Building Responsible Solidarity
You have been directed here because we would like to call you in. This gift has been curated by our team to help further you on your continuum of learning in working with the BIPOC community and decolonizing your practices.
“If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time; but if you are here because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” Lilla Watson, Indigenous Elder, activist, educator (Australia)
“Colonialism is both a root and result of racism and capitalism. A primary cause of the racial wealth divide is colonialism: white Europeans’ theft of land, resources, human bodies and their labor. In order to end racial capitalism, we must disrupt and end colonization.”
— From the Resource Generation Indigenous Solidarity Action Guide, https://resourcegeneration.org/land-reparations-indigenous-solidarity-action-guide/
“There is no requirement of sameness or expectation of agreement, rather there is a requirement to recognize and be responsible in all of our relations.”
— Kerr, Jeannie, and Katya Adamov Ferguson. “Ethical Relationality and Indigenous Storywork Principles as Methodology: Addressing Settler-Colonial Divides in Inner-City Educational Research.” Qualitative Inquiry, vol. 27, no. 6, July 2021, pp. 706–715, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1077800420971864
“It’s crucial to push back the urge to make every conversation about “self.” It is crucial to move beyond “I am an anti-racist individual” to see oneself as part of an anti-racist community. It is crucial to move beyond just talking, and listen. It is crucial to push beyond the desire to be seen, to be praised, and to be celebrated, to consider instead the ways that we can facilitate justice and equality in ways not seen.”
—Dr. David Leonard, Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University
Some questions to consider as you engage with this material (adapted from Resource Generation):
1. What is the history of any land you indirectly/directly have access to/have had access to in your life? What Indigenous people historically or currently inhabit that land, and what is the specific history of how it was stolen?
2. Going deeper, who are the Indigenous people/communities where you live? What are the locations of Village sites, both present and past? What traditional placenames, stories, economies, and cultural practices exist? What Nations have territories in the surrounding areas? What historical relationships existed between these different Nations? What languages are spoken? What protocols guide good relationships? What laws exist? What is the political landscape of both recognized and unrecognized Nations where you live?
3. Commit to the slow process of building relationships with Indigenous people where you live. Do not rush this process, and do not abandon or de-prioritize these relationships when things take longer than you expect, or when you encounter conflict. Also keep in mind that you are not entitled to relationships nor to people’s time and energy; strong, healthy relationships are reciprocal and consensual. There is a deeply harmful pattern of non-indigenous people dehumanizing, using, and extracting from Indigenous people; take great care to unlearn these behaviours so you can show up responsibly as you build relationships.
4. What are the visions and struggles of Indigenous people in the area you live? Show up and support the work that is ongoing. This might be fundraising for land or other resources, attending actions/marches, disrupting ignorant or racist comments, behaviours, patterns, holding elected officials accountable, petitioning boards of corporations and nonprofits, and/or helping to improve access and safety for people wanting to utilize their territory. De-commodifying and restitution of land to Indigenous people is the primary goal; we must be working within the visions and struggles of Indigenous people to accomplish this. You may think you have good ideas and intentions, but it is more important and effective to take leadership and direction from Indigenous people whose territory you are living and working in.
5. In what ways have you been a beneficiary of colonialism and white supremacy? What is your family history, how did you and your people come to live where you do? What privileges or material resources, such as jobs, money, land, have you been able to accumulate? In what ways do you intentionally or unintentionally support ongoing systems of oppression? Start brainstorming ways that you could redistribute and share any unearned/stolen resources and privileges. Make a list of actions that you can take, small and large, to unlearn and divest from white supremacy and colonialism.
Note: strong feelings or reactions might come up during your research and personal reflection time. Responses could include defensiveness, anger, shame, guilt. Practice staying with and exploring these feelings, using emotional self-regulating tools as needed.
Protocol for being a respectful guest
Shared by ɬaʔamɩn Elder, Elsie Paul, As I Remember It
Resources to disrupt complicity in systems of oppression & inform responsible solidarity work
Calls to Action, policy & legislation primers
- Truth & Reconciliation – Calls to Action
- MMIWG2+ – Calls for Justice
- Yellowhead Institute Briefs
- The Indian Act
- The White Paper – 1969
- Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
101 – Training & Toolkits
- Towards Braiding – decolonizing and solidarity building for organizations
- Land Reparations & Indigenous Solidarity Toolkit – Resource Generation
- Indigenous Allies Toolkit – by Dakota Swiftwolfe for Reseau Network (Montreal)
- Indigenous Issues 101 – primer by Chelsea Vowel
- Skills for Solidarity – building a grounded solidarity praxis // video series from Lead Now
- Allyship & Solidarity Guidelines – Decolonization in Theory & Practice
- Yellowhead Institute: An Indigenous Abolitionist Study Guide
- Rethinking Thanksgiving Toolkit – Indigenous Solidarity Network
- 27 Tips on What to Say and Do – ebook
- I can fix it by damali ayo – how to intercept racism
- Ally Bill of Responsibilities – compiled by Dr. Lynn Gehl, Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe
- Speak Up – tools for responding to everyday bigotry
- Aboriginal Awareness – Playlist of 101 videos produced by ICTINC
- MOOC – Indigenous Canada – free 12-part course offered through the U of Alberta
From the Territory
- We Are Still Here – audio documentary by jehjehmedia
- Tla’amin Nation Documentary – history of the territory
- Search For Klahoose Ancestors – transcript of lecture
- As I Remember It: Teachings from the Life of a Sliammon Elder – interactive website and teaching tool by Elsie Paul
- Storytelling in the fourth world: Explorations in Meaning of Place and Tla’amin Resistance to Dispossession by Lyana Marie Patrick (B.A. University of Victoria, 1997)
- Blanket Exercise – audio documentary
- Princess J by Jacqueline Mathieu & Morgan Tams
- Behind Every Good Man Are Strong Women by Jacqueline Mathieu
- Collection of images from cortes museum – settler children play acting as “Indians” in school context
- Sketches from the Life of Mike Manson – Memories of early colonization; written by Michael Manson (in his own words) while he was serving as an MLA for the colonial provincial government
- Tla’amin Final Agreement
- Possible Name Change – Joint Working Committee Final Report
Go Deeper
Zines & Graphic Novels
- 500+ Years of Indigenous Resistance – Warrior Publications zine
- Everyone calls themselves an ally until it’s time to do some ally shit – Ancestral Pride zine
- This Place: 150 Years Retold
- 500 Years of Resistance by Gord Hill
- Coyote & Crow – tabletop role-playing game
Articles – Exploring nuances of decolonial praxis
- IndigiNews – independent Indigenous-centered media and storytelling
- Stamina for decolonizing higher education – Decolonial Futures
- Wanna be an ally? – Decolonial Futures
- Why I can’t hold space for you anymore – Decolonial Futures
- Decolonizing Together – Moving beyond a politics of solidarity toward a practice of decolonization; article by Harsha Walia
- Shut Down Canada by Jeff Shantz
- What is decolonization and why does it matter – article by Eric Ritskes, Managing Editor at Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society
- Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society – open access journal (2012-2018)
- White Privilege – Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack – Peggy McIntosh
- Decolonization is not a metaphor by Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang
- Challenging Racism And The Problem With White “Allies”: A Conversation With David Leonard; by Suey Park
- Ancient History Shows How We Can Create a More Equal World, David Graeber and David Wengrow
- Dorries, H. (2022). What is planning without property? Relational practices of being and belonging. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 40(2), 306–318. https://doi.org/10.1177/02637758211068505
Books & Manifestos – un/learning our history
- The True Story of Canada’s “War” of Extermination on the Pacific by Tom Swanky
- Reconciliation Manifesto by Arthur Manuel
- 21 Things You May Not Know about the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality by Bob Joseph
- Blackfoot Ways of Knowing – Bastien, B. “Blackfoot ways of knowing: the worldview of the Siksikaitsitapi”. University of Calgary Press, Calgary, Alberta, 2004
- The Combahee River Collective Statement (1977) by Combahee River Collective
- RUMPLE your policies – KC Clemens
- The Solutions Index – an open source dropbox full of teaching slides and ideas to inspire folks asking “what can we do?”
Videos, Podcasts & Interviews
- Settlers on the Red Road: A Conversation on Indigeneity, Belonging, and Responsibility Interview with Tawinikay
- For the Wild podcast
- Finding our way podcast
- Disrupting the “Perfect Stranger” Dr. Susan D. Dion – video (part of a series)
- “I’m Crazy?” John Trudell
- “Bad Indians” by Ryan Red Corn
- Conservation through Reconciliation – webinars and dialogues
- Whiteness is a death cult – Sonya Renee Taylor
- Guided by Spirit: It’s who we are and where we are from (Session C6)
- DCMI Webinar: Centering Relationality in Indigenous Knowledge Organization
- Indigenous Rights and Private Conservation: Creating Pathways for Respect and Responsibility
- Rights Versus Responsibilities: An Indigenous Perspective
- I’m Crazy – John Trudell