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Ritika Goel

@RitikaGoelTO

Sep 30, 2021

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

Read 18 tweets

Ritika Goel

@RitikaGoelTO

Apr 22, 2021

***Doug Ford's announcement is NOT paid sick days!*** Paid sick days come through legislation requiring employers to provide days where a worker can be off sick, and get paid. Ford is "working on" sick pay, which is something you would have to apply for and wait for. #onpoli

Ford is using confusing language to make it sound like he is bringing paid sick days, but this is NOT the actual legislation we need. Please continue to call Doug Ford's office and Conservative MPPs to tell them we need **10 permanent employer-provided paid sick days**. #onpoli

@Kathleen_Wynne

Do not forget - we HAD legislated paid sick days - advocates and communities fought very hard to get legislation passed under @Kathleen_Wynne - and Ford *immediately* repealed them in 2018. He is putting politics before people's lives. #onpoli #covid19

Read 8 tweets

Ritika Goel

@RitikaGoelTO

Nov 26, 2020

Powerful people know that in order to enslave, colonize, criminalize, restrict movement, extract labour, invade - you *must* dehumanize those you seek to oppress - or else it will just be seen as what it is - violence. The most humanity is always granted to those at the top.

This phenomenon is important because it is the way people who have privilege but may not be in positions of power participate in oppression. Convincing the dominant group that others are “below you” because they are less deserving of humanity is key to continued oppression.

History is full of ordinary people who got up in the morning, went to work, loved their children, cared for their families and friends, and also participated in and benefited from oppression of people whose humanity had been denied, so their suffering mattered less.

Read 13 tweets

Ritika Goel

@RitikaGoelTO

Sep 30, 2020

Today, as we drop off our kids worrying about #COVID19, remember that for 100 years, Indigenous parents had their kids taken by force “for their own good” to schools where they were denied their culture, insulted, beaten, not treated when sick and *half* died. #OrangeShirtDay2020

The last residential school closed in 1996. This is not ancient history. Many survivors walk amongst us today. Many families were irreparably harmed and so many children became adults denied a childhood. The immense trauma reverberates to this day. #OrangeShirtDay2020

In case you wonder whether our former governments and bureaucrats had good intentions that went wrong, rather than clearly racist and colonial ones, here are quotes from the Prime Minister and Duncan Campbell Scott the administrator re: residential schools. #OrangeShirtDay2020

Read 5 tweets

Ritika Goel

@RitikaGoelTO

Sep 22, 2020

Almost every new South Asian parent I know has named their child based on how the name will be pronounced in white Western society. I eliminated 1000s of names for this reason. This is what it looks like to have a dominant culture shape your every move. Our children’s very names.

Tip: If you're not sure how to pronounce a name (this happens to me on the regular seeing patients) just say, "I'm sorry. How do you pronounce your name?" - while this may feel uncomfortable, it shows you're willing to prioritize someone else's dignity over your own comfort.

Some have asked why people don't just name their kids whatever they want. This is because we inherently know the power the dominant group holds - one small extensively studied example is how names on identical resumes determine rate of callbacks: utoronto.ca/news/applying-…

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Ritika Goel

@RitikaGoelTO

Jul 25, 2020

https://twitter.com/NickLeighton12/status/1286637993030287363

“Unprofessionalism” has long been wielded in medicine to maintain a toxic culture that signals the “right” way to be as determined by those with the most power. This means policing women’s attire but also creating a culture of silence in political advocacy. #medkini #MedTwitter #

https://twitter.com/NickLeighton12/status/1286637993030287363

There is a strong current in medicine that is named explicitly in this paper to stay away from “controversial topics”. The problem is that as MDs we hold tremendous power and often also witness how injustice manifests in our society in a very real way. #medkini #MedTwitter

I’m disturbed by the methodology used here and the shaming of people for having personal lives. But I’m particularly terrified of the thought policing. Being a strong leader and advocate means speaking out sometimes against the popular current. #medkini #medtwitter

Read 4 tweets

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