BILL LEE
June 14, 2020
I
have become increasingly uncomfortable with the language that is being
used to describe the situation that has evolved between Canadians of
Euro-Canadian ancestry and Indigenous people.1 One of the terms that
bothers me is reconciliation which suggests we have begun to make up for
the many past wrongs done to Indigenous people by our ancestors. I do
not think we are nearly in that situation but have written on this in
the past.2 The second term that I find problematic is "settler" and this
will form the majority of the article to follow. I will end by
suggesting that unless we face up to the reality of our colonial status,
we can never begin to engage in a strategy to end it.
I
suggest that in identifying and discussing the state of Canadian
relationships with Indigenous people the term "Colonial class" makes
much more sense than that of "settler". True it is a word that is much
in vogue and is used by any number of Indigenous scholars, for example
Lowman and Barker (2015) and Montgomery (2013) and activists (it was for
example, used extensively in the excellent, #StandingRockSyllabus3 and
liberal minded Euro-Canadians seeking to find ways of identifying
themselves as allies. Admittedly, this term has some historical utility
in that it accurately describes what occurred to the land that was
commandeered from Indigenous peoples by the British and then the
Canadian governments. A lot more was parcelled out to immigrants from
all over Europe, though a lot also was given to companies like the CPR
and forestry companies, etc. It has also the utility, of course, of
suggesting that people of European ancestry are not "native" (no pun
intended) to this country and have no right to the land we presently
occupy. This can place us somewhat on the defensive, a place where we
rarely seem to occupy in relation to Indigenous people. That may or may
not be useful. But it does have two problems.
First, "settler" or
"settler-colonialism" corresponds with an older more openly repressive
reality when the country was primarily rural and where non-Indigenous
newcomers came directly from elsewhere, mostly Europe. Now Canada is
urbanized with "old" newcomers now citizens going back two or more
generations and with little to no bonds or interest in the actions or
cultures of the countries of origin. The result is that for the majority
of people who hear or read the term they are as puzzled as discomfited.
Second, the use of the term settler diverts our attention from the
contemporary reality of the corporate activity that, while it may not be
actually confiscating as much of Turtle Island as previously (most, as I
said above, has already been appropriated by corporations like the CPR
and CNR as well as the French, British and Canadian colonial governments
for the use of settler farmers) is certainly trying to gain control of
huge swaths of land various kinds of resource extraction. Today,
Canadian and multinational corporations, primarily resource extraction
and transportation companies, have long been rendering the land, to
which many Indigenous people feel that
they have inherent rights,
unusable for farming, hunting or any form of habitation. the best term
for the action of these entities is Corporate Colonialism.
Third, it is
static - settlers simply are what they are - people living on and using
the land. They were given it in the past by colonial/exploiting
governments, British, French and Canadian, but that times and practices
are gone. "Settler" says little about the nature of the contemporary
oppressive relationship between whitestream and Indigenous peoples.
Rather the term really puts out of sight the nature of the exploitation
of our existing Euro-Canadian and Indigenous, relationship. As I said,
some Euro-Canadians may feel a bit discombobulated (or not) by the term
settler. But no people are being imported from Europe to "settle"
Indigenous land at this time and most, or probably all, of us who had
parents or grandparents etc., who came from Europe have no interest, or
ability, to return to the countries that our forbearers left generations
ago. So, it is a bit of a dead end in terms of thinking about and
confronting what is going on with Canada's contemporary colonial
project. And it we don't confront that we are part of the system of
colonial oppression now we aren't much likely to think we should do
something about it.
Colonizer, or member of the colonial
class is, I believe, an equally or frankly a more honest and even (I
hope) a more discomforting term for people like me. It has the advantage
of characterizing our relationship as profoundly exploitive and unjust.
The fact is that we whitestream Canadians in the here and now of
history, are members of the colonial class. Our privilege doesn't derive
from our ancestors, an awful lot of them who had very little privilege
themselves in that they were fleeing poverty and/or political oppression
in various European countries4. Our privilege comes from the colonial
system itself, being members of a class of people who, at this time,
live off the avails of that oppressive system that stole and transferred
control of land, resources and wealth, that should have rightly been in
the hands of Indigenous people. It has maintained, and does maintain,
us in our privilege (and Indigenous people as second class "citizens")
as we refuse to own up to, and pay for, the severe damage that was, and
is being done. I think that is why we have difficulty talking about our
'privilege'.
People who live off the avails of colonial oppression
rarely recognize (or want to recognize) it, let alone think they should
do anything about it. We whitestream people of the colonial class have
the ability to demand that our leadership, businesses and government, do
the right things, but don’t, or most of us don't. I rather think that
many Canadians of European heritage don’t really mind being referred to
as settlers. Settler brings feelings of nostalgia and harkens back to
the time of our ancestors, who came here often poor, confused and
scared. The myth (and myths usually have truth in them, even if they
aren't the whole truth) is that they worked hard and succeeded (in ways
that were denied to Indigenous people of course).
The focus is on what
they achieved and doesn’t really suggest notions of social and political
power and responsibility. We often hear people denying their status as
colonial "overlords" saying something along the lines of "my family came
to this country with nothing", etc., etc. But the fact is, we do have
things now: money, land, education, among other good things, that are
denied to Indigenous people, particularly those who live on reserves.
Contemporary colonials, as well, have and wield power which we can use.
Whether it is in terms of voting, more importantly joining with our
Indigenous brothers and sisters in the movement to overturn this vile,
unjust and dehumanizing system.
Unless we do that we maintain the colonial system and we remain colonials and members of the colonial class.
Resources
Lowman, E.B., Barker, A.J. (2015) Settler: Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada. Fernwood Publishing.
Montgomery, N. (2013) "Colonialism exists in Canada, Rex Murphy. You're part of it." cultivating alternatives' Research and writing on alternatives to the dominant order. https://www.vancouverobserver.com/politics/commentary/colonialism-exists-canada-rex-murphy-youre-part-it
1 I do not refer to Indigenous people as citizens of Canada. I know many Indigenous people that do acknowledge citizenship, though it may trouble them to do so and many who do not. It is not, my place or that of any Canadian of European heritage, to assume what Indigenous people choose to call themselves. 2 Lee, B. (2020). COLONIALISM THEN AND COLONIALISM NOW: the Attack on the Wet'suwet'en Land. https://criticalperspectivesblog.blogspot.com/2020/02/colonialism-then-and-colonialism-now_18.html. February 18. 3 See NYC Stands with Standing Rock Collective. (2016). “#StandingRockSyllabus.” https://nycstandswithstandingrock.wordpress.com/standingrocksyllabus/. 4 Most of my forbearers came from Ireland in the 1800's. In each case they were fleeing something, poverty, political persecution for participating in resistance to British colonialism and finally, the Famine (an Gorta Mór)
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