Kanata
Discover Canada is the official study guide for the Canadian citizenship test. Passing a citizenship test and taking the oath of citizenship are the last two legal steps of becoming a Canadian citizen after a lengthy immigration process. However, in this official study guide and many other immigrant-facing documents, the Government of Canada has been downplaying its history of settler colonialism and the ongoing system of oppression in Canadian society.
The colonizer did not only seize land but also minds. If colonialism’s influence had been merely the control of land that would have required only one form of resistance, but when information is also colonized, it is essential that the resistance must interrogate issues related to education, information and intellectual transformation. (Sefa and Kempf, pp. ix-x)
Immigrants and Indigenous peoples are the two fastest-growing segments of the Canadian population; however, there are significant emotional, cultural, social and physical gaps between these two communities. (Anderson, 2021) It is essential for immigrants, including the racialised ones, to recognise their role as Settlers and their complicity in the oppression of Indigenous peoples, and then to educate themselves about Canada’s history and current role as a settler state and white supremacist. As an immigrant, my effort starts with Think Kanata, an interpretation and translation of Discover Canada. Through this project, I urge immigrants like me to consider what it actually means to be a Canadian and what kind of citizen they wish to become.
The only way forward for building political, social, and other collaborative relationships between Indigenous peoples and newcomers in Canada is for activists, academics, and others to attempt to breakdown pillars of white supremacy and approach relationship building through a decolonized anti-racist framework. (Chung, 2012)
References
Anderson, M. D. (2021) 'Citizenship Act, Bill to Amend—Second Reading‘, Hansard: Debates of the Senate, 9 June, Volume 152, Issue 46. Available at: https://sencanada.ca/en/content/sen/chamber/432/debates/046db_2021-06-08-e#49 (12 November 2023).
Chung, M. M. L. (2012) The Relationships Between Racialized Immigrants and Indigenous Peoples in Canada: A Literature Review (Online). Available from: https://rshare.library.torontomu.ca/articles/thesis/The_Relationships_Between_Racialized_Immigrants_and_Indigenous_Peoples_in_Canada_A_Literature_Review/14648922/1 (Accessed 12 November 2023).
Sefa, D. G. J. and Kempf, A. (2006) Forward in Anti-colonialism and education: The Politics of Resistance. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. pp. ix-x. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HyupVZD5SzwC&vq=minds&source=gbs_navlinks_s (Accessed: 12 November 2023).
SMITH, A., 2010. Indigeneity, ‘Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy’, Global Dialogue (Online), 12(2), pp. 1-13. Available at: https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/indigeneity-settler-colonialism-white-supremacy/docview/866741293/se-2?accountid=10342 (Accessed: 12 November 2023).