Vanessa Nim: Death to reconciliation - long live resistance
Written by: Vanessa Nim
Reconciliation is dead
So it has been proclaimed:
On banners and bulletin signs,
In hashtags and headlines.
Reconciliation is dead
So it has been proclaimed;
Trudeau had her killed
In an RCMP raid.
Reconciliation is dead
They found her body in the river
With our mothers and our sisters.
Reconciliation is dead
They threw her corpse into
A raid van, her fist held
Above her head.
Reconciliation is dead.
When Aidan first asked me to write an article about the death of reconciliation, I wanted to write about truth: the truth about history, about land, about treaties, laws and policies. In my notes, I listed 500 years worth of colonial documents: the Doctrine of Discovery, 1493; the Gradual Civilization Act, 1857; the British North American Act, 1867; the Indian Act, 1876; the White Paper (unpassed due to Aboriginal outcry), 1969. I made a list detailing centuries worth of broken promises, false hopes and violence: treaties signed through coercion or never followed through on; intentional starvation; criminalization of cultural practices; militant surveillance and control; the Sixties Scoop and residential schools; the Highway of Tears; the ongoing water crisis on reserves; the youth suicide epidemic; the overall theft of land, culture and lives; genocide and the denial of genocide.
When I started researching for this article, making these lists, I felt empowered by truth. I thought, if only people knew; if only they understood our truth, the history Indigenous people must wade through, they would understand our current actions and struggles. I felt empowered believing that by telling the truth of history, I could illustrate the truth of today. I collected the evidence and coloured in the lines to show how the actions of the current Canadian government are just a continuation of a long, violent colonial legacy. I connected the dots between John A. MacDonald, Pierre Trudeau, Stephen Harper, and Justin Trudeau; I connected the dots from the Doctrine of Discovery to Canada’s opposition of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. I connected all the dots then realized I hadn’t connected anything at all. All I had done was retrace the same picture that has been drawn by Indigenous people for 500 years: the picture so-called Canada has been desperately, fearfully trying to erase.
New century, same shit: resistance meets resistance
When I started writing this article, I was searching for truth. In my search, I collected centuries of colonial wrongs, but also centuries of Indigenous resistance: Pontiac’s Resistance, 1763; The Red River Resistance, 1869-1870; the Northwest Resistance, 1885; the League of Indians, 1919; the Laurier Memorial, 1920; the Calder Case, 1973; the “Constitution Express”, 1980-1981; the Oka Conflict, 1990; Elijah Harper’s filibuster, 1990; the “War in the Woods”, 1993; the Ipperwash Crisis, 1995; the start of Idle no More, 2012; Unist’ot’en Camp, 2008 onwards; International Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en, 2019, 2020 – this list could continue for 500 years.
Arthur Manuel, a First Nations political leader and former band chief of Neskonlith First Nation, writes about the cycle of resistance and the gift of struggle within Indigenous legacies in his book, “Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-Up Call”:
“Nothing we have ever gained has been given to us or surrendered without a fight. When circumstances forced the Europeans to make concessions… the next generation would take advantage of a resurgence in its strength to reverse the concessions and try to push us even further into poverty and dependence.
Still, we have not given up and, as my father, Grand Chief George Manuel, often pointed out, the most important gift we have received from our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents is the legacy of struggle. They have opened the trail we now pass along and, in a very real way, set the destination for our journey.“
This has been the cycle of resistance for centuries: Indigenous people resist colonialism, and colonists resist our resistance.
In 1926, as Manuel details, diplomatic activism by three B.C chiefs was responded to with amendments to the Indian Act outlawing Indigenous organizing. The chiefs petitioned the Privy Council in London, England, demanding “action on the land question”. “We Indians want our native titles to our native lands, and all our land contains as we are the original people of Canada. We Indians want our consent before laws are made upon our possessions,” the petition stated. The council deferred the issue to Ottawa. In 1927, Ottawa, fearful of this display of resistance and activism, amended the Indian Act and made it illegal for First Nations peoples and communities to hire lawyers or bring about land claims against the government without the government’s consent. Resistance meets resistance.
On Jan. 13, 2020, Unist’ot’en Camp released a statement saying that the Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation called on the United Nations to intervene in land disputes over the Coastal GasLink pipeline geared to run through their unceded territory. The statement read:
“The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs are title holders and govern access to our traditional lands. By trespassing on Wet’suwet’en traditional lands, CGL has infringed on Canadian and international law and has compromised sites central to the spiritual and cultural well-being of Wet’suwet’en people.
The Chiefs’ weekend submission to the UN highlights the imminent threat posed by the RCMP and security forces currently surrounding Wet’suwet’en villages and lands. The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs urge Canada to comply with UN directives that Canada withdraw RCMP, halt Coastal Gaslink, and seek free, prior, and informed consent for any development occurring on our lands.”
On Feb. 2, the UN released a statement of solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation and the Hereditary Chiefs. On Feb. 6, the RCMP raided Wet’suwet’en territory, acting on an injunction served by the Supreme Court on New Year's Eve 2019 in favour of Coastal GasLink. New century, same shit. Resistance meets resistance.
“Truth is a seed planted deep”
“my people are dancing
on Portage and Main
like they danced there
500 years ago
Elders starve for words
settlers refuse to give
trolls circle their wagons
across the internet frontier
injuns! they cry
arguments fired off
with more fear than precision
they don’t understand
in this place
truth is a seed
planted deep
if you want to get it
you have to dig”
New Years Eve 2013”, Ketherena Vermette
When I started writing this article, I researched the history of reconciliation, and I made a list: the Royal Commission on Aborignal Peoples, 1991; the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2007; Stephen Harper’s apology for residential schools, 2008; the Truth and Reconciliation Report, 2015; Trudeau’s promises to mend relations with Indigenous peoples, 2015. Each of these commissions, declarations, actions and reports reiterate the issues at the heart of Indigenous resistance: that the colonial government has wronged us, and it’s time they make things right. But even with all this material detailing how to reconcile, little movement has been made.
The Royal Commission has basically been collecting dust for the past 30 years. Canada vehemently opposed UNDRIP in 2007 and has yet to officially adopt it into law, despite several promises to do so. A year after his public apology for residential schools, Stephen Harper said Canada has, “no history of colonialism.” While the Truth and Reconciliation Report has started a larger institutional movement towards mending relations, there has yet to be much meaningful action; least of all from Trudeau, who - well, you probably know the story by now. Thirty years of colonial material and 500 years of Indigenous calls and still nothing has changed. Our land is still being poisoned and destroyed, our children are being stolen, people jailed and women murdered.
When I started researching for this, I was searching for truth. But I already knew the truth. We all know the truth. When I first started writing, I felt empowered by truth. But now, I just feel burdened.
Often, the burden of reconciliation, of truth, of history is placed on Indigenous peoples. As a recent example and in an incredulous failure to live up to his promises of reconciliation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shirked his responsibility in resolving railway disputes saying the responsibility “lies with Indigenous leaders and with police”, Global News reported.
There is an expectation for Indigenous people to provide the knowledge and pathways necessary for settlers to reconcile with history. But Indigenous people have been offering and creating opportunities for settlers to reconcile for centuries. Reconciling with a colonial state intent on our extinguishment, Indigenous people have put up a staunch resistance to protect our rights and ways of life. As Manuel said, resistance to struggle is a gift in our legacies. Our resistance is the settlers' opportunity for reconciliation.
Indigenous people have been carrying the burden of history, of truth, for 500 years. But it is our blood on your hands. It’s time to start carrying your weight of the burden; it’s time to clean yourselves up.
Reconciliation is dead
So it’s been said
Red blood runs dry
On white papers and lips
Reconciliation is dead
She died like a dream
But I still keep mine
Because resistance still lives
Vanessa is a Ryerson journalism student of Métis, European and South-East Asian decent.
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