For generations, people living on this land have been silenced.
Bill C-51 is a new form of censorship. It is a violation of human rights resulting from political dominance – but this is not a new thing.
Indigenous people have been physically and mentally hurt since white people got here. They were enslaved, murdered, purposefully infected with small pox blankets and forced out of their homelands.
Years of genocide. Secrecy. Lies in our history books.
Absolute disrespect for the hospitality and knowledge offered to us by the people who lived here first.
Is this a Canada you are proud of?
I am so happy -and privileged- to live on this land.
We have it incredibly good in Canada BUT, it isn’t good enough.
We need to value the land and the peoples who were here before any of us came to colonize, brutalize and economize. When I say this, I am including the water, sky, soil, plants and animals.
I value the belief systems of Indigenous peoples and do not understand how this ignorance is still happening. I want to learn how to honor and learn the ways instead of ignoring and disrespecting their values. I want to be an ally because I know if anyone can help the stupid white people out of the mess we’ve gotten into, it is the people who were here first.
HEY! Step back and breathe air. Hear the crows calling?
I am not proud of the way Canada is run.
Why are we extracting resources with no consideration for the life and land we are impacting?
Why do we care more about dollar$ than community?
How can I live happily knowing my life is run by rich white men who have no consideration for the immeasurable daily struggles people face?
Why are women being silenced everyday by enforced sexual stereotyping, abductions, misogyny? We are healers, warriors and the bringers of LIFE. How are 2000+ (‘unofficial’) deaths of women being ignored?!?
What can WE do to change this?
– BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE –
Think freely, dangerously, critically about everything you experience.
We need the people we hurt to teach us how to love our land again. As “Canadians”, we have forgotten. I can only hope we are forgiven.
We are all indigenous when you consider that we are born on this earth -OF the earth- WE ARE THE EARTH… so why do we dehumanize our sisters and brothers?
I’m asking for help.
Understand one another. Appreciate what you have. Why take more than you need? Consider all aspects of life on this earth when making decisions. This isn’t about you.
Consider my thoughts because I am speaking from the heart.
Right now I am spending a weekend in Ottawa attending Truth and Reconciliation meetings about residential schooling that happened as recently as 18 years ago. It is hard for me to hear what has happened to people like you and me.
I acknowledge that I am on un-surrendered land and I thank you, sisters and brothers for all this land has offered -and will continue to offer- to me.
~ ♥ Sammantha J. M. (Arisetotrash)
ARISETOTRASH 