FIVE STORIES ON TURTLE ISLAND
1. Speaking of the Super Bowl, commentators were quick to point out all of the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist imagery and messages in rapper Bad Bunny’s halftime show, and how this appealed to Indigenous Peoples in countries throughout the world.
Latin America is deeply intertwined with Indigenous cultures and nations, with 42 million Indigenous Peoples living alongside, with, and making up a part of virtually every family tree today. The Taino people, who share Bad Bunny’s home of Puerto Rico, were the first Indigenous Peoples to greet Christopher Columbus.
So, it meant as much to Indigenous Peoples as to Latinos when Bad Bunny ended his very political and historically focused performance with the phrase “seguimos aquí,” which means “we’re still here” — a message the artist has thought about his entire career.
Unsurprisingly, and fully on message with his attack on all things remotely Indigenous, U.S. President Donald Trump called Bad Bunny’s performance a “slap in the face.” Yup, Donald, it sure was… just not in the way you think it was.
2. More locally, I hope everyone is keeping an eye on a very interesting federal court trial taking place between Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) and the federal government about how a hydro dam in Grand Rapids built in the 1960s devastated the community and rapidly changed their traditional way of life.
OCN has been fighting the federal government over the impacts of this dam and others for three decades and this week is another chapter in the community’s fight to have their rights understood, territories respected and traumas recognized.
With alarming regularity, OCN experiences environmental disasters due to development projects and I hope all in this province watch to see whether my Cree relations’ experience here is affirmed.
3. This past week, a new Canadian Consulate opened in Greenland’s capital of Nuuk with special witnesses: an Inuit delegation from Canada. Canada and France have both opened new diplomatic outposts in Greenland in a show of solidarity following U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to take control of the territory last month.
Passengers on an Air Inuit flight wave flags as they travel from Montreal to Nuuk, Greenland on Feb. 5. (Christinne Muschi / The Canadian Press files)
Inuit make up around 80 per cent of the population of Greenland and are the majority of Indigenous peoples in Canada’s north.
“We are one people,” said President Pita Aatami, who represents the Makivvik, an Inuit organization in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, at the consulate opening. “We encompass the circumpolar world of the Arctic… Our message to everyone is: ‘We are very welcoming, but don’t control us.’”
4. I just got back from British Columbia and was reminded how the province is the site of some of this country’s most passionate, controversial and cutting-edge conversations on Indigenous rights, representation and reconciliation.
This past week, former Conservative leader John Rustad announced to a crowd at a provincial Conservative party event discussing B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or DRIPA, that: “First Nations would not exist without Canada.”
The B.C. government is experiencing a “rubber hitting the road” moment over DRIPA after a court ruling determined Indigenous rights are now legally enforceable due to the passing of the law and are not only symbolic. Facing calls from Conservatives to repeal Indigenous rights altogether because virtually all citizens in the province live on lands unceded by First Nations, B.C. Premier David Eby is now threatening to amend the law and, I suppose, make it symbolic?
This will be fascinating for Eby and the province as a potential early election looms.
5. Last but not least, I’m hoping everyone is still keeping an eye on the inquest into the shooting of Eishia Hudson as hearings entered a second week. This week Hudson’s friends, who were in the car with her when she was shot, testified to being intoxicated that day when the events occurred, but also being very afraid before the shots rang out that killed their 16-year-old friend.
Hearings in the inquest are expected to continue until the end of the month.
IN PICTURES
Bad Bunny performs during the Super Bowl halftime show Sunday. (The Associated Press files)
RECONCILI-ACTION OF THE WEEK
Every week I highlight an action, moment, or milestone forwarding reconciliation, illustrating how far Canada has come — and how far the country has yet to go.
This week’s reconciliaction of the week is for everyone at Red River College Polytech and the Manitoba Government Employees’ Union who centralized truth and reconciliation principles during their labour negotiation and created a new model of collaboration that led to a ground-breaking collective bargaining agreement.
The process involved traditional negotiating principles, oversight by elders and a community-based and collective ratification by members.
As RRC president Fred Meier told media: “It is a part of everything we do, and truth and reconciliation can find its way into processes that we normally don’t think that truth and reconciliation fit.” As someone who has worked with RRC for years in various capacities, this is a pretty exciting development to witness. Way to go, RRC and MGEU.
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