Thread by @RitikaGoelTO

Speaking to fellow non-Indigenous people in Canada today, including fellow racialized people and immigrants, because despite our own challenges, whether we like it or not, we all have and continue to benefit from the colonization of Indigenous Peoples' land. /1

I moved to Canada at age 13 to start high school. I made it all the way to medical school before I really heard anything about Indigenous Peoples. I literally did not know they "still" existed on this land. I am ashamed to admit this, but it is also *not* a coincidence. /2

Making Indigenous Peoples at the least invisible, and *ideally* non-existent has always been the goal of the colonial project. This shows up clearly documented again and again in the history of Canada. /3

A quote from Duncan Campbell Scott, who ran the residential school system at its peak, does not mince words. He wanted to do away with "the Indian problem" and makes it clear he does not think Canada should have any responsibility/accountability for its colonial history. /4

There have been a whole host of ways the Indian Act over the years has tried to remove "Indian Status" from people if they obtained higher education, became professionals, married a non-Indigenous person etc. This is also not a coincidence. /5

Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang in "Decolonization is Not a Metaphor", and Robyn Maynard @policingblack in Policing Black Lives, describe that the concept of race has always shifted based on the goals of settler colonialism. /6

While the 'one drop rule' was used in the US to define Black folks so there would be *more* people who could be enslaved for labour, in North America, definitions for Indigenous Peoples have always sought to decrease the numbers over time so the land cannot be claimed back. /7

This history is fundamental for us to understand *WHY* we know so little about Indigenous Peoples and the violence they endure. The state benefits from our ignorance. The conversations today have been forced by the tireless actions of Indigenous Peoples. They are exhausted. /8

SO.. I want to share some of the resources I have found helpful on my learning journey as a non-Indigenous person. This is less about creating *the list* of resources (please go to Indigenous people for that), but rather about conversation and mutual learning. Pls share yours. /9

Books:
- @TanyaTalaga's "Seven Fallen Feathers" outlines the stories of seven Indigenous high school students who died in Thunder Bay, painfully illustrating the outcomes of removing children from their homes, families and communities for school, and the racism they face. /10

- Robin Wall Kimmerer's "Braiding Sweetgrass" helped me blow apart the supremacy of Western science demonstrating the power of Indigenous knowledge.
- Jesse Thistle's "From the Ashes" showed the real life impacts of intergenerational trauma, and his incredible resilience. /11

Both 'All Our Relations' by @TanyaTalaga and 'Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Metis and Inuit Issues in Canada' by Chelsea Vowel, helped me break down issues and outlined specific strategies by which Canada has set up structural oppression of Indigenous Peoples./12

For those in healthcare, "Separate Beds: A History of Indian Hospitals in Canada, 1920s-1980s" and "Structures of Indifference" which outlines the case of Brian Sinclair are crucial to understanding how Indigenous people see healthcare, and how we perpetuate violence. /13

These books helped me better understand the impact of structures of violence on Indigenous women and girls and the resistance to it :
- "The Break" by Katherena Vermette (fiction)
- "Highway of Tears" by Jessica McDiarmid (non-fiction) /14

Reports I commit to reading:
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015)
- Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry (2020)
- Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996!)
- Joyce's Principle (by the Council of the Atikamekw of Manawan to the Govt of Canada). /15

Podcasts:
- "Missing and Murdered: Finding Cleo" by CBC's Connie Walker helped me understand the incredibly painful impact of the Sixties scoop
- "Secret Life of Canada" has just taught me so much, but especially Indigenous history including an episode on the Indian Act. /16

And for a deep structural analysis of Canada tying together many threads, I'd recommend:
- Unsettling Canada, by Art Manuel
- Policing Black Lives, by Robyn Maynard /17

Hoping all of us non-Indigenous people can use #OrangeShirtDay2021 to reflect and most importantly commit, to learning the Truth, and taking the steps necessary towards true Reconciliation. Sending love to Indigenous people, who will no doubt have a difficult day ahead. /18