Those Canadians angered + frustrated by #ShutCanadaDown actions should really direct that anger + frustration at the root cause: Canada's continued + wilful support of mis-education about Indigenous-settler relations; ignorance facilitates colonial injustice in Canada.
That Canadians don't understand what "unceded" land means + why hereditary chiefs have authority, how the Indian Act works + how it supports imposed Band Councils, and how the RCMP acts as a paramilitary colonial force - these are failings of Canadian education.
But just because Canadians don't learn these things in K-12 does NOT mean we can't learn now and use education to direct anger and frustration to those who deliberately cultivate and manipulate ignorance to press on with capitalist accumulation by colonial dispossession today.
What I am getting at is this: #ShutCanadaDown is an opportunity for settler Canadians to learn more about history + how Indigenous-settler relations work, but we need to be courageous enough to seek out the truth, rather than using our learned ignorance to justify more injustice.
Here are some good reads on #Wetsuweten specifically that can help Canadians understand why Canada's actions are wrong and do not strengthen Nation-to-Nation relations or help facilitate reconciliation. 1. @Pam_Palmater: canadiandimension.com/articles/view/…
2. Why are Indigenous rights being defined by an energy corporation? by @shiripasternak: theconversation.com/wetsuweten-why… #Wetsuweten
3. Coastal GasLink pipeline dispute is a nation-to-nation matter: theconversation.com/coastal-gaslin… #Wetsuweten
4. Corporations don’t seem to understand Indigenous jurisdiction: theconversation.com/corporations-d… #Wetsuweten
These are a sampling of all the scholars and educators out there sharing knowledge with Canadians in this important moment to help guide our unlearning of ignorance and re-learning of the truth necessary to support reconciliation and our pursuit of justice.
