It is not a coincidence that areas with high Indigenous populations are the areas deprived of access to food and health care. At its core, this is an issue of maintaining the dispossession of Indigenous people and the legitimacy of Canadian control; an attempt to destroy the nations and legal orders that we hold in our blood, our muscles, our stomaches, our minds, our mouths.
Author: Erica Violet Lee
nēhiyaw poet. rock & roll and thunder shakes her soul.
“Indigenizing the Academy” without Indigenous people: who can teach our stories?
To paraphrase an Indigenous faculty member, “If I walked in and decided I wanted to teach physics, they would laugh me out of the office. So why is it that this university is allowing someone to teach Indigenous content without the proper qualification?"
An Open Letter to Mastodon regarding your Thanksgiving t-shirts [[Updated With Band Response]]
Dear Troy, Brent, Bill and Brann, A year ago, I finally had the chance to see Mastodon play with Ghost and Opeth in Saskatoon. I was front row center, pressed against the gates for the first two sets. It was easily one of the best lineups I’ve seen, and an amazing night – made even… Continue reading An Open Letter to Mastodon regarding your Thanksgiving t-shirts [[Updated With Band Response]]
For Cindy, For Ourselves: Healing in the context of colonial gender violence
Today is April 2nd, 2015 and across these lands, gatherings will be held for Cindy Gladue. Cindy Gladue was an Indigenous woman, mother, and sex worker. The man charged in her murder was recently acquitted after a dehumanizing trial involving the showcasing of Gladue’s intimate wounds as evidence. Just today, it was announced that the… Continue reading For Cindy, For Ourselves: Healing in the context of colonial gender violence
Reflections on “Redmen” and Indigenous Women’s Organizing
I’ve often wondered how our campaign to change the name of my high school’s sports team, the Bedford Road Redmen, would’ve gone differently if there was a man out front. I'm only now starting to think about the implications of notions of masculinity conjured by sports mascots and what it meant for our little group of primarily Indigenous & non-Indigenous women to challenge those notions. What does it do to challenge that silently stoic cartoon "Redman" face and replace it with an image of real-life Indigenous women saying no?
Erica Violet Lee 