I’ll keep this short, partly because it’s Canada Day and you have fireworks to get to, but mostly because I’m sealed in my office like marmite in a jar, yeasty and unfamiliar (even my wordpress doesn’t recognize marmite as a word), and I’m getting a lot of work done on my paper. So Canada Day reflections.
I have really mixed feelings about national holidays, and holidays in general. I’m not much for patriotism or nationalism. and I can think of places I’d rather have been born and live in than here, so I’m not convinced I live in the greatest country on earth. I’m certainly pretty lucky to live here though, and to enjoy the advantages I have.
But that’s because I’m white.
My father was Mohawk, but was never in the picture, so I don’t identify as Métis. It was never a part of my life, though it was for it was for some of my friends growing up. It only ever came up once, when I thought about applying for a Band card in order to make university more affordable, but I didn’t. How could I, when friends hated theirs, identification that set them apart from everyone else and made them different citizens. I haven’t got the culture, just the blood. I still know some people active in native communities and native rights movements, and to them, Canada Day isn’t anything to celebrate. Confederation marks the creation of a new government which would treat them as second class citizens, make deals and then break them, and continue to erode their claim and culture. Today marks their 145th year of occupation by the Canadian government, and they’re not celebrating, any more than Palestinians celebrate the creation of the state of Israel or the ancient Gauls celebrated the founding of the Roman Empire.
I’m not saying I have an answer to this, I’m not even sure what all the questions are. But Canada Day seems like a pretty good day to remember that this country is built on colonialism and conquest as much as anything else, and we can’t just wash that out of our history. I can’t get mad about it, I don’t think I have the right, but I haven’t forgotten, and can’t stay quiet.
Concept Crucible this week features different epistemologies, or why the scientific method is awesome, as well as a new substitution rule, while TPK has a post on why tension is essential to games, and introduces Harta, a nation of Minotaurs.
Oh, and my paper on applications of the Stakeholder Model? 20 pages out of 25.
