Keywords:
Indigenous, equity, activism, inclusive pedagogy
Indigenous, equity, activism, inclusive pedagogy
Transcript
Catherine: To be quite honest, I don’t give a shit about Justin Trudeau attending the Pride march. I don’t care about our Prime Minister, um, I just, I might as well have a Ken Barbie doll. Because of the fact that he is a liar, as an Indigenous ally, I do not believe a word that comes out of his mouth. And, everything that he has promised did not come through and every minute that he was at the Pride march another day went by with Indigenous families without water. So, I don’t care.
Nazbah: Yeah, I’m not either American...U.S. or Canadian. I’m not a big fan of Empire, as I call it. Um, and, uh, it’s...I’m totally losing my train of thought here, but totally agreeing with what you’re saying. Oh gosh, I was going to say something really brilliant following what you were saying.
Tara: It’ll come up...back.
Nazbah: It’ll come up. Um, oh yeah, so yeah. I refer to Trudeau as a "Coyote." So, in my culture, Coyote’s a trickster, right? Um, and really, I think trickster in this iteration also really coopting feminism and most particularly white feminism which is very different from intersectional feminism. This idea of really reifying certain people in, um, society having equality at the expense of a bunch of other folks, right? So, his sort of white feminism is really doing a lot of damage to communities of colour. So, this idea of repopulating his cabinet with half female cabinet members. Um, I thought, “Oh, that’s interesting. I wonder what that’s all about?” And, then reading later an article saying that there were two key positions that dealt with economics and the economy that were still populated by men that were actually way more powerful than the other cabinet positions. And so, you know, when it really comes down to it, you know, he’s still deferring to people like him, which are straight, white men who are, I don’t know if he’s Christian or not, but you know, that sort of empire. Empire does not want to let go of power, right? Um, and Empire is very good at propaganda, very good at optics, and will take any chance to co-opt any movement, right? And we really see that play out here, with Trudeau and them. Even when, is that the Premier? I’m still learning all the names for the governors and all that, but um, yah, so, you know, if he’s willing to push out Indigenous folks who are supposed to be at the forefront of the march to preserve his optics, to preserve his –whatever image he’s trying to maintain, um, it’s terrifying, right, when we know that, like you were saying, there’s communities that are still without fresh water, right? A very basic human need. And a host of other things, right? And that we’re willing to spend half a billion dollars to blow up some frickin’ balloons and, you know, paddle a rubber ducky down the waterway. It’s really really scary. Like, that –that it would rather celebrate its infant self rather than acknowledge the millennia of history that’s here that has been, you know, very violently taken over and not acknowledged, right? I mean, talk about self-analysis and self-reflection. I think there’s individual shapes that can do that, and there’s also collective shapes that can do that, and I think as a collective shape of people who want to call themselves Canadian, right, I think that is a pretty, uh, crucial thing that has to happen. In order for this myth of inclusivity in Canada to even come close to it being a reality. Um, and I think it’ll take more than 150 years for that to happen. If it took, you know, several thousand years for hundreds of Indigenous communities to co-exist, right, we can’t expect Canada to do that in the next 150 years, especially at the rate it’s going, it would rather invest in arms, right, rather than you know all the stuff that actually really matters, so I don’t give a shit about empire because it doesn’t give a shit about me.
Catherine: To be quite honest, I don’t give a shit about Justin Trudeau attending the Pride march. I don’t care about our Prime Minister, um, I just, I might as well have a Ken Barbie doll. Because of the fact that he is a liar, as an Indigenous ally, I do not believe a word that comes out of his mouth. And, everything that he has promised did not come through and every minute that he was at the Pride march another day went by with Indigenous families without water. So, I don’t care.
Nazbah: Yeah, I’m not either American...U.S. or Canadian. I’m not a big fan of Empire, as I call it. Um, and, uh, it’s...I’m totally losing my train of thought here, but totally agreeing with what you’re saying. Oh gosh, I was going to say something really brilliant following what you were saying.
Tara: It’ll come up...back.
Nazbah: It’ll come up. Um, oh yeah, so yeah. I refer to Trudeau as a "Coyote." So, in my culture, Coyote’s a trickster, right? Um, and really, I think trickster in this iteration also really coopting feminism and most particularly white feminism which is very different from intersectional feminism. This idea of really reifying certain people in, um, society having equality at the expense of a bunch of other folks, right? So, his sort of white feminism is really doing a lot of damage to communities of colour. So, this idea of repopulating his cabinet with half female cabinet members. Um, I thought, “Oh, that’s interesting. I wonder what that’s all about?” And, then reading later an article saying that there were two key positions that dealt with economics and the economy that were still populated by men that were actually way more powerful than the other cabinet positions. And so, you know, when it really comes down to it, you know, he’s still deferring to people like him, which are straight, white men who are, I don’t know if he’s Christian or not, but you know, that sort of empire. Empire does not want to let go of power, right? Um, and Empire is very good at propaganda, very good at optics, and will take any chance to co-opt any movement, right? And we really see that play out here, with Trudeau and them. Even when, is that the Premier? I’m still learning all the names for the governors and all that, but um, yah, so, you know, if he’s willing to push out Indigenous folks who are supposed to be at the forefront of the march to preserve his optics, to preserve his –whatever image he’s trying to maintain, um, it’s terrifying, right, when we know that, like you were saying, there’s communities that are still without fresh water, right? A very basic human need. And a host of other things, right? And that we’re willing to spend half a billion dollars to blow up some frickin’ balloons and, you know, paddle a rubber ducky down the waterway. It’s really really scary. Like, that –that it would rather celebrate its infant self rather than acknowledge the millennia of history that’s here that has been, you know, very violently taken over and not acknowledged, right? I mean, talk about self-analysis and self-reflection. I think there’s individual shapes that can do that, and there’s also collective shapes that can do that, and I think as a collective shape of people who want to call themselves Canadian, right, I think that is a pretty, uh, crucial thing that has to happen. In order for this myth of inclusivity in Canada to even come close to it being a reality. Um, and I think it’ll take more than 150 years for that to happen. If it took, you know, several thousand years for hundreds of Indigenous communities to co-exist, right, we can’t expect Canada to do that in the next 150 years, especially at the rate it’s going, it would rather invest in arms, right, rather than you know all the stuff that actually really matters, so I don’t give a shit about empire because it doesn’t give a shit about me.