yourself why you are having that reaction? What does it serve? Why is it so important to maintain the racist/patriarchal/classist forces that make up this society? In sitting with being unsettled, you can reject what it tells you are universal truths and come to enter into a relationship with knowledge. This relationship is dynamic, can change day to day, and has the power to see others as equals in how they experience life on Earth.
Supporting
Before approaching Indigenous peoples and their movements or Nations for participating in them, there is some work you are going to have to do in order to support those movements and aims, and the general wellbeing of Indigenous peoples, without continuing to harm them.
Some folx call this being an “ally.” The term isn’t used in all Indigenous circles (there is no pan-Indigenous in the same way that our so-called Canadian culture is not as unified as we’re told to believe). Others prefer the term “supporter” while others are looking for “accomplices.”
Resources
Start by exploring resources from organizations and groups that have already begun their process. Below are some resources that you can start with. See also the “Before Going to Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek” and see the resources and links around this site.
If you are unfamiliar with what is known as White Supremacy Culture, how it manifests in each of our lives, and the unexpected ways we each uphold this culture in our day to day lives, please read Tema Okun’s really valuable essay on White Supremacy Culture.
The Anti-Oppression Network has a good set of resources on Allyship here: https://theantioppressionnetwork.com/allyship/
This Indigenous Ally Toolkit from the Montreal Urban Aboriginal Community Strategy Network offers some good advice: https://segalcentre.org/common/sitemedia/201819_Shows/ENG_AllyTookit.pdf
Read the Yellowhead Institute’s Red Paper on Land Back: https://redpaper.yellowheadinstitute.org/
And check out the 4Rs Youth Movement and what they mean with Land Back: http://4rsyouth.ca/land-back-what-do-we-mean/
Sit with what you learn through reading the Decolonization Toolkit from VIDEA and the pathways they offer in this work: https://videa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Decolonization-Toolkit_VIDEA2020.pdf
Take a look at this TEDx talk by Nadine Wildheart sharing about lineage, story, relationships, and how settlers can come to walk a different path. First watch her introduction by Woodrow Morrison, Jr., and then sit with Nadine for a little while: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAJj5NEvHhE
And if you are white (or a settler of Euro-descent who benefits from white privilege) it is almost more important that you begin to unsettle your concept of whiteness and deal with the guilt and fragility of these things before asking Indigenous or other People of Colour to walk with you. Our fragility is violence, and it is not the job of our Indigenous hosts or the People of Colour who count us as supporters to teach us the depth of our supremacy and its impacts on their lives and communities. Robin DiAngelo has a great resource for this: https://www.uua.org/files/pdf/d/diangelo-white_fragility_and_the_rules_of_engagement.pdf
There is also the Aspen Institute’s glossary for challenging structural racism that will be a helpful guide as you start this work: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/files/content/docs/rcc/RCC-Structural-Racism-Glossary.pdf
Do the work. Put in the time. Self-Reflect. Be humble. Show gratitude. Stay safe.
Safe journeys.