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

[Tyrone Drummond]

Hey guys.

I am not know in the know about these issues, I signed up for this mailing 
list in hopes to learn more. I post on a local activist website for 9/11 
truth ( http://www.ottawa911truth.com) and one of the fellow members posted 
this. Would this be something you guys would be willing to support 
contribute ? There have been initial discussions in this forum so far in 
trying to put something together.

Tyrone
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi guys, how are things?

I was listening to the interview between Alex Jones and Kevin Annett the 
other day and for some reason I was compelled to email Kevin to say thank 
you. We've been corresponding back and forth, and now we're exploring the 
possibility of having him here in Ottawa for a speaking engagement in 
connection with his current speaking tour.

For those that may not know or remember who he is, Kevin Annett is the 
former Anglican priest who was defrocked for trying to expose the rampant 
abuse and murder of aboriginals in Canada's residential schools program. It 
is largely due to his efforts over the past decade that Harper was forced to 
make an (empty) apology in Parliament early last summer.

Here is the interview between Alex Jones and Kevin Annett from the other 
day:
Part 1: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=0gy1Y6tSR2c
Part 2: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ0clIvZLG8
Part 3: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=mRBptDcHVXE
Part 4: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=up9npOWkYT0

Here is his documentary:
UNREPENTANT: KEVIN ANNETT AND CANADA'S GENOCIDE
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-6637396204037343133&ei=3FSDSem5FI6cqAKWg4DyCg&q=kevin+annett&hl=en


We're looking at Thursday, February 19th as the date where he would be 
available to speak and show his film in Ottawa. I'm trying to find a 
location.

In order for us to get Kevin to come, we need to help cover his air fare, 
which amounts to $570.00 (he lives in Vancouver). He doesn't need 
accomodations, as apparantly he knows someone here he can stay with. He's 
also not asking for an honourarium, but I think that would be something we 
ought to provide regardless, as well as a dinner. That, combined with the 
fees to rent a location brings a budget of somewhere between $800 and $1000.

Now with his topic ("Is Healing Possible? Taking Responsibility for the 
Canadian Genocide." ) being such an emotional one, we should be able to get 
at least 100 people to come, especially if we can find the right sponsors, 
and find a way to spread the word among local aboriginals. At $10 each, that 
covers the cost.

Here's my question: do we think we can put up the initial funds? It would be 
a great way to raise the profile of We Are Change Ottawa in our community. 
Does anyone know any other local groups that might be willing to help 
sponsor his visit? CAP? NDP? My sister is fairly well connected with the 
local aboriginal community, so I'm already trying to see if there could be 
support from there. But I thought I'd bring it up here as well to see if you 
guys think it's a good idea.

Please bear in mind that I have zero experience organizing events. Making 
fliers, videotaping things, and doing technical stuff you all know I'm good 
at, but this is uncharted territory for me
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <mattm-b at resist.ca>
To: <indigsol at lists.resist.ca>
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 4:35 PM
Subject: [Indigsol] Building a "Canadian" Decolonization Movement: Fighting 
the Occupation at "Home"


> 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
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