Whose Territory Am I On?

If you attended the Simon Fraser University, or, indeed, any institution or cultural event in Vancouver, you will probably have heard - on a number of occasions – something like the following: “I would like to respectfully acknowledge that we are on unceded Coast Salish Territory; the traditional territories of the Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw), Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam  (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) and Kwikwetlem First Nations.”

I have heard those words on numerous occasions during my time at SFU: at the beginning of lectures, at the opening of events, in the welcome address when I first arrived at the university. However, it wasn’t until my First Nations class with Madeline Knickerbocker, in which she asked us to recall whose territory we were on, that I realised I did not know. I had listened to those words countless times and yet realised with horror that when she asked us to repeat it back to her, I couldn’t. Indeed, I had heard the words so often that I had actually stopped listening to what they meant.

Slightly reassuring but still incredibly worrying was the fact that many others in the class, including people born and raised in Vancouver, also did not know whose territory we were on. I was horrified with myself for not knowing, but even more so by the fact that so few of us did. I generally consider myself to be open minded and respectful, and I have committed a lot of my time in Canada to understanding the Indigenous people here, so I was disappointed by my own ignorance in this matter.

Jump forward one week later. In one of my other history classes we were assigned an article by Jean Barman entitled ‘Erasing Indigenous Indigeneity in Vancouver’. The article outlines in full and extensive detail the unsettling of Indigenous reserves in the Vancouver area, specifically the Kitsilano reserve and those people living in the Whoi WHoi (X̱wáýx̱way) region and at Brockton Point by Stanley Park. Yet again, I found this incredibly unsettling to read and realised that previously I had not known about these people. The article outlines how Indigenous families were forcibly and unwillingly relocated from the Kitsilano Reserve, away from the fish corral they had established on the sand bar which is now Granville Island, a place where they had lived since time immemorial. Those living at Brockton Point by Stanley Park were also relocated. In each case, it was simply because the areas were seen as an “eyesore” and a “hindrance” to the development of the ever-growing metropolitan city of Vancouver. Just two weeks ago I was traipsing around the entirety of Vancouver with my boyfriend Jamie, excitedly showing him Stanley Park and the Granville Island Public Market, without even considering whose land I was actually on and the people that were displaced from these spaces. To learn that the totem poles in Stanley Park were erected as the Indigenous communities were forcibly removed from the area was horrifying, built as Barman explains “to create the illusion that Vancouver was indigenous friendly, even as it rid itself of the real thing”. The totem poles in place are not even from the Coast Salish peoples that lived in Vancouver, but rather from North Coast Indigenous communities, meaning that they are not even an accurate representation of the people that lived here. Just two weeks ago I was posing in front of those totem poles, ignorant to what they actually represented.  Reading Barman’s article made me realise - in a way that I had only superficially before - that the land Vancouver is built on really isn’t our land. And now I am faced with an overwhelming question: “what on earth am I meant to do with this realisation”?

I recognise that I have been slow to come to this proper understanding, and that this does reveal my ignorance, but I feel slightly excused by the fact that I have only lived in this city for 4 months. As my instructor Maddie told us in class, it is okay not to know things; that’s why we are students, we are here to learn. But once you do know, you cannot un-know it, and you have to accept some responsibility for the knowledge. But that is the hard part. How am I meant to live, work and study in this city knowing that it is rightfully someone else’s territory? The more time I spend in Canada and the more I learn about the Indigenous communities here, the more I am overwhelmed with guilt by my position as a white British European, the cause of colonisation and settlement that lead to such destruction. But it has also been pointed out to me that this guilt is not a productive feeling to focus on. In discussing the guilt I feel at this situation, I am in danger of, yet again, focusing the narrative on the white settler, rather than the Indigenous communities in question.

And so with that in mind, I am determined to channel these feelings toward something more productive. What can – and will – I do now? Firstly, I want to commit myself to learning about Indigenous history and cultural practises, so that I can understand these people in a deeper and more respectful way. I intend to do this by reading more Indigenous literature, starting with Tomson Highway’s Kiss of the Fur Queen. I also want to open up discussions with my friends about this matter, and I intend this blogpost to be the first step towards doing this. To those of my friends on exchange in North America (or even Australia), I strongly encourage you to research whose territory you are on. There is a useful resource for exactly this: https://native-land.ca/. I also want to attend Indigenous cultural events as a means by which to show respect for the community, beginning with the Woman’s Memorial March on February 14^th.  

But there are also numerous other ways to take part in reconciliation. Crystal Fraser and Sara Komarnsiky’s article is incredibly useful in helping us to see how we can undergo small, everyday acts which can help us contribute to reconciliation, and I strongly encourage you to view this also: http://activehistory.ca/2017/08/150-acts-of-reconciliation-for-the-last-150-days-of-canadas-150/

During the last few months I have had my eyes awakened to the horrors of colonisation in a way that I had not fully appreciated before, and I am determined to do all I can to help redeem and reconcile this situation. I hope you are too.