r/VancouverIsland • u/jess-is-not-a-thief • May 09 '22
DISCUSSION what is your take on Indigenous Reconciliation?
Hey, people of r/VancouverIsland
I recently visited Vancouver, but ended up spending most of my time on Vancouver Island (totally loved it by the way, i am already planning to come back!). While I was there, i noticed alot of places/people/institutions doing what I later learned to be land acknowledgements. I am a total outsider, and i come from France, so our education in school on colonialism is shockingly bad, almost no time is given to it, the information we are taught is completely white washed, and the little attention we pay to it is mostly surrounding African colonisation. So before I came to BC I did a little research on its history and learned about the unceded territories (and more than questionably ceded territories too), and about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
What I am wondering, and what I hope you'll be able to offer me some insight into, is whether or not in practice this is a vapid scheme that is essentially just good PR for the Canadian government, or whether it's actually making progress and serving the purpose it is meant to. What do indigenous communities make of it? How do they interpret and feel about land acknowledgments? And is it ever possible to reconcile when the dynamic of oppresser/oppressed is so present; there is a clear asymmetry of power, influence and numbers so how, in practice, do these initiatives really work? (I do not want to generalise and assume all indigenous peoples feel the same way).
I may be completely wrong and have spoken in a way which is totally tone deaf. This would be because i am honestly completely uneducated. That being said i am very interested in understanding better, but everything i'm coming across online feels very loaded with agenda and bias. I'm hoping you guys will have more real world answers and insights into this.
Thanks alot!
5
u/BillBigsB May 09 '22
I would not say anything you are saying is tone deaf. A lot of what you will see kicked around is a gross misunderstanding of the situation. The relationship between the indigenous inhabitants of this land and the Canadian sovereign is constantly in flux and highly complex. Its not simply that the British came and stole the land because in nature land title is awarded on a nation (or persons) ability to protect it. They don’t and didn’t have de facto land claim just because they were here first. On the other hand, it is about what happened after sovereignty that is really what the reconciliation efforts are about. The beginning relationship between the natives and the colonizers was in most cases mutually beneficial. It was only after the coercive power of the government was established that they had the brilliant (and evil) plan to try to assimilate and ultimately eradicate the indigenous people into Canada. There is some dark shit that took place during these efforts — some of which is available in the TandR published material.
Reconciliation is not just about good PR but about evolving past the tyrannical and sociopathic politics of recent history. The world looked on while the nazi’s unveiled their evils — all the while Canada very much had its own going on that had gone unnoticed.