Idle No More
I am in full support of Idle No More and Chief Theresa Spence’s now perilous hunger strike in a tipi across from Canada’s Parliament buildings in Ottawa. Chief of the beleaguered town on Attawapiskat...
View ArticleSettler & pioneer “heritage hipster” styles in the age of Idle No More,...
Men in British Columbia, 1859, one in a newly discovered collection of early photographs of white settlers and First Nations in B.C. Via Vancouver Sun © Royal British Columbia Museum, reprinted with...
View ArticleColonial aesthetics and Ralph Lauren
In a direct line from my earlier post on the heritage hipster style as a settler colonial aesthetic, here is another exhibit in the colonial museum of fashion: Ralph Lauren using genocide-era vintage...
View ArticleNational Aboriginal Day – Wab Kinew’s “500 years in 2 minutes”
Happy National Aboriginal Day everyone! Wab Kinew, always concise, does 500 years of ‘Canadian’ history in 2 minutes. “So what went wrong? It wasn’t always like this when we started down the path. When...
View ArticleCondo as colonialism redux – again
Here’s yet another condo development framed as a modern repeat of Canada’s 19th C colonial pioneer era. It’s called “Venue” and it’s in Whalley, a small town centre within Surrey, a large, racially...
View ArticleIndigenous Writes by Chelsea Vowel
As a white person in Canada, especially one writing about a topic that intersects with Indigenous issues, I have found Métis writer Chelsea Vowel’s blog âpihtawikosisân invaluable. Vowel is a legal...
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The Cowichan sweater of Vancouver Island
The late Amelia Charlie, prominent designer and promoter of the Cowichan sweater Above is an example of the Cowichan sweater (photo courtesy Cowichan Tribes). The Cowichan belong to the Coast Salish...
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Coast Salish storm sewer cover by Susan Point
Storm sewer cover by Coast Salish (Musqueam) artist Susan Point and her daughter Kelly Cannell, depicting four small eggs in the centre, spinning out to tadpoles that become frogs radiating out to the...
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Roy Henry Vickers gallery, Tofino
Roy Henry Vickers‘ gallery in Tofino, BC. The face of the building, similar to the style of a First Nations longhouse or “plank house,” was painted and handcarved by the artist, whose background is...
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CBC’s Wab Kinew on First Nations Stereotypes
Great video from CBC’s George Stromboulopoulos show and its Soap Box series. It’s “5 First Nations Stereotypes” by the entertaining Wab Kinew. Wab, host of the Doc Zone series 8th Fire, is also a CBC...
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