When I edited this video - several weeks ago - I figured I’d wait until Canada day to post it, seeing as it’s about my journey across Canada. And now I feel super weird about it.
I’m proud to be Canadian. I really am. We’re known internationally for being “nice”, and saying “sorry”. As a young woman, I was more than happy to be thought of as polite and likeable while travelling abroad, isn’t that what every woman should aim to be?
I remember the protests surrounding Canada’s 150th celebrations.
For (probably) the first time, I was thinking about my existence in this country as something to be ashamed of. I only get to be here, and have all the privileges I have, because this land was stolen from its original inhabitants.
Half-a-billion taxpayer dollars were spent celebrating colonialism in 2017 for Canada’s 150th.
That’s fucking gross.
I’m embarrassed to say I’ve only recently begun my own journey of anti-racist activism, but I know I’m not alone. It took three months of nationwide solitude, and the brutal murder of George Floyd caught on video for the white world to wake up - for us not to look away this time. We had to be stripped of our busy lives - the comforts of self-imposed ignorance - to realize that our silence has shaped the world we live in, and to take responsibility for that. Now we must use our voices and our privilege to fight against institutionalized racism and hate crimes. We must fight for justice.
As an ally, I am committed to listening and learning, now and always.
If you are Canadian, and you’d like to learn more about Indigenous history in this country, and about contemporary issues facing those communities today, I invite you to join me in completing this free online course offered by the University of Alberta.