[Indigsol] Building a "Canadian" Decolonization Movement: Fighting the Occupation at "Home"

[mattm-b at resist.ca]

hey,

just reread this article...thought it was worth sending to the list.

matt

Building a "Canadian" Decolonization Movement: Fighting the Occupation at
"Home"

by Devin Burke

The following address was delivered by Devin Burke, a member of the
Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement (IPSM) in Montreal, on August 20,
2004, as part of an evening of speakers, film and music in support of the
Kanehsatake Mohawk community. In his speech, Devin explores the idea of
active "decolonization", and the practice of self-determination by
non-native individuals and communities. His views outline eloquently many
of the principles that the No One Is Illegal Campaign in Montreal have
tried to assert in the past two years, undertaking our work within migrant
and refugee communities while maintaining active solidarity with
indigenous struggles in the Canadian state.

If you've been following the news, it would appear that the current
situation in Kanehsatake has been unravelling over the past 7 months, from
the time when James Gabriel, unannounced to the community, first attempted
to establish his own personal police force, with the stated purpose of
"cracking down on organized crime". However, if you speak to a Kanehsatake
community member and ask when this problem began, you will likely be told
that it's a situation rooted much more deeply in the history of
Mohawk-Canadian relations, that it dates back well before the time when
Jimmy Gabriel came into power, and even long before the 1990 uprising
known as the "Oka Crisis". Many would likely say that the current conflict
is merely symptomatic of a greater problem, that being Canadian
colonialism.

The current "crisis" in Kanehsatake is in fact a new front in the war
which Canada has been waging against Indigenous peoples since its very
inception as a settler state in 1867. It is a battle of the Canadian state
to seize Indigenous lands and to stifle the threat of strong and defiant
Indigenous nations capable of mounting resistance to colonialism. The
strategy of the Canadian occupation forces has been a long and drawn out
process of assimilation and extermination, primarily carried out through
means of a low-intensity warfare. In Canada, this war has often been waged
by institutions, through the bureaucracy of Indian Affairs, in residential
schools, through the imposition of band councils, and more recently by
notorious multinational corporations and the likes of global trade
regimes, such as the World Trade Organization. But this war is also being
fought on the ground. As native nations, such as the west coast Secwepemc
Nation, known by settlers as the Shushwap Nation, and the Anishnabek of
Asubpeeschoseewagong (Grassy Narrows) stand up to corporate and state
colonialism, time and again the repressive arm of Canadian colonialism
threatens to be unleashed -- whether it be the RCMP, the provincial
police, the Canadian army (1). While these struggles have explicitly been
kept out of the news, or are portrayed according to racist, colonialist
stereotypes of native peoples, they are one of the greatest threats to the
Canadian state, as they call into question its legitimacy and expose the
truth that Canada, like other settler-colonial states, is founded upon
stolen land which was expropriated from Indigenous nations through the act
of genocide (2).

It is not particularly challenging to describe at length the damage done
during the 510 plus years of colonial conquest on Turtle Island.
Similarly, it is rather easy to provide a long list of the various fronts
on which this battle is being fought today -- from the demands for justice
for over 500 missing Aboriginal women across Canada, to the protection of
burial grounds of the Huron Wendat Nation; from the assertion of Metis
rights as Aboriginal peoples, to the fight against the 2010 Olympics, for
which developments threaten to further settle unceded territory in what is
known as British Columbia (3). What is perhaps more daunting, especially
for those of us who are non-native, settlers and immigrants, is to
articulate the means by which we can take part in building a
decolonisation movement -- a movement of ultimate respect for the land on
which we are living and the people to whom it inherently belongs.

Perhaps the first step that we can take in allying ourselves with
Indigenous peoples is to face up to our colonial past and present. And
here I'd like to assert that Canada is not a post-colonial state, nor is
it neo-colonial, as is the case in other parts of the world. In Canada,
colonialism dominates (4). While Aboriginal peoples continue to be forced
or excluded from their lands, capitalist interests rush to invade their
territories in attempts to seize resources from it. Indigenous nations
remain culturally, economically and politically under attack within this
colonial apparatus -- a distinct experience which undoubtedly shares
parallels with the experiences of other racialized and oppressed
communities in Canada.

Beyond facing up to the past, as a means of owning our history, we must
take responsibility for that history. While many of us are excluded from
and denied much of the wealth of the Canadian state ourselves, those of us
who are Canadian citizens none the less benefit from that wealth to some
degree. What we can not take for granted is the fact that much of that
wealth was accumulated at the expense of Aboriginal peoples. Therefore,
any movement which seeks to address the injustices perpetrated against
Indigenous peoples must also take into account the positioning of
non-native people within this colonial state.

Decolonisation is not a process which entails solely the Indigenous
nations of this continent. All people living in Canada have been distorted
by colonialism. It effects us all, not only those whom it most severely
oppresses. Therefore, a decolonisation movement cannot be comprised solely
of solidarity and support for Indigenous peoples sovereignty and
self-determination. If we are in support of self-determination, we too
need to be self-determining. Unless we exercise our own self-determination
and fight our own governments, then we risk reinforcing the isolation of
Indigenous communities and their resistance. A movement for decolonisation
must be premised on a parallel process of self-determination. While
Indigenous nations continue to assert their autonomy and nationhood, we,
as non-native settlers, must also assert our own autonomy within our
respective communities, and resist our governments' attempts to further
consolidate its control over all communities, Indigenous and
non-Indigenous alike.

I think it is clear from what I am saying here, but I want to take a
second to address a common misperception held by non-native people that
decolonisation would require a mass departure of all non-Indigenous
peoples from the continent. While I can't speak for any Indigenous people
or communities, my understanding, based on conversations with and readings
by many Indigenous activists, has been that the fundamental change which
North American decolonisation would bring about would be a change in the
nature of the relationship between immigrants and Aboriginal peoples. It
would be to bring an end to our imperialist relationship, and an end to
the colonial imposition of foreign systems, be they governmental,
ideological, religious, or otherwise, on the many hundreds of nations
which exist on this continent. Rather than attempting to re-establish the
conditions of a pre-colonial North America, many see it as being much more
realistic to abandon the current relationship between native and
non-native peoples. The state has long defined that relationship, one
which has been characterized foremost by oppression. It is time to cut the
state out of this relationship, and to replace it with a new relationship,
one which is mutually negotiated, and premised on a core respect for
autonomy and freedom. Furthermore, decolonisation means ridding ourselves
of the super-states of Canada and the United States. They only serve an
elite few while maintaining a liberal system of economic and social
apartheid.

There exist within Canada pockets of self-determining Indigenous
communities who are perhaps at the forefront of the decolonisation
movement. In Tyendinaga, a Mohawk community 4 hours south-west of
Montreal, we have seen the establishment of the Mid-Winter Harvest
Program. According to a statement from the community, "The Midwinter
Harvest Food Program will provide healthy, culturally appropriate foods to
First Nations, poor and homeless people; will defend our Territories
against environmental destruction; will be on the land and appreciate its
natural power and will seek to raise the fighting spirit of our people and
give direction and purpose to the generations who will come after us (5)."
Elsewhere, on the Grassy Narrows reserve in western Ontario, youth from
the community have been spending time at a road blockade where they have
been learning about various aspects of their land and their culture. The
blockade, erected over one and a half years ago, originated in direct
resistance to the clear-cutting of their forests, and has evolved into a
site of renewal of traditions and community strength, in particular for
the youth of the community (6). These are just a few examples of
Aboriginal communities taking control and moving forward autonomously, on
their own accord, without the involvement of the colonial state.

Closer to Montreal we find Kanehsatake -- a community which, despite
limited resources and a relatively small population, has held off a
federally backed militarized incursion into their territory for more than
5 months. The Mohawks of Kanehsatake have been up against a slew of
well-funded politicians, cops, lawyers, and colonial masterminds yet they
have maintained the defence of their territory. This community, like many
throughout Turtle Island, is standing up and fighting back to continued
foreign aggression. It is crucial that we learn from these examples as
they provide strong models for self-determination and resistance to
colonialism. It is also important that we not lose sight of our colonial
reality, that we take aim at those very institutions within our society
which perpetuate that reality. For it is not only in solidarity with
Indigenous peoples that we are fighting to decolonise Canada, it is in
solidarity with all peoples that we are building a movement for
decolonisation now!

(1) Since September 11, 2001, the Canadian authorities have used
anti-terrorism legislation to intensify their repression of Indigenous
activists and warriors. (http://easterndoor.com/11-36/11-36-02.htm)

(2) In December 2003, former Minister of Indian Affairs, Andy Mitchell,
was given briefing notes which explicitly stated that it would be
beneficial to keep Aboriginal issues out of the news as much as possible.
(http://www.ocap.ca/firstnations/lesspress.html)

(3) Over the past 20 years, more than 500 Aboriginal women have gone
missing from communities across Canada, yet there has been little
response, let alone recognition, to this fact - the media, the government,
and the non-native population remain silent on the issue. For more info on
a recent campaign launched by the Native Women's Association of Canada
(NWAC), check out http://www.sistersinspirit.ca; The Huron Wendat Nation
recently won their fight against the construction of a Catholic cemetery
on their ancestral lands.
(www.environmentaldefence.ca/pressroom/edcinnews/20040518.htm); for more
general info on Metis issues, check out www.othermetis.net/ and
www.metisnation.ca/; for more on the resistance to the 2010 Olympics,
check out www.resist.ca/story/2003/1/30/13466/2305/ and
www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=30&ItemID=5996

(4) "Towards a Detente with History: Confronting Canada's Colonial Legacy"
by Joyce A. Green (http://sisis.nativeweb.org/clark/detente.html)

(5) www.ocap.ca/firstnations/groundbreaking.html

(6) The blockade in Grassy Narrows, erected in December of 2002, continues
to stand today. For frequent updates on the situation, you can check out
www.friendsofgrassynarrows.com

To contact the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement (IPSM) in Montreal,
e-mail ipsm at resist.ca. To contact the No One Is Illegal Campaign in
Montreal, e-mail noii-montreal at resist.ca.

-- 
"All oppression is relative.
All oppression is specific."

- Albert Memmi