xu Settler Janet Marie Rogers Victoria Poet Laureate 2012-2015 Janetis a Mohawk/"Tuscarora writer from the Six Nations bandin southern Ontario, ‘She was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has been living onthe traditional lands of the Coast Salish people (Victoria, British Columbia) since 1994, Janet ‘works in the genres of poetry spoken word performance poetry video poetry and recorded poetry with music and scriptwriting Janet has four published poetry col- lections to date: Spliting the Heart (Ekstasis Editions, 2007), Red Erotic (Ojistah Publishing 2010), Unearthed (Leaf Press 2011), and her newest collection, Peace jn Duress, released with Talonbooksin September 2014, Her poetry cps Firewater (2009), Got Your Back (2012), and 6 Directions (2013) all received nominations for Best Spoken Word Recording a the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards and the Native American Music Awards. You can hear Janet on the radio as she hosts Native Waves Radio on crUv rat and ‘Tribal ClefSon cHc Radio One rat in Victoria B.C. Her radio documentaries “Bring Your Drum (exploring fity years of indigenous protest music) and “Resonating ‘Reconciliation’ won Best Radio at the imagineNATIVE Film and Media festivalin 2011 and2013 respectively. Ikkwenyes, or Dare to Do, is the name of he collective ‘Mohawk poet Alex Jacobs and Janet created in 2011. Ikkwenyes won the Canada ‘Council for the Arts Collaborative Exchange award 2012 and a Lot Literary Prize in 2013. Janet joined talents with Mohawk media artist Jackson Twobears in the Blood Collective, winners ofa National Screen Institutes Aboriginal Documentary Residency for their media project npws on the Airwaves 2015, 1 ‘WHY SAY SETTLER? ‘The words we use to name ourselves are important. How we con- ceive of ourselves collectively isa part of wides, more complicated FENZL ) discussions about who is included and who is excluded from our society, In Canada, we like to think of ourselves as having a fairly inclusive society; we pride ourselves on being open and accepting of difference. We talk about being polite and respectful and peace loving. And ‘we lie by omission, because we do not talk about our country being built on the attempted destruction of many other nations. We do not talk about the question- able legal and political basis of our country, ourhistory of profiting from invasion and dispossesson, “Canadian” a notoriously hard-to-pin-down concept, may not have a clear definition, but for some it refers to an invasive people, a nation that violently displaces other forits own wants and desires, a state that breaks treaties and uses police and starvation to clear the land. We need a name that ean help us see ourselves for who we ate, not just who we claim tobe. For that we need a term that shifs the frame of reference away from our nation, our claimed territory, and conto our relationships with systems of power, land, and the peoples on whose terttory our country exists. {Asround-dance protests, tach-ins, and marches under the banner of dle No More and the fst of Chief Theresa Spence galvanized activist communities across ‘Canada the winter of2012-13,itbecame apparent that something had changed. [Aswe watched internet broadcasts ofteaclins and speeches at alies, and as friends and family sent questions about the ongoing protest, we heard more and more people using the term “settler” to refer to non-indigenous peoples, communities,2 Settler states, and governments. Some were Indigenous people, referring osettler states” or would-be setlrallies; others were Canadians claiming the term asan identifies, baggage and all. Often, there were debates over the term. Some claimed the tem ‘was acist, Others ejected it as divisive. Some argued about whether “setler” was the “right” word, and turned to dictionary definitions fr confirmation or clati- fication. However, this debated and debatable term, until then al but unknown and unused in Canada outside of smal circle of academics and activists, stuck. Settler. This word voices relationships to structures and processes in Canada today, to the histories of our peoples on this land, to Indigenous peoples, and to our own day-to-day choices and actions. Seer. This word turns us toward “uncomfortable realisations, dificult subjects, and potential complicity insystems of dispossession and violence. Stl. This word represents atoo},a way ofunderstand- ing an choosing to act diferently.Atool we can use to confront the fundamental problems and injustices in Canada today Settler. It is analytical, personal, and uncomfortable. Itcan be an identity that we claim or deny, but that we inevitably live and embody. Ibis who we are, asa people, on these lands. ‘We are Settler Canadians. And this sa book about ws. Understanding and Avoidance ‘This book is an examination of the Settler identity in Canada, an identity shared by many but claimed by few. This Settler Canadian identity is entangled both historically and in the present with the process of settler colonization, the means through which our state and nation have wrested theirland base from Indigenous peoples. Our construction of “Setter” as an identity mirrors the construction of “Indigenous” in contemporary terms: a broad collective of peoples with com- ‘monalities through particular connections to land and place. For Settler people, however, those connections are forged through violence and displacement of Indigenous communities and nations. We examine what it means to be a Settler person in Canada, how we constitute our national narratives and social structures, ‘why Settler Canadians react as we do to Indigenous communities in resistance, and how we can begin finding more ethical, just ways of being together on the lands we call home, Part of the reason that there has been an increase in attention to and use of the ‘term “settler” is because of a curious double vision in Canada today. We stand ata «crossroads where there sat least some willingness to admit that colonization hap- pened, that it had devastating impacts on Indigenous nations and communities, and that a colonial legacy persists into the present inthe form of socio-economic Inequality racism and discrimination, and political marginalization of Indigenous ‘communities. However, colonialism continues: Indigenous nations are stilllosing ET Why Say Settier? 5 theirland base facing infringement from resource extraction and mining compa- nies, property developers, and the pressures of urbanization. These nations struggle for sef- determination against governments seemingly bound to the notion that Indigenous peoples should be constantly monitored and managed. And Indigenous ppeoples face constant racism and violence: from the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (nencrw),' to discrimination by socal services, to incidents of brutality atthe hands of police, Indigenous people confront the reality ‘every single day that colonalismis far om legacy. Even the Reyal Commission on Aboriginal eoplesin 1996 pointed out ways that Canadian society remains colonial —dishonouring treaties, systemically discriminating against Indigenous peoples, ‘maintaining reserves as economically marginalized and politically disempowered, and not doingnearly enough to addressthe present-day effects ofhistorical warfare, ‘murder, and polices of assimilation — and litle enough has changed in the past two decades to suggest that we have reached an era of postcolonial tranquility “There is simultaneously a deep refusal to see colonization as occurring in the present, and blindness to the realities of how the distinct kind of colonialism ‘operating in Canada today targets Indigenous peoples, and continues to define the lives of Canadians, Colonialismis commonly understood as an attempt to control territory orresources beyond the official boundaries ofa state orempire. Colonies are founded in unsecured territories asa foothold for trade, military excursions, diplomatic contact, and to otherwise serve as an extension of the central power. However, as we shall discuss inthe Canadian context there areno distant footholds because its the countey’s land base itself that has been and continues to be the target of colonial power. Canada, as a nation and a state, s dependent on the land taken from Indigenous nations, land that those nations still contest, and colonial- isms about the need to secure those lands at all costs This positions Canada and ‘Canadians directly at odds with Indigenous peoples, who have not just prior, but competing claims to the land, And despite what most Canadians would like to think, those claims are valid. Canada essentially has no legal grounds for its own sovereignty, which is to say, no reason in lawas to why Canadian tentory should be Canada’s to govern. It should be no wonder that Indigenous claims to land — especially when asserted with force — cause great concern for both political leaders and many other Canadians: Indigenous protests blockades, acts of civil disobedience, and community teach-ins mustall e understood asacts ofresistance against the ongoing efforts of Setter Canada, as a collective entity, to eliminate Indigenous peoples’ claims to the land, and permanently setle the land question. ‘The colonial history and the ways the legacies of colonial institutions and practices continue to disadvantage Indigenous people are not uncontested or com- monly understood in Canada today. With residential school abuse scandals making {front-page news, and the government issuing apologies and funding high-profile4 Settler ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission, itis impossible to ignore the history and genocidal intent of the Indian Residential School system. Yet, some Canadians continue to argue thatthe harms experienced by Indigenous children were the fault ofa few bad apples? not part ofsystemicabuse. Orthey contend thatthe intent of the system (education) was good even ifin reality it failed. Itis equally impossible to ignore the striking poverty and lack of infrastructure in Indigenous communi- ties, with the housing crisis of the Attawapiskat First Nation — a key motivator for Chief Theresa Spence’ fast and protest in 2012-3 — achieving a high profile in Canada and in international media, and communities ike Shoal Lake 40 First ‘Nation revealinga siateen-year-long boil-water advisory. But Canadians often insist ‘on seeing these crises as the fault of negligent band governments or inadequate ‘economic development. Finally, even when Indigenous peoples’ concerns are acknowledged as legitimate thereis very litte public impetus to act. Thisishow we canhave major cities like Vancouver and Victoria both with high urban Indigenous populations, publically acknowledging that they are on “unceded” Musqueam or Coast Salish lands, but refusing to do anything to support those nations in their struggles for land and lif. Broadly, Canadian discourses on Indigenous peoples, rights, and concerns tend to fall into two camps that align roughly with Canadian politics more generally: the conservative, andthe liberal and progressive, Popular works by scholar and political advisor Tom Flanagan and media mogul Contad Black have been formative to the conservative discourse on Indigenous peoples in Canada, Flanagan's work, in particular First Nations? Second Thoughts, ‘while dated, still olds a powerful sway over the conservative imagination, His ideas ae predicated on the assertion that Indigenous cultures and societies before the arrival of Europeans were primitive, undeveloped, and lacking significant culture, ‘According to Flanagan, colonization was essentially inevitable: Indigenous peo- ples formed small, Backward tribes occupying vast spaces; they were bound to be replaced by more advanced, organized and numerous migrants, Black's re-telling of the story of Canadas past, Rise to Greatness, does not focus on Indigenous peoples atall, Rather, it reinforces Flanagan’ story by repeating old refrains of European caploress, pioneers, and fortune-seekers as “great men” hacking a new, civilized country out ofa hostile and largely empty wilderness, Both ofthese postions ae ‘mirrored by attitudes within the Conservative government of Stephen Harpers ‘Harper himself, ata meeting ofthe G20 in Pittsburgh in 2010, declared that Canada has “no history of colonialism.” Meanwhile, Governor General David Johnston’ ‘Speech from the Throne that opened Parliament in October 2013 lauded the his- tory of pioneers bravely venturing out into empty wilderness and the enduring spivit of adventure and hard work that this has instilled in Canada society. All of this reinforces abeliefthat colonization was an inevitable process tied to the march, cofprogress and civilization; that settlers and colonizers were doing unquestionably Why Say Settler? 5 ‘Why Sey Seth good thingsbyreshapingtheland; and that evenifealnil crimes were committed, they were both inevitable andin the past and so donot mest redress “The liberal and progressive discourse is somewhat different in that acknowledge Canada colonial past, portrays Indigenous peoples as possessing phistcated, vibrant societies and cultares, and recognizes that early setters soe anaan society in general could not have become established without the ant of indigenous peoples. Books ike Jobn Ralston Sauls Fair Country tend to qecor on the technological achievement and cultural complesity of Indigenous tends to peoples, applauding he “contributions” that Indigenows people(s) have made to sedis society Sau calls Canada a“métsnation,’not formed of conquest ks the United States and not a distillation of European traditions, but rather a mis sfindigenous, European and more recent, global culture, Adrienne Clarkson's oat recent book, Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship isan examination ofthe Treugles of diverse communities to find belonging in Canada — Kinkade Tegal fevogniton of status — especially new immigrant communities hat frequently perience racios,ineqoality, or faeloss of entity and clr in joining now sect, Paaleling Black’ book, Clarksons subject is a Canadian socety that focases lesson Indigenous peoples and more onthe project of imagining 2 ua fed narrative of what it means — or could mean — to be Canadian. his case, ‘Garkeon dentifes the negotiation of immigrant ootsand Canadian “belonging” sea common experience that can bind Canadians together Clarkson constructs this socal inclusion as following from Indigenous ideas of welcoming newcom frm, one of the many “gis” of Indigenous peoples to Canadians. Such popslat (dese ar backed by the work ofwel-known iberal academics ike Will Kymlicka, v hovaltimatety argue fora kind of Canadian exceptionalism based on liberals, pluralism, and multicultural values, Ta is work Kyicka constructs Indigenous people asa minority nation” present atthe founding ofthe Canadian stat and eet fore deserving of some special ights and treatments inthe name of cuter! preservation, which are balanced by the universal nature of human rights and ree Canadian Constitution.’ However, when push comes to shove he says that Indigenous nations bave to reconcile tothe realty of Canadian sovereignty; that isto be subsumed within the Canadian state, ‘Some differences between these two broadly sketched positions are essy t0 spot. The Flanagan-Black-Harper discourse is rooted in assertions of primitive Indigenous underdevelopment, the inevitability of European conquest and the fiction that Indigenous lands were empty and therfore fee to be chimed by ae reomers. Overwhelming evidence and research has demonstrated that each of thove ideas is both false and deeply racist and they haveall been rejected by inter atonal orgaizatonslike the United Nations. The conservativecampsbelief that Canada was an unproblematic improvement over whatever Indigenous socities g6 Settier cxisted requires thatthe massive depopulation accomplished through disease, ‘warfare starvation and other tactics of removal be ignored in favour of narratives, that say the lands that would become Canadian territory were empty, open, and simply waiting for occupation, settlement, and development, The conservative view demands that we ignore the complexity of Indigenous politics, economics, {international relationships, kinship and social structures technologies and trad tional knowledges, and oral and written histories and cultures. ‘Theliberal and progressive approach to Indigenous rights and issues, however, is based on an appreciation and recognition of just those features, Indigenous peoples ae held up as key national conteibutors — part of what makes Canada such a distinc, successful and special country. ‘the liberal and progressive view sees the wrongs ofthe past and is shamed by the stain on Canadian “honour” It proposes that the harms suffered by Indigenous people and communities because of colonial pasts should be addressed by striving to fully include Indigenous com- ‘munities inthe benefits ofitizenship in the multicultural state of Canada, pehaps a8 “citizens plas” or through economic development partnerships. Identifying Indigenous peoples as deserving of "recognition, appreciation, an special rights, the Saul-Clarkson-Kymlicka position seems to confront the ignorance and racism ‘ofthe conservative discourse’ “Theres much diving these two approaches but they arenot without common ground, Both are concerned with understanding and improving Canadian society, and ensoring that in Canada, the playing felis even for Indigenous people and Canadian alike. To do so, they both rely on the same assumption, whether with hostility and arrogance, or with admiration and egret: Indigenous peoples pose a “problem toCanada, one tobe managed, accounted for and ultimately dealt with +0 that Canadians can get on with the business of being Canadian. Historically, one ofthe ways that Canada has been forged is through assertions ofthe right to control Indigenous peopl’ lives: making them wards of the state, attempting to “civilize” Indigenous individuals through enfranchisement and residential schools, and more recently to teach economic self suficiency through the break-up of reserve land int fe simple private propecty. For Canal to exist 48 it does, the disciplining and control of Indigenous lives is required to open and preserve space for newcomer people. ‘This has lft legacy of attempts tof the “Indian problem,’ as it was called for much of the twentieth century, but the Canadian gaze is so rarely turned back on ourselves to see that problems facing Indigenous communities originate with ws. ‘Thereis large and growing body of literature that eveals the ongoing and ove \whelming impact of colonial ideologies at workin Canadian society. For example, ‘Taiaiake Alfred argues that discourses ofinclusion and multiculturalism in Canada are directed at Indigenous peoples with the expressintent of separating them from Why Say Settler? > theirtraditional lands s sources ofboth physical and spiritual strength. Thisis part flanger strategies thathave evolved over time, designed to deny self-governance to Indigenous nations, and often to deny basic freedoms to Indigenous people. When Indigenous people protest against colonial domination, as for example during the beights of Idle No More in the winter of 2012-2013, or many times before that, they are ignored — as Stephen Harper continually ignored the hunger strike of (Chief Theresa Spence — while media, policy makers, and other activists lecture Indigenous protesters that they should stop angering average Canadians with their roadblocks and militant language. Indigenous protests — against environmental destruction, against police violence and mass imprisonment, against the murder or disappearance of thousands of women, agninst lack of basic services, against an ‘unequal education system, systemic discrimination, and so many other ills — are constructed as the problem, taking the focus away from the systems and society that they ate protesting against Indigenous people are and have been vocal in the media, active in the streets, and engaged in government offices and around negotiating tables throughout Canada’s history: These engagements are not about dredging up past conflict they are often centred on continuing conflicts over land, governmental author- ity, economic disparities, and legal and treaty obligations. So why do Canadians insist on treating colonialism asa thing ofthe past? The dental and obfuscation of Canada’s colonial present, and the unwillingnessto even consider the involvement ofeverydlay Canadians n creating or perpetuating arm against Indigenous peoples isa problem, but itis also a feature of the particular kind of colonialism at workin ‘Canada today, Its in trying to come to grips with the historical legacy and present- day impacts ofthis form of colonialism — setter colonialism — that the use of “setter” asa term to refer to many non-Indigenous Canadians has gained traction. ‘The rise in use of the term “settler” can only be understood through the rise of Indigenous resurgence. By this, we refer to what Taiaiake Alfred has called a set, of diverse movements; dedicated to recasting the identity and image of Indigenous people in terms that are authentic and meaningful, to regenerating and organ- ining a radical political consciousness, to reoccupying land and gaining, restitution, to protecting the natural environment, and to restoring the "Nation-to-Nation relationship between Indigenous nations and Setters” “These movements reveal most clearly the pernicious colonial dynamics at work in Canada because they challenge illusions that Indigenous peoples are or have been vanishing” ‘As recently a the late twentieth century, the pronouncements of many early8 Setter hopologists, ethnologist, and political authorities who confidently predicted that Indigenous peoples were destined to disappear, let behind by the modes ork ang tue for many Canadians. The possibilty of Indigenous peoples exist, ingas clistinct nations — which early settlersunderstood and which motivated the inl "peace and friendship" teaties between Indigenous and European nation had disappeared from the imagination of most Canadians by the 1960: ed [Zo The 1969 "White Paper” a statement of intent by the federal government cg {egaly terminate financial and legal obligations to “Indians? was a clearsignal that Indigenous politics held litle meaning or import for Canadian politica leadee paccPtasan dbstacle tobe cleared. Following this, the drive to ameliorate the it between Anglo-and French Canadians — the two solitudes” dominated political stage leading up to the 1982 patriation ofthe Constitution, Indigenous leaders ad to fight to make their voices heard in the negotiations, "Te te sure, there were Canadians wito were avare that Indigenous people existed, but they “fray saw them as peoples that is, ab nations with sovereignty and territory slo determining commanities, and with distinct, living culture, Indigenous history Mssnot generally aughtin schools Indigenous cultures and languages were viewed ‘as anachronism or “quaint” and inthe minds of most Canadians, “Indians” were Salle tothe plains ofthe past For most Canadians then the highly publcned events of 1990 came asa rude awakening. ‘The Oka “Crisis” or “Standof” of 1990 — the label applied to the conflict between Mohawks attempting to defend a cemetery from development and provincial police and the Canadian military who were deployed to subdue them Cast Rot ntl 0 surprising for Indigenous communities, Their strugles with Canadian people, police, and governments had never ended, so the violence or Colonialism was ever-present, rom police harassment to attacks bynon-Indigenous (Canadians. But the wider perception of Canada.as successful post-colonial society ‘was badly shaken by the conflicts at Kahnawake and Kanesatake “The government ane police response to the occupation of smal road in rutal Québee andthe blockade ofthe Mercier Bridge in Montréal, which, eventually included the deploy- ‘ment of armoured vehicles and military helicopters against ‘Mohawk community ‘members, was a shambles. It was clea to everyone that no government ofa, “rpected that the Mohawks or any Indigenous nation, could or would beable tg : caps tasnderracton nd pipeline constato and writers Bette ese o ig and pia nee porte wold crn int and we take very seriously our responsibility to support them and their fin wich isuliatl ce eason why we have pred he sts ht nd fete ction ofthis boo, ad shaped ts deton nnn. Inigo telefon elec fet pena ping ying xg sharon og th sng Wh i ci tS tang nae Tompontirsi nl pn Masa iy pom ht theprime minster ofCaadnbutasapeson with mralsand empathy The ‘We want you to be interested in us, and to understand more fully the conditions under which we live. We expect much of you as the head of this great Canadian Nation, and feel confident that you will see that we receive fair and honorable treatment... We speak to you the more freely berause you area member ofthe white race with whom we fist became acquainted, and which we callin our tongue "real whites aurierwas the prime minister, ese chief understood that, while it mattered that q a appeal was to his real” and individual humanity rather than to his position ‘within a hostile government. ‘We seek todo the same This bok a holding of ourseles and each ther _ acco ew caine ae nd families. This is not likely tobe an easy ora comfortable process. By making mor and ethical arguments, we are inherently asking Settee people to see thatthey are esonally ances ied and reponse frida set oferty ove that most ofus never perceive and greed, even ifthese acts occur at such a remove t connections to thm, When we ab eter people to endertand Indgenose peoples re are asking them to connec eoples' resistance and resurgence movements, w o with morements old bya grt low ofthe nd bat alo avr alld anger towards the systems and people who have actively or passively targeted them for ‘generations. This book, then, takes up dificult subjects and both reader and writer will be united in experiencing discomfort aswell asa range of reactions and emo- tions. This is key to the project of engaging and challenging the colonial aspects ‘of Canadian worldviews. ‘The unsettling reactions this book may provoke, including felings of guilt, shame, anger and outrage, or fear and despair are important elements ofthe effort to create jast and respectful futures on these lands. In part, this is why we choose to approach these issues simultaneously atthe level of structures and individuals,———————— 22 Settler and why we refuse to exempt ourselves from any of the critiques we make here I.we learn to see ourselves and our roles inthe systems and structures of settler colonialism — to “identify” with the kinds of settler colonial thought and action ‘we describe — then we create an incredible opportunity. ‘Our motivation to act and to write inthis way comes from our understanding ‘of our responsibilities to the Indigenous communities to whom we are account. able, First and foremost, we must take responsibility for ourselves as Setters and for engaging in uncomfortable and difficult conversations and the wider Settler Canadian community. As Jana-Rae Yerxa has written, Settler comfort cannot be « burden that Indigenous peoples must carry.* We ourselves have learned from discomfort, failure, and serious self-reflection, often generated from our direct zelationships with Indigenous peoples and communities, and we acknowledge that ‘one of our greatest failures has been the extent to which our friends and mentors have had to carry our discomfort. We have struggled to correct this balance over ‘many years, and inthe process have come to vale the discomfort that comes with facing settler colonialism head-on. We are inspired by Siku Allooloo’s exhortation that we must personally and collectively move from struggles based in “outrage” to “radical love But, before we can make that move, we need some outrage, some tunsettlement, to destabilize our assumptions about what it means to be Canadian by revealing and engaging withthe settler colonial reality of our nation. The dis- ‘comfort that results, though important, is not action, butt is required to perceive both the necessity and the possibilty for positive change. Towards Decolonization In this book, we draw out the details of what it means to identify as a Settler person in Canada, to expose the internal process of understanding and reconcil- ‘ng our identities as Settler Canadians that has preoccupied out professional and personallivesfor the past decade. This involves understanding the nature ofsettler colonialism as an ideology, as a political project that implicates and requires the participation oflarge populations, and as an historical current that shapes present political economies, cultural norms, and social institutions. But more than technical descriptions, this bookis our attempt to clarify what it means to identify with the systems and societies created through settler colonialism. In the chapters that follow, we build the concept ofthe Settler identity, andits specific articulation in Canada, the Settler Canadian identity. Weegin in Chapter? ‘with settler colonialism, how it functions and how it manifests as aset of processes in Canada today. We consider its deep entanglement with Canadian social spaces, Political systems, and cultural stories. In Chapter 3, the focus i on relationships to land and their foundational role for both Indigenous and Settler identities. In Why Say Setter? 23 lay we ramie Str “blongng on thelandandsome specifica that anadians claim permanence in Canada, We also investigate the existence of etchant Sclrpeopcn Cada cues ety Pith laces tiny hnkofashome, conden ede enim of fivingon the land outside settler colonial contexts. We turnin Chapter4to complex questions of who identifies as andis identified asa Settler Canadian given that the Getter” part ofthe constructis often explicitly disavowed, We expose how Setter ‘Canadian society disciplines, absorbs and assimilates problematic "Others" across diferences such as race and class, and how multiculturalism and anti-capitalism, can be used to serve settler colonial agendas, and briefty discuss the purported benefits” of belonging in Settler society. Chapter S carries on this discussion, specially the ear of confronting one's own status asa settler colonizer, and what itmightmeanforbelongingon the land. Finally in Chapter 6, welook tothe future to discuss the possible ways that Settler people could become other than settler colonizers, and what the costs of such a transformation might be. This chapter centres on personal responsibilty, building relationships with Indigenous com- ‘munities, and envisioning politcal identities beyond the framework of Canadian citizenship and nationhood. ‘Wedonot intend anywhere in this book to prescribe a simplistic antidote tothe fandamental problemsin Canada today thatarise from ongoing settler colonialism and its disavowal. This is not a guide to being an “ally” nor is ita manual to help Canadians understand what Indigenous people “want” The purpose ofthisbookis ‘not to provide a history of the colonization of Canada as there are many excellent, works that already establish this. We will nt be arguing that Canada i a colonial, place in the present because this too has already been wel stated, especially by Indigenous scholars, leaders, activists and advocates, and we will nt waste time retreading grounds so well prepared.™* 2 tata beds we jenn eer Cnn wd hoe othe wie their own lives and experiences reflected inthe arguments wemake and the stories ‘we tell. And most importantly, we make space — even just alittle — for thinking ‘beyond this present colonial conflict, to future defined by reciprocity responsi- bility, and restitution