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Sean Carleton

@SeanCarleton

29 Aug

@NoBordersMedia

According to @NoBordersMedia, Montreal’s John A. Macdonald statue has just been toppled. As an historian of settler colonialism in what is currently Canada, let me share some accessible resources to help folks understand why this is a positive development.

First, it is important to remember that Indigenous peoples have been challenging the lionizing - the uncritical celebration - of Macdonald for 100+ years.

@innes_rob

It is indisputable that Macdonald was a primary architect of Indigenous genocide in Canada. My colleague @innes_rob makes the case clearly here: theconversation.com/john-a-macdona…

Read 7 tweets

Sean Carleton

@SeanCarleton

8 Jun

John A. Macdonald's anti-Indigenous and anti-Chinese racism is well documented. What is lesser known, however, is his connections to the history of #slavery and the #BritishEmpire. JAM was not a slave owner, but his second wife's father was. Thread.

There have been debates recently about the legacy of the British Empire. Was it good or bad? Here there can be no doubt: British imperialism was a ruthless project of thieving on a global scale. It was not "benevolent"; it was exploitative. Full stop: nybooks.com/daily/2018/01/…

Many empire apologists point to the fact that Britain abolished slavery (in 1833 - though it was a drawn out process), and they contend that abolition = absolution. That's absolute rubbish.

Read 12 tweets

Sean Carleton

@SeanCarleton

3 Jun

This week has revealed what S. Razack calls Canada's racial "amnesia," the persistent denial of our long history of racism. As an historian, this forgetting is frustrating but not surprising. Here's a thread, using Heritage Minutes, to show how this amnesia is actually learned.

First, let me cite Razack's work. Check out the essays in this book, including the introduction by Razack and her difficult chapter on the murder of Indigenous woman Pamela George in Regina: btlbooks.com/book/race-spac…

Razack argues that Canadians hold certain core myths about themselves - they are tolerant, multicultural, peacekeepers et al. - that are invented, propagated, and learned in ways that serve to hide the real history of racism and genocide that Canada, like the US, is built on.

Read 25 tweets

Sean Carleton

@SeanCarleton

1 Apr

As an historian, I’ve been re-reading the work of my colleagues re: the history of pandemics to gain some context for the current crisis. Right now, I am digging into Esyllt Jones’ book on the 1918-1919 pandemic influenza in Winnipeg. Can’t recommend this enough.

So many interesting stories and insightful analysis in the book. I found this graph interesting, showing infections and deaths.

Jones argues that epidemics don’t affect the population equally, but is shaped by the contours of social inequality; it also spatially discriminates as shown in this graph map of the epidemic in Winnipeg, with the poor, immigrant North End hardest hit in 1918-1919.

Read 6 tweets

Sean Carleton

@SeanCarleton

12 Mar

Canadians, a few weeks ago, responding to #ShutDownCanada: all these Wet'suwet'en solidarity actions are inconvenient and hurting the economy. We can't just cancel everything to fix social problems.

Canadians, now, responding to #COVID19: #CancelEverythingNow #ShutDownCanada

Well, that hit a nerve. Here's a short thread explaining why, though the two things (#ShutDownCanada and #CancelEverythingow) are obviously different, the way Canadians are responding to them is telling about our priorities and political will to deal with pressing social problems

The divergent responses to #ShutDownCanada and #COVID19 "inconvenience" reveals an uncomfortable truth: settlers care more about themselves/their own prosperity rooted in ongoing colonization than improving relations with Indigenous peoples, the original stewards of these lands.

Read 8 tweets

Sean Carleton

@SeanCarleton

8 Mar

https://twitter.com/BobRae48/status/1236054770361798658

As an historian it is important to me that Canadians understand why this statement is wrong. First, the village is actually 14,000 years old. Second, Canada is only 152. Third, the village's inhabitants were not "prehistoric Canadians," but Indigenous people (possibly Heiltsuk).

https://twitter.com/BobRae48/status/1236054770361798658

Canadians have recently been pretending that ancient Indigenous laws and governance structures are incomprehensible - but the oohing and aahing and claiming this site to be "an ancient Canadian village" is an ahistorical extension of Canada's colonial sovereignty.

Finally, Rae tweeted this article out, despite trying to make a name for himself as an expert on Indigenous issues. Like, this is from his website: "Bob's legal practice focuses on First Nations, Aboriginal and Governance issues." oktlaw.com/team-members/b….

Read 5 tweets

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