MARK LIPTON
Professor College of Arts/SETs University of Guelph @marklipton liptonm@uoguelph.ca drmarklipton@gmail.com
<drmarklipton.com>
LANGUAGES OF MEDIA INDIGENEITY+
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INDIGENEITY & DECOLONIZATION
For this topic, you explore matters associated with indigeneity and decolonization. You are challenged to think about your own perspectives, ideas and norms. Consider these questions in your self-discovery as you move through this topic: How might an online course carve out a respectful identity–as a collective with a unique positionality? Does everyone recognize the land and its Indigenous communities—past, present, future? Does your sense of HOME resist or reinforce colonialization? How can you offer gratitude for the land? How can you offer gratitude to the Indigenous communities and their stewardship— past, present, future? WHY LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS? Territory acknowledgements are one small part of disrupting and dismantling colonial structures. For Indigenous peoples, it is a sign of respect to share who you are, who you are connected to and the land that you come from while offering gratitude to the land and people of the territory. The current practices of acknowledgement by members of the University of Guelph community are signs of respect for the historical and current realities of the land and its Indigenous stewards. Land acknowledgements are a time to consider our individual and collective roles in building relationships with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and our responsibilities to the land. Amongst Canadian settlerscholar communities, land acknowledgments are an emerging ritual for signaling efforts towards decolonization and reconciliation. QUESTIONS Preparing this land acknowledgement is an ongoing and reflective process. How might an online course carve out a respectful identity–as a collective with a unique positionality? How do you recognize the land and its Indigenous communities—past, present, future? WHAT IS HOME? Our reasons for beginning with this land acknowledgement represents an ongoing commitment to reconciliation, holistic education and relationship building. These commitments help ground our intentions, work and action. They also help reinforce our own relationships with others living on shared land and help define what we mean by the word HOME.
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Canada resides on traditional, unceded and/or treaty lands of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. At the University of Guelph, we work on Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ, Attiwonderonk and Haudenosaunee land, in the territory of the Dish with One Spoon; on Treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit; and we are held to the resolutions of the Between the Lakes Purchase (Treaty 3, 1792). Personally, I, marklipton, live and work on Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ, Huron-Wendat and Haudenosaunee land that was part of the Toronto Purchase (Treaty 13, 1805). I recognize the lands of Indigenous peoples locally, across Turtle Island and around the world. As a retreating diasporic outsider & a settler immigrant Jew, I recognize how imperial and colonial constructs shape my social identity, worldviews and privilege. My family settled on this land three or four generations ago, and I, too, choose to inhabit these spaces and land. This is where I have chosen to call HOME. Nonetheless, I have no birthright.
I have no birthright. There is little question that many of us benefit from colonial structures. Attending to settler colonialism requires a significant departure from traditionally understood approaches to teaching and learning. In my experiences, these past methods and conventions assumed inclusion of all identities, all bodies and all learners. In particular, media studies (for me, from the moment I began the commitment to ongoing learning and higher education) works to include all people who are gendered and address concerns of all ethnic groups including Indigenous peoples. I was taught to think about myself (and my Self) in relation to a gendered and racialized society. I was also taught how to move toward social change for good and techniques for meaningful social action. However, (after thirty++ years) directly engaging settler colonialism with my pedagogical philosophy involves additional frameworks; our priorities shift when equity, diversity and inclusion are prioritized. My teachings always aim to unmask gender and race as social constructions; my work in media studies exposes myths about gender, race and class –highlighting structural and inherent misogyny, racism and unequal power relations. Yet, within this important work, a consideration of Indigenous peoples remains rooted in understanding colonialism as an historical point in time, away from today’s modern society. I experienced a significant perceptual hitch when I realized that more Indigenous children currently live in foster care than the sum of children forced into residential schools. ‘Indian residential schools’ operated in Canada between the 1870s and the 1990s. The last school closed in 1996. Indigenous children in Ontario under age 15 represent 4.1% of the population; they also represent about 30% of all Ontario foster children. Looking at the entire nation, 52.2% of children in foster care are Indigenous yet account for only 7.7% of the child population (according to Census 2016). THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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Twenty-eight thousand, six hundred and sixty-five (28 665) Canadian foster children under the age of 15 who live in private homes, fourteen thousand, nine hundred and seventy (14 970) of these foster children are Indigenous (according to Census 2016). In Canada, 38% of Indigenous children live in poverty compared to 7% of other children who are non-Indigenous (National Household Survey 2011). For Canadian Indigenous people – quality of life is getting worse. Navigating settler colonialism within my teaching and learning bashes and exposes the formidable, still-existing, often invisible structures that impact Indigenous peoples and others. I explore practical applications of decolonization in my learning environments (and my everyday HOME life). I also accept the complexity of grappling in and against settler colonialism as well as the physical and emotional challenge of maintaining energy and efforts in this struggle. My pedagogical approaches target radical transformations; changing structures of higher education is possible and desirable. In the end, decolonizing our professional and personal worlds is but a first step toward radical global change, for the sake of Nature and all sentient life. All students are encouraged to build respectful relationships with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and communities. A fundamental part of decolonization requires deep listening practices, an openness to learning and a regular self-reflection practice. We all have an active role in reconciliation. The Indigenous Student Centre is a resource for students: indigenous.student@uoguelph.ca. RESOURCE COMMUNITY LINKS Mississaugas of the Credit: www.mncfn.ca Six Nations of the Grand River: www.sixnations.ca Grand River Métis Council: www.grandrivermetiscouncil.com Toronto Inuit Association: www.torontoinuit.com Nandogikendan: https://nandogikendan.com/dish-with-one-spoon/ Nandogikendan is a word in Anishinaabemowin that means “to seek to learn”. This website was designed to help settlers and/or their descendants learn about two important aspects of their history and of the national identities that have been overlooked so far in the Canadian school system: treaties and settler colonialism.
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CARTOGRAPHY & HOME Maps function as colonial artifacts and represent a very particular way of seeing the world – a way primarily concerned with ownership, exclusivity and power relations. By mapping a territory, it is made known, quantifiable and controllable in a way that reflects the interests, purposes and perceptions of those who created the map. Usually (& historically), any interest in mapping and maps reflects territorial chaos and disorder, where a dispute over uncertain ownership requires resolution. Of course, this is perhaps one of the more obvious examples of colonial power, which extends the function of mapping as a tool for land appropriation in the name of military security resulting in ongoing economic dominance through taxation and resource exploitation.
IN WHAT WAYS MIGHT TODAY’S DIGITAL MAPPING TOOLS RESIST OR REINFORCE THE AUTHORITY TO DEFINE LAND? In contrast to colonial cartographies, Coming Home to Indigenous Place Names in Canada applies Indigenous systems of knowledge and methods of data gathering to decolonize and reterritorialize Indigenous Canada. Coming Home to Indigenous Place Names in Canada is a one-of-a-kind map designed to preserve the cultural significance of First Nations, Métis & Inuit communities of Canada by displaying landmarks, points of interest and areas of Canada in the native languages of said groups with accompanying English translations. The place names in this map are the intellectual and cultural property of the First Nation, Métis, and Inuit communities on whose territories they are located. COMING HOME TO INDIGENOUS PLACE Names in Canada is a cartography project led by Margaret Pearce. Margaret Pearce is enrolled in the Citizen Band Potawatomi and is a cartographer based in Rockland, Maine. She holds a PhD in Geography from Clark University, where she focused on map history and cartographic design. Dr. Pearce is a faculty associate and Associate Professor in the department of Geography, at the University of Kansas. She also teaches in the Indigenous Studies Program.
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TASK READ 5 Questions on Data and Indigenous Place Names with Margaret Pearce, an interview by Catherine D’Ignazio with editing by Isabel Carter, DATA FEMINISM, Medium, March 29, 2020. Interviews from Data Feminism, MIT Press, 2020, <https://medium.com/datafeminism/5-questions-on-data-and-indigenous-place-names-with-margaret-pearceae5d2886f37b>. RESOURCE Coming Home to Indigenous Place Names in Canada map full size secure.pdf This map may be printed for personal or educational use only. © 2017 CanadianAmerican Center, University of Maine. Available at : <https://umaine.edu/canam/publications/coming-home-map/coming-homeindigenous-place-names-canada-pdf-download/>. RESOURCE Native Land Digital is Indigenous-led organization initiating discussions of colonization, land rights, language and Indigenous history. The Native Land tool maps Indigenous territories, treaties and languages. This tool is not meant to be an official, legal or archival resource; it is a crowdsourced body of research meant to encourage education and engagement on topics of Indigenous land. <https://native-land.ca/> TASK Look up your HOME address on https://native-land.ca/ and PLAY around with its features. What strikes you? What is your relationship to this territory? How did you come to be here? QUESTIONS What are the difficulties when it comes to mapping Indigenous territories? How does the modern idea of a ‘nation-state’ relate to Indigenous nations? Who defines national boundaries, and who defines a nation? Is it possible to imagine territory or nation outside a colonial framework? What are some of the significant differences and similarities of these two cartographic resources? Are these maps useful, or do they contribute to colonial ways of thinking about Indigenous people? How can cartography function as a form of political resistance and self-determination? In what ways might today’s digital mapping tools resist or reinforce the authority to define land? What do you know about the history of this territory? Identify some of the obvious impacts of colonialism? THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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Are there other ways for you to disrupt and dismantle colonialism beyond this territory acknowledgement? TASK Write out the names of two Indigenous nations and learn how to pronounce them properly. Know which treaty agreement covers your HOME. PLAY with native-land.ca and write for ten minutes: “your understanding of what is at stake”. Write out a LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT that feels right for you. Practice saying your acknowledgement on camera. Is this something you post to your blog? INCLUDE WRITTEN DESCRIPTION & REFLECTION OF THIS TASK & ANY OUTCOMES.
Image credit: Graphic from Library and Archives Canada Blog, “Treaties with Indigenous peoples: past and present,” by Elizabeth Kawenaa Montour, posted 21 June 2019. Graphic title and creator not specified. Information provided by LAC: o o o o
On the left of the graphic, Tatânga Mânî [Chief Walking Buffalo] [George McLean] in traditional regalia on horse. In the middle, Iggi and girl engaging in a “kunik”, a traditional greeting in Inuit culture. On the right, Maxime Marion, a Métis guide stands holding a rifle. In the background, there is a map of Upper and Lower Canada, and text from the Red River Settlement collection.
<https://thediscoverblog.com/tag/james-bay-and-northern-quebec-agreement/>.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES PROMOTING RESILIENCE Despite and against all adversaries and complications, Indigenous peoples demonstrate remarkable qualities of resilience. Resilience is an adaptive response to stress; the ability to ‘bounce back’. Resilience makes it possible to overcome challenging situations or recurring setbacks. As a dynamic and essential characteristic for self-efficacy, confidence and the ability to cope, resilience is a necessary quality for our survival as humans and for all people living in times of unprecedented change. An expert in child abuse, trauma and resilience promotion, Gail Hornor is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner at Columbus Children’s Hospital. In her work, she provides physical and psychosocial assessments of child abuse victims and their families so as to coordinate supervision/education of medical, nursing and social work students at the Franklin County Advocacy Center and the Centre for Child and Family Advocacy. In a wellTHIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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cited article (2017), Hornor explains the delicate and intricate issues required for resiliency promotion. Microlevel strategies focus on the community, family and individual, while macrolevel strategies of intervention point to economic policy, social dogma, community and cultural beliefs and attitude that are safe, supportive and healthy. Legislation aimed at reducing social disparities such as wage, affordable education, easy access to mental health care system are examples of macro strategies of resiliency promotion. Promoting resiliency optimally covers all levels and extents of human relations including society, community, families and individuals. An integrated and multidisciplinary approach involves harmonious negotiations among government, nongovernment, national, international and intersectoral actors, partners and stakeholders. Hornor Gail. Resilience. Journal of Pediatric Health Care. 2017;31(3):384–390. RESILIENCE & RESISTANCE JAMES BAY & NORTHERN QUÉBEC AGREEMENT: An Agreement Without Precedent One of my favourite examples of Indigenous peoples’ success is the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement. This is one example of Indigenous peoples’ resistance and resilience worth celebrating. The James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement (JBNQA) is the first modern land claim agreement in Canada. Signed in 1975, the JBNQA sets out an environmental and social protection regime for the territorial regions of James Bay and Nunavik. The agreement covers economic development and property issues in northern Quebec, as well as establishing a number of cultural, social and governmental institutions for Indigenous people who are members of the communities involved in the treaties. In the 1960s, the government of Québec looked to potential hydroelectric resources in the north. By 1971, the James Bay Development Corporation (of Québec) began to pursue mining, forestry and other potential resource extractions. The initial goal was the James Bay Hydroelectric Project. Directed by an assertive government of Québec, this project began without consulting Indigenous people. No surprise, these movements of ‘progress’ were opposed by most of northern Québec’s Cree and Inuit. An ad hoc group of Indigenous northern Québecers, representing diverse groups of Indigenous nations living in norther Québec, sued the government and, on 15 November 1973, won an injunction in the Québec Superior Court blocking hydroelectric development until the province negotiated an agreement with the Indigenous nations. James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement Records <https://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/catalogue_resources/MS1455.htm>.
NUNAVIK & MAKIVIK MAKIVIK provides politically, cultural and economic leadership to the vibrant region called Nunavik. Between dualistic nations of Canada and Québec, Inuit have established their own distinct place and identity. Makivik, which in Inuktitut means “To Rise Up,” is a fitting name THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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for an organization mandated to protect the rights, interests and financial compensation provided by the 1975 James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement and (the more recent offshore) 2008 Nunavik Inuit Land Claim Agreement. Makivik’s work demonstrates the extent that modern aboriginal treaties or land claim settlements benefits governments and Inuit. In 1975 when the first Agreement was signed, it took the position that “settling Inuit land claims” must be viewed in the context of a “new beginning” in terms of developing and implementing a new relationship and way of doing business with the governments of Québec and Canada. Makivik and the Inuit of Nunavik have remarkably positive stories to tell about Indigenous resistance, action and resilience. RESOURCE GOOGLE EARTH Originally designed by Keyhole, Inc., Google Earth is an interactive online computer program (written in C++) that maps the entire planet. The “geobrowser” relies on Geographic Information System Mapping (GIS) data along with satellite images/aerial photos create a three-dimensional map. The scale of cities & landscapes provides a sense of proportion and typography allowing users to embark on adventures and explorations. Interactive creation tools invite users to draw on the map, add photos, stories and other customizations that can then be shared. This is a link to the particular map on GOOGLE EARTH that we are working with: That is, the LANGUAGESOFMEDIA Google Earth Map. (The link is also attached below.) GOOGLE EARTH
UPDATED LINK https://earth.google.com/earth/rpc/cc/drive?state=%7B%22ids%22%3A%5B%221OvWuIv Y2gzTBcIKkPq21Sjnfp3cHcjkE%22%5D%2C%22action%22%3A%22open%22%2C%22use rId% 22%3A%22109912779555482932596%22%7D&usp=sharing THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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TASK Where are you? Where is HOME? MAP HOME. Please follow the link to the Languages of Media GOOGLE EARTH page and map your location. Add a “placemark” as a “new feature” in the map/project FALL2020 MAP: WHERE ARE YOU. Include your name and email address (if you are comfortable with this request—remember <no penalties>). Can you find other people in this class who are within proximal distance? Reach out to other students and say hello. Any intrepid explorers? I have hidden several safe houses around the world. Can you help me find them? WHERE IN THE WORLD IS @marklipton? INCLUDE WRITTEN DESCRIPTION & REFLECTION OF THIS TASK & ANY OUTCOMES. QUESTIONS Where is HOME? What is HOME? Does this 3D version of the earth impact your sense of HOME? Does this 3D version impact your understanding of INDIGENEITY? If so, how? How else could you use this 3D map? SUGGESTED BOOK King, Thomas. (2012). The Inconvenient Indian: A curious Account of Native People in North America. Toronto: Random House Publishing.
INDIGENEITY IN LANGUAGES OF MEDIA
As important as it is to review and isolate the issues related to indigenous peoples, it is also vital to recognize indigeneity and decolonization across all topics and issues. This course refuses to isolate this concern as a singularity; within and across contexts, we continue to bash and smash colonial tendencies. To this, issues of indigeneity and decolonization are address across the curriculum. @marklipton champions indigeneity and decolonization as integrated within contexts and concerns related to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). EDI includes Decolonization; help promote EDID.
#EDID #Equity #Diversity #Inclusion #Decolonization
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LANGUAGES OF MEDIA: OTHER TOPICS LANGUAGES OF MEDIA includes other current issues among its significant topics: intersectionality & feminism; we are ready to talk about RACE in Canada; COVID & utopias/dystopias; as well as units on decision-making, attention, decoding & storytelling. /mark
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2020 THE YEAR THAT WASN’T
UTOPIAN PANDEMICS, HEALTH SURVEILLANCE & TENDER BREATHING
PORTALS to UTOPIA STRANGE & CURIOUS TIMES Reflecting on this historic moment, I turn to novelist Arundhati Roy’s public writing:
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Roy’s image of “dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred…” gives me pause. Breathe. Exhale. I need to breathe. I have witnessed many people around the world responding to this crisis with dead ideas, on a war-path unprepared for change. From COVID-19’s relentlessly anti-social logic, I appreciate the persistent demand to rethink failed market dogma. I want people to imagine a better world. I want to inspire and work among people to create and craft a new world. We will never return to what was. We can only move forward. I am convinced that without deep contemplation and reflection as individuals and institutions, we most certainly will drag dead ideas and dead values with us. #EDID READ Arundhati Roy, “The Pandemic is a Portal,” 2020.
UTOPIAN VISIONS You are/were invited to read George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death. For Neil Postman, considering the imaginary world of science fiction helps a culture understand its basic values, assumptions and tendencies. Postman suggested the UTOPIAN vision presented by Huxley was a more accurate prediction than Orwell’s. Do you agree? Why or why not?
UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA What is a utopia and why should I care? With our present situation, EVERYTHING has CHANGED. As thinkers begin proposing how human affairs should be run after COVID-19, I encourage you to consider this great opportunity of the present – NOW – to apply practical applications to your world to create your future. What changes would you like to see? What is your UTOPIAN VISION for life after COVID-19? The singularity of any UTOPIAN VISION spells disaster. All UTOPIAS are DYSTOPIAS. The idea of utopia/dystopia represents imaginary societies where people live either in a perfect environment governed by equitable rules to support everyone or in an oppressive society ruled by a repressive and controlling state. When I imagine the possibility of a perfect environment, my imagination quickly turns dark. How about you? Visions of a perfect world are first recorded around 380 BCE when Plato’s political dialogue REPUBLIC gained influence. Plato’s utopian society describes an imagined ideal Greek city-state that provided a stable life for all of its citizens. Well, most of its citizens. At that time, hierarchical powers, patriarchy and slavery were part of everyday life. Not all inhabitants of Greece had citizen status. And thus, the darkness begins to unfold. THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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A general understanding of UTOPIA emerged in the 16th century, in the work of Thomas Moore (1516). Moore’s UTOPIAN VISIONS initiated an enormous wave of UTOPIAN thinking with ripples that continue to influence. Perhaps the most massive wave of UTOPIAN thinking and creativity are still to come? I suggest a UTOPIAN future for UTOPIAN thinking because COVID-19 pulls back the curtain onto CONDITIONS FOR POSSIBILITIES. UTOPIAN categories begin to blur. Political revolutionaries dream of possible UTOPIAN futures: What is COMMUNISM or SOCIALISM, but UTOPIAN VISIONS? Dreamers continue to dream. DISNEY, MICKEY MOUSE & DONALD DUCK are UTOPIAN VISIONS. When worlds are created without an expansive vision of TIME, dreams quickly turn nightmarish. How does one begin a UTOPIAN VISION? The means of their creation – ecological, economic, political, religious, feminist, scientism and technologica are UTOPIA categories. How does your UTOPIA begin?
POSSIBLEFUTURES This pandemic is a horror. Recovery will challenge the best of us. To prevent future losses (more death), measures begin to form, plans hatched, and containment strategies fail to account for all. Nonetheless, now is the time for RADICAL THINKING. Time again, the world shakes from disasters only to recoil, almost as quickly as disaster hits. Both world wars produced a genuine conviction that the violence ended; there simply must be lasting peace. Afterwards. But how would a renewed global system run this new world order? By the end of the Cold War, any imagined future was recognized realpolitik –the German expression for contextual diplomacy in place of any ethical or moral political ideology. Capitalism and democracy, consumerism and materialism—are these included in your UTOPIAN VISION? What could go wrong? A tangible and ubiquitous experience of healthcare horrors and apocalyptic futures is upon us. What are your horrors? Where are your dark nightmares? Always somewhere or someplace else, the calamities of environmental damage, climate emergency, refugee crises and poverty—there are so many more, as a constant daily display on @Insta or the social media currently open on your smartphone. Our human inability to see beyond our sightline is apparent when the world warns of toilet paper scarcity. Now, COVID-19 seems less subject to cultural relativism. COVID-19 does not discriminate. There are no natural human divisions that save one over another. All humans are vulnerable to this inherent problem. Especially when contagion and transmission are spread so easily. Who are or who should be responsible for the health of humans? Standard answers point to some nation/state response to direct community/individual action. In today’s health crisis, nationhood is meaningless. If COVID-19 is universal, its treatment and subsequent care are local. Who will you turn to for help? I acknowledge my feelings of sympathy, anxiety and sheer pain for people who are suffering. Still, when I map my THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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mobilities in the last few months, I am surprised by my psychogeography's smallness. Health emergencies always exaggerate the hyperlocal.
UTOPIAN IMPULSES, UTOPIAN REALITIES There will be no new global world order. We might find some useful advice, but the tendencies toward innovation, more technology or war are more likely. There’s an old tale that two of the best-selling books in history include the Bible and The Communist Manifesto. I hear an Agatha Christie mystery is also on this list. With all, the UTOPIAN IMPULSES will come and go like breath. We really want to end poverty, fight against injustice, foster peace and gather the world as one community. The dream of a world without oppression, the fantasy of ending materialism—these are the stuff that tells the end of history. The denigration of public discourse, as Neil Postman’s words attest, means that essential words like truth, liberty or justice don’t hold water. Public discourse makes explicit that order for one is complete and utter annihilation for another.
Public discourse points out how good government is relative to those in power. Public discourse warns us to find peace by shutting in and through disengagement. Keep your public super small; proximal; walking-distance. That way, public discourse envelops you in your filter bubble. Other relevant words, like equity, diversity, inclusion and decolonization, are the stuff of fiction—maybe something good is on Netflix. THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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Is it true? There are no better alternatives to private enterprise, free markets and competitive economies. The Iron Lady (British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher) insisted this was the vision. No POSSIBLEFUTURES. The futility of technology, innovation and public discourse means no UTOPIAN IMPULSES result. A better world may be ‘out there’ or ‘in your mind’ –what-have-you. UTOPIA, its etymology from Greek ‘ou’ + ‘topos’ or NOT + PLACE, literally means “no place.” Unrealistic. However, those committed to such UTOPIAN VISIONS often consider their dreams attainable.
DYSTOPIAN ENDS I love a good disaster. Let me qualify, disaster fiction is one of my favourite conversations. Will the world end with fire or ice? I think ICE DEATH is imminently possible anytime I suffer from work stress. I love a good disaster movie or television series. Any recommendations? Beyond dark stories of DYSTOPIC ENDS brought about by forced birthrights and class distinctions, state coercion strategies, self-harming coping mechanisms, new technologies for/of/on human brains, repressive social control systems, sexual repression and selfcensorship, loss of freedoms (like speech or life), artificial human interactions or the consequences of utter destruction, the world still feels enormous. There are multiple universes. There, you might find UTOPIA. QUESTIONS Describe your UTOPIA. What keeps you and your world from turning to darkness? Are all UTOPIAS DISTOPIC? Is there a future world that does not end in disaster? ICE death or exploding ball of FIRE? Have you thought about DEATH? How would you prefer to die? Why? What’s your story? Have you ever participated in shared conversation about death? How did it go?
CONTACT TRACING | SURVEILLANCE | DYSTOPIC VISIONS
Contact tracing as a pandemic control solution is not new. Contact tracing describes the process used to identify and monitor individuals in close contact with someone infected. These people are (obviously) at a higher risk of infection and contagion. Infectious disease control measures often attempt public health surveillance. Such actions were deployed for illnesses like measles, SARs, typhoid, meningococcal disease. Public health surveillance has also tried contract tracing as a responsible strategy to curtail sexually transmitted infections like HIV/AIDS. From what I can see, the efforts are futile. To curb the spread of the disease using traditional contact tracing methods and techniques would require an army of coronavirus trackers. Tracking and surveillance innovations like using location data stored on or generated by smartphone use, scanning public spaces for people potentially affected using fever detecting infrared cameras, facial recognition and newer computer vision surveillance technologies are improving rapidly. Contact tracing to combat COVID-19 has already been implemented and deployed. Sophisticated uses of THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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smartphone technologies and artificial intelligence for tracking and public surveillance raise several privacy and compliance concerns. The extent to which COVID contact tracing violates human and/or equity rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is unclear. Is this a UTOPIAN VISION or a DYSTOPIC nightmare? If you were to map your mobility in the last few months, would you be added to the list of Public Health risk factors? TASK: MAPPING your MOBILITY What is your position on Contract Tracing? Explain with references to current research. MAPPING your MOBILITY MAP your physical isolation since COVID. Draw or digitally connect the points where you have come into contact with others is a map of your own design.
IN WHAT WAYS MIGHT TODAY’S DIGITAL MAPPING TOOLS RESIST OR REINFORCE THE AUTHORITY TO DEFINE LAND? RESOURCES
Island map (left) and coast map (right) Wooden maps of the east coast of Greenland collected by Gustav Holm's expedition circa 1883. Original caption: "Trækort." Holm, Gustav; Garde, Vilhelm (1887), Den Danske Konebaads-Expedition til Grønlands Østkyst (The Danish Umiaq-Expedition to Greenland's east coast) (in Danish), Copenhagen: Thieles Bogtrykkeri.
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WIKIMINIATLAS GEOHACKING https://geohack.toolforge.org/ https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php? pagename=Ammassalik_wooden_maps¶m s=66_N_36_W_dim:100000 GPS VISUALIZER https://www.gpsvisualizer.com/ GPS VISUALIZER: DO-IT-YOURSELF MAPPING GPS Visualizer is an online utility that creates maps and profiles from geographic data. It is free and easy to use, yet powerful and extremely customizable. Input can be in the form of GPS data (tracks and waypoints), driving routes, street addresses, or simple coordinates. QUESTIONS Are you aware of your GPS coordinates? Do you know how to find the proper and exact location? Have you downloaded a Contract Tracing application? Do you have faith that technology is the solution to this global health challenge? Why? Do you have concerns about your health-related data? What about other personal data, like age, sleep schedule or grades? What is your position on Contract Tracing? Explain with references to current research.
INTERSECTIONALITY
FEMINISM Last summer (2019), Americans celebrated the 100th ANNIVERSARY of the 19th Amendment to the American Constitution. The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. At the time, perhaps you witnessed social media carousing and circulating a list of NINE things WOMEN could not do until 1971. My team and I did our best to fact check the VERACITY each item on the list.
FEMINISM IS NOT JUST FOR OTHER WOMEN
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NINE THINGS WOMEN COULD NOT DO IN 1971 In 1971 a woman could not: 1. OBTAIN CREDIT When the United States Senate passed the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in October 1974, banks could no longer discriminate against women applying for credit or credit cards. Before this legislation, women applying for credit cards were asked a barrage of personal questions. They were often required to be accompanied by a man (husband) to co-sign. Even then, women’s credit was assigned lower limits and/or higher rates. Social movements for equal civil rights focused on credit cards when women produced evidence to document the discrimination they faced. In 1974, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act made it illegal to discriminate against someone based on their gender, race, religion and national origin. 2. WORK WHILE PREGNANT Although on-the-job sex discrimination was outlawed more than a decade earlier, pregnancy was not legally recognized as a type of sex discrimination. Women working in the United States won the legal protection to become working mothers in October 1978, when Congress enacted the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. No longer could employers deny a woman a job, promotion, higher pay or any other opportunity — because she was pregnant. Before this, if women revealed a pregnancy, the consequences usually ended with a pink slip (loss of job). Some employers enacted formal policies prohibiting pregnancy outright because female employees were expected to conform to the company’s image. For example, most airlines expected flight attendants to suggest sexual availability to businessman customers; most teachers learned to represent purity and chasteness as expected by school districts. THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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3. SERVE ON A JURY Women were excluded from jury service for many reasons. For example, a woman’s primary obligation was to be a caregiver to their children and families. Men believed women to be fragile and required shelter from criminal details, particularly offences involving sex. In 1975, the US Supreme Court ruled in an 8-1 decision that it was constitutionally unacceptable for states to bar women from juries. The ruling argued shifting economic and changing social patterns made it constitutionally unacceptable for states to deny women equal opportunity to serve on juries. Women’s social roles were changing. This ruling recognized women’s growing economic independence and women’s abilities to assess and fight for their legal rights. 4. SERVE IN MILITARY Since the US Revolutionary War in 1775, women could aid military operations in noncombat positions as support staff, cooks or nurses. In 1976, the first women were admitted to the United States Military Academy at West Point; other military academies followed. However, women were still restricted from serving in artillery, armour, infantry and other combat roles. In 2013, the Pentagon’s military sanction against women in combat was reversed when the US military officially lifted the ban. At that time, women made up about 14% of the military’s 1.4 million active members. More than 280,000 women soldiers were on duty in Iraq, Afghanistan or overseas. And some 152 women were killed in these war conflicts. 5. IVY LEAGUE EDUCATION The Ivy League is comprised of eight universities in the northeastern part of the United States. Yale and Princeton did not accept female students until 1969. Harvard did not admit women until 1977. Brown finally admitted women in 1971. A year later, Dartmouth offered admission to women. The last all-male school in the Ivy League, Columbia College, became coeducational in 1983. No laws require post-secondary institutions to admit both men and women. 6. TAKE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST WORKPLACE SEXUAL HARASSMENT No one knew the term SEXUAL HARASSMENT until 1975 when a group of students at Cornell University formed a group called WORKING WOMEN UNITED. The organization’s activism defined sexual harassment as “the treatment of women workers as sexual objects.” Carmita Wood resigned from her role as an administrative assistant to a professor at Cornell University because she had been physically ill from the pressure of avoiding unwanted sexual advances. Subsequently, she was refused unemployment benefits. WORKING WOMEN UNITED quickly grasped the extent of this problem and its habituation beyond the university setting. By 1977, three legal rulings confirmed that a woman could sue her employer for harassment under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (formed in 1965), the federal agency that administers and enforces civil rights laws against workplace discrimination) was responsible for redress and compensation. Carmita Wood became one of the first women in the US to sue her employer because of SEXUAL HARASSMENT. THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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Extremely litigious, the public battleground these cases defined sexual violence and misconduct. However, it was not until 1986 when The US Supreme Court upheld the claim between Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson. Michelle Vinson, a bank employee, complained about a supervisor who intimidated her into having sex. Like many litigants in pioneering SEXUAL HARASSMENT cases, Michelle Vinson was African American. The success of racial discrimination cases encouraged women of colour to vigorously pursue their rights at work. 7. SPOUSAL RAPE Spousal rape was not criminalized in all 50 US states until 1993. Most state criminal codes defined rape in ways that explicitly excluded spouses. Before 1979, the criminal code assumed that marriage constituted permanent consent that could not be retracted. This assumption was often paired with the belief that a woman’s past sexual experiences could be used by the defence in a rape case. The first official conviction of spousal rape was in 1979, in Massachusetts, a man who broke into the home of his estranged wife and raped her. Despite this victory, advocates continue to argue against legal loopholes that allow spousal rape to be treated differently than rape. 8. OBTAIN HEALTH INSURANCE at the same monetary rate as men Women seeking individual health insurance typically pay higher premiums because gender rating is commonplace among American health insurance companies. The National Women’s Law Center argues the industry practice of gender ratings means women spend one billion dollars more than men on health insurance premiums each year. In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) sought to remove this practice; sex discrimination was not prohibited in health insurance until 2010. Under the health care overhaul, the ban started in 2014. There are still sitting elected officials in the US who publicly feel women don’t mind paying more money. 9. REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM Birth control means a woman can complete her education, join the workforce, and plan her own life. Issues like REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM and a woman’s right to decide when and whether to have children entered public discourse in the 1960s and continue to be debated in public and private forums. The birth control pill (the pill) contains two hormones (estrogen and a progestin) to stop the ovaries from releasing eggs. The birth control pill (combination oral contraceptives) also thickens the cervical mucus to prevent sperm from reaching the egg. The mini pill is an oral contraceptive with only one hormone (progestin) and may prevent the ovaries from releasing eggs. In 1957, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first birth control pill (Enovid) for “severe menstrual distress.” In 1960, the pill was approved as a contraceptive; yet, the pill was illegal in some states. Its prescription was limited to married women, for purposes of family planning. By 1965, almost 6.5 million American women were taking the pill. The
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vague nickname is a result of associated stigma as women spoke to their doctors as discreetly as possible. That same year, the Supreme Court struck down state laws prohibiting contraception use, though only for married couples. It was not until 1972 that birth control was approved for all women, regardless of marital status.
FEMINISM IS NOT JUST FOR OTHER WOMEN SNOPES is a reliable fact-checking website. I check SNOPES to verify information I’ve discovered on the Internet. SNOPES is recognized as a source for validating and/or debunking stories circulating in popular culture. RESOURCE: NON-PARTISAN FACT CHECKING WEBSITES FACTCHECK.ORG Annenberg Public Policy Center hosts this political fact-checker, which monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political actors. FACTCHECKER (Washington Post) A weekly blog from the Washington Post. POLITIFACT.COM The St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly hosts a fact-checking ‘Truth-O-Meter’ scorecard scrutinizing attacks on political candidates and includes explanations. SNOPES.COM The oldest and largest fact-checking site on the Internet. PUNDITFACT Dedicated to checking the accuracy of claims by pundits, columnists, bloggers, political analysts, hosts and guests of talk shows and other media members. SNOPES confirms and explains the VERACITY of NINE THINGS WOMEN COULD NOT DO IN 1971. NINE THINGS WOMEN COULD NOT DO IN 1971 Lisa Bialac-Jehle (2016); D. Evon, Snopes, (2019). 9 THINGS WOMEN COULD NOT DO IN 1971. <https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/9-things-women-could-not-do/>.
REQUIRED TASK These nine things describe legal rights in the United States of America. For this task, please research and fact check the legal rights of women in Canada. QUESTIONS Is this new information for you? What reactions and words came to mind as you read through this list? Are your reactions as symbolically potent as what each fact means to you after some consideration? Are you THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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surprised by any of these facts? What do you understand when you read, “Feminism is NOT just for other women”? What does FEMINISM mean to you? Are you a FEMINIST? With whom can you discuss your responses to this material? How did these conversations work for you? What FEMINIST actions are needed in Canada? Are there any public feminists you admire? If so, who?
INDIGENOUS INTERSECTIONALITY
In Canada today, First Nations, Métis and Inuit people (collectively referred to as Indigenous people) face many socio-economic issues because of the effects of colonization. In addition to the loss of their territories in the 19th century, Indigenous people experience social, economic and political marginalization and discrimination. Racial stereotyping, paired with the loss of culture and language, means Indigenous people in Canada hold little social or political power, contributing to increasing economic inequality and poverty. Urban and rural Indigenous communities struggle with a lack of education, employment, opportunities and income equity. Indigenous people lost most of their traditional livelihood and self-sufficiency. Nonetheless, many INDIGENOUS WOMEN are on the front lines working to heal their communities, still profoundly wounded by colonization. For Indigenous people, the long-term effects of colonial domination force them to grapple with challenging and damaging issues like residential schools, missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, abuse and violence, and substance addictions.
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Applying an intersectional approach to INDIGENOUS WOMEN and their experiences of oppression and discrimination acknowledge the complexity of their lives and recognize the broader social and historical contexts. An intersectional approach addresses the changing nature of discrimination—how subtle, multi-layered, systemic, environmental and institutionalized discrimination impacts the present and future. For example, INDIGENOUS WOMEN’s experiences of a colonial, male-controlled government and society (PATRIARCHY) contribute to a system of oppression that delegitimates INDIGENOUS WOMEN’s identities and desires. The language of discrimination and the culture it fosters act as a tool of assimilation. The 1876 Indian Act disadvantaged INDIGENOUS WOMEN by enforcing discriminatory measures that removed Indian Status rights and excluded Indigenous women from band council government.
INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND THE INDIAN ACT
To begin unpacking the current and historical socio-political situation in Canada for INDIGENOUS WOMEN, I urge you to review The Indian Act. Created by the federal government in 1876, The Indian Act is legislation that pertains to First Nations people. (Inuit and Métis do not fall under the Act.) The Indian Act took away the rights of INDIGENOUS WOMEN with Indian Status if they married someone without status. The colonial idea of PATRIARCHY (men are leaders; men are heads of households) denies INDIGENOUS WOMEN the right to possess land and marital property. A widow could possess land under the reserve system. However, she could not inherit her husband’s personal property—everything, including the family house, legally went to his children. Government agents modified the Act in 1884 to allow estates to be willed to a wife if an agent determined she was of “good moral character.” This particular amendment remained in the Indian Act until 1951. And to this day, men still hold exclusive property rights. Such legal ideas have far-reaching implications for the lives and safety of INDIGENOUS WOMEN. 1985. Bill C-31 modified the Indian Act to align with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. An amendment allows women who “married out” and those who lost their Indian Status by other means to apply for the restoration of their status and rights. Bill C-31 also allows their children to apply for registration as Status Indians. The Act no longer requires (or allows) INDIGENOUS WOMEN to follow their husbands into or out of status. Through “reinstated” status and a growing birthrate, the 1985 modification to the Indian Act saw the number of registered Indigenous people more than doubled, from approximately 360,000 (in 1985) to more than 778,000 (in 2007). However, while the amendment addressed discrimination against INDIGENOUS WOMEN, the unintended consequences create more significant problems. By placing these women THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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and their children on First Nations band membership lists, the government stretched already limited lands and funds that now must serve more people. The scarcity and inadequacy of resources and supports cause resentment toward these people by First Nations members. The backlash against these changes is still being realized. Bill C-31 created two categories of Indian registration that have had consequences on the number of people entitled to Status Rights. The first, known as sub-section 6(1), applies when both parents are or were allowed to register. The second, known as sub-section 6(2), applies when one parent is entitled to registration under 6(1). After two generations of intermarriage with non-status partners, children are no longer eligible for status. This is known as the “Second-Generation Cut-Off” rule. The amendment, therefore, significantly limits the ability to transfer status to one’s children.
INDIGENOUS WOMEN HEROS
Many Indigenous peoples have brought cases against the Indian Act to Canadian courts. Let’s review and celebrate the courageous efforts of some INDIGENOUS WOMEN HEROS.
JEANNETTE CORBIERE LAVELL | YVONNE BÉDARD SANDRA LOVELACE NICHOLAS | SHARON MCIVOR 1971. Yvonne Bedard took the federal government to court after losing her rights as a Status Indian because of a marriage to a Non-Status man. Her lawsuit challenged section 12(1)(b) of the Indian Act, concerning the rights of Status Indian women in Canada. 1971. Jeannette Corbiere Lavell filed a lawsuit against the federal government after receiving a legal notice that she had lost her status. Contending the Indian Act violated the 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights by discriminating on the basis of sex. 1971. A York County Court judge concluded Jeannette Corbiere Lavell’s equality under the law had not been deprived. The Bill of Rights afforded her the same protections as other nonstatus women. Unsatisfied, she petitioned and won her case in the Federal Court of Appeals. The judges outlined that the Indian Act did not afford equality to Indigenous women and recommended that the Indian Act be repealed for failing to adhere to the laws established in the Bill of Rights. However, these INDIGENOUS WOMEN met with resistance from within their Indigenous communities. The National Indian Brotherhood (now the Assembly of First Nations) argued against women who challenged the law as selfish and anti-Indian. For the Brotherhood, these INDIGENOUS WOMEN fought against the very law (the Indian Act) that guaranteed the right of Indigenous self-determination. 1973. These two claimants pressed on to the Supreme Court of Canada, concerning gender discrimination in the Indian Act. THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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August 1973. The Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s ruling in a controversial and much-questioned decision, stating that the Bill of Rights did not invalidate the Indian Act. Nevertheless, these legal battles inspired future litigation regarding women’s rights and the Indian Act. INDIGENOUS WOMEN continued to fight by bringing this issue to the fore. 1981. Sandra Lovelace Nicholas, a Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) woman, attracted international attention with her court case against the federal government. She raised concerns with the UN Human Rights Committee, who ruled that gendered status provisions in the Indian Act were contrary to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 1982. These INDIGENOUS WOMEN directly contributed to section 35 of the Constitution Act, which was further amended in 1983 to guarantee that Aboriginal and treaty rights are equally accessible to men and women under the law. By 1985, INDIGENOUS WOMEN’s efforts guided the parliamentary assent of Bill C-31, which repealed section 12(1)(b) of the Indian Act to bring this element of legal code into accordance with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
JEANNETTE CORBIERE LAVELL | YVONNE BÉDARD SANDRA LOVELACE NICHOLAS | SHARON MCIVOR SEX/GENDER DISCRIMINATION & INDIGENOUS WOMEN 2007. Sharon McIvor v. Canada. Sharon McIvor regained status rights after the passing of Bill C-31 in 1985. However, she could not pass on those rights to her descendants in the same way as a man. The British Columbia Supreme Court ruled that section 6 did, in fact, deny McIvor’s equality rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The British Columbia Court of Appeals ruled that the Indian Act discriminated against the descendants of Indigenous women who married non-Indigenous men. 2011. In response to Sharon McIvor v. Canada, the federal government introduced new legislation (Bill C-3) to counter gender discrimination in the Indian Act. 2015. Stéphane Descheneaux v. Canada. Stéphane Descheneaux, an Odanak man, was unable to pass on his Indian status to his three daughters because his First Nations descent came from his grandmother. She lost her status when she married a non-Indigenous man. A Québec Superior Court judge found that subtle forms of sexual discrimination persisted under the Indian Act and comprehensively ordered the government to reform the law. 2017. Canadian Parliament passed Bill S-3, an Act to eliminate sex-based inequities in Indian registration. The courageous work of Sharon McIvor and Stéphane Descheneaux underscore sex-based discrimination in the Indian Act. This discrimination directly violates Indigenous women’s equality rights as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and international human rights law. THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.
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Bill S-3 designates the date September 4, 1951, when the Indian register came into effect. After that date, children of status-fathers and non-status mothers can obtain status and pass it to their offspring. Before that date, the children of status women who married non-status men cannot receive status. The legislation is intended to eliminate long-standing discrimination against Indigenous women. The goal is for Indigenous women and their descendants to the same status rights as their male counterparts. The government has now promised to amend this provision. Still, it remains intact for now, and no specific deadline has been set for its change. This means that for Indigenous women and their descendants, full equality is, once again, postponed. For details, see openparliament.ca for a full historical overview. RESOURCES Openparliament.ca. Assembly of First Nations. First Nations in Canada. Index to Indian Acts, 1876-1978. Indian Acts and amendments, 1868-1950. References to Aboriginal Rights in the Constitution Act, 1982. The Constitution Act, 1982. Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. QUESTIONS Why/how does INTERSECTIONALITY consider/include INDIGENOUS WOMEN? Describe differences & similarities between FEMINISM and INTERSECTIONAL approaches? How do legal frameworks and judicial policies impact people differently? As a form of protest and resistance, is FEMINISM inclusive or exclusive? TASK Review the list of 9 THINGS WOMEN COULD NOT DO IN 1971. How does it measure against the lives of INDIGENIOUS women? READ Lawrence, Bonita. Gender, Race, and the Regulation of Native Identity in Canada and the United States: An Overview. 2003. Sterritt, Angela. Racialization of Poverty: Indigenous Women, the Indian Act and Systemic Oppression: Reasons for Resistance. Vancouver Status of Women, 2007.
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WE ARE READY TO TALK ABOUT RACE IN CANADA
HOW have you prioritized learning about the root causes of current protests? HOW are you engaged in conversations about race and racism? HOW have you engaged others in conversations about race and racism?
NOW it’s time to reflect on our shared humanity. NOW it’s time to come together, listen, learn, share in grief & in hope. NOW it’s time to act for a more just, equitable and racially conscious world. The destructive power of racism & its brutality is a plague. Failure to address these issues can be deadly. Fear and discomfort about race and racialized discussions usually lead to our SILENCE, which indirectly sanctions all our learning as false and privileged labour. SILENCE = DEATH In any post-secondary context, SILENCE on issues of BIPOC racism and oppression is insulting. If any of your learning contexts FAIL to include contextual attention to the complexities of race, IT IS YOUR JOB TO DEMAND IT. Imagine young BIPOC learners watching us loving and appreciating BIPOC culture —finding pleasure and leisure in BIPOC music, food, fashion, celebrity and culture—but remaining silent about BIPOC oppression. SILENCE is a refusal to recognize the resilience of BIPOC people and how its cultures are often born out of necessity. It hurts learners when powerful people FAIL to acknowledge what BIPOC people have done for our worlds and what these same worlds have done to them.
BIPOC & OTHER FORMS OF HATE ARE ONGOING, OPPRESSIVE & VIOLENT. THE IMPACT OF THIS HATE HURTS OUR CAMPUS & COMMUNITIES. SUPPORT BIPOC JUSTICE
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RACE MATTERS
If we hope to heal the racial tensions that threaten to tear the fabric of society apart, we're going to need the skills to openly express ourselves in racially stressful situations. Through racial literacy—the ability to read, recast and resolve these situations— psychologist Howard C. Stevenson helps children and parents reduce and manage stress and trauma. In this inspiring, quietly awesome talk, learn more about how this approach to decoding racial threats can help youth build confidence and stand up for themselves in productive ways. RESOURCE “TEDTalks: Howard C. Stevenson—How To Resolve Racially Stressful Situations.” (17:38). 2018.
THE LONG FIGHT FOR RACIAL JUSTICE In more than 580 cities and towns, hundreds of thousands have gathered together to protest the police killing of an African American man named George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Protestors’ call for justice, police accountability, and for an end to the systemic racism deeply embedded in the laws, practices, and institutions mark some of the most widespread protests in the last fifty years. The protests should be seen in the long arc of history and as part of the long black freedom struggle, a struggle that began when the first black people arrived as captive slaves more than four hundred years ago. As Black Lives Matter and Indigenous organizing capture public attention about white privilege and the systemic nature of racism and colonialism, major Canadian institutions (eg, Prime Minister’s Office, RCMP) have finally started acknowledging that they, too, are structured by racism. These institutions include Canadian universities. Previously, the University of Guelph, like most other institutions of higher learning across Canada, deflected accusations of ignoring racism and colonialism and failing to take meaningful and actionable steps to make necessary systemic changes. The brutal violence committed against the Black community and the increased burden placed on Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) individuals, compounded by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to a pivotal moment in our history. In solidarity with the Black community and for the sake of all BIPOC students (past and present) I unequivocally affirm that BLACK LIVES MATTER. Violence against Black people must stop. We join the international uprising led by Black people against police killings and violence in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by Minnesota Police, Breonna Taylor’s fatal shooting by Louisville Police and the killing of Tony McDade, a Black Trans man by Tallahassee Police. Police violence and killings are a pressing issue across Canada.
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The death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, a Black-Indigenous woman in the presence of Toronto police in May 2020. The New Brunswick police killing of Indigenous woman Chantel Moore during a ‘wellness’ call in early June 2019. THIS YEAR—2020 so far The RCMP shooting of Rodney Levi of the Metepenagiag Mi’kmaq Nation. The Peel police shootings of mental health survivors D’Andre Campbell in April. The shooting of Ejaz Ahmed Choudry in June. These are the most recent manifestations of systemic racist deaths of Black, Indigenous and racialized people at the hands of police forces in Canada. Systemic, institutionalized, violent, anti-Black racism and settler colonialism shape Canadian society and its policing practices. Too many of the people shot and killed by police are people with disabilities.
THIS CANNOT CONTINUE. The past ten years alone have seen increases in routinized killings of Black, racialized and Indigenous people across this country. Toronto has a documented record of anti-Black, antiIndigenous, racist police killings by Police. Violent racist police practices are enmeshed with homophobic, misogynist, anti-trans, anti-disability and anti-poor police violence. The ongoing oppression and neglect of Black, Indigenous and racialized people, sex workers, homeless and poor people are often visible on the streets of Toronto. This is shockingly illustrated in the botched investigations of the McArthur disappearances and serial killings of Brown gay men in Toronto’s Gay village and the unsolved murders of sex workers and trans women such as Alloura Wells, a multiracial trans sex worker and Sumaya Dalmar, a SomaliCanadian transgender woman. SAY THESE NAMES. SAY THESE NAMES.
|| REGIS KORCHINSKI-PAQUET || CHANTEL MOORE || || RODNEY LEVI || D’ANDRE CAMPBELL || EJAZ AHMED CHOUDRY || || ALLOURA WELLS || SUMAYA DALMAR || EDID #EDID EDID #EDID EDID #EDID EDID #EDID EDID #EDID EDID #EDID
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