Today is Canada Day, a day that celebrates a colonial settler state that to this day still treats Indigenous people like shit. All of our cities are built on their lands and the treaties they were made to sign to cede land did not protect them or help them. 1/
Thus one of the main rivers in the city is the Elbow, and the bigger one is just the Bow, which make sharp bends.
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I never learned any of this in school. We learned more about the Iroquois and their dealings with settlers, barely anything about the Prairies and the Nations here. A small paragraph, with little or no reference to the people who are here.
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We were taught like Indigneous people were gone, taught like they were relics of the past. I knew they weren’t, but we learned nothing about them.
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So: white Canadians, today instead of patting yourselves on the back about how great you think Canada is, remember that settler colonialism is nothing to celebrate.
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Learn what land you are occupying. Who are the people there? What languages did they speak?
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It should also go without saying that land acknowledgments are not enough. We must actively work against racism towards First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people in Canada.
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The government, federal, provincial, and municipal need to be held accountable.
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For example: the government of Alberta passed a law criminalizing protests that “obstruct” roads and public spaces but it can be interpreted very broadly. This was made in response to protests against the pipeline in BC being built on Wet’suet’en land.
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White Canadians are guilty of just being complacent and turning away from any issues. We have some of the biggest superiority complexes I have ever seen.
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Also: do not demand Indigenous people teach you, or explain racism. Make the effort to learn and do better, and know that no Indigenous person owes you their time or expertise or knowledge.
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End of conversation
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