Cuthand: Resolving settler racism way to prevent unrest


Cuthand: Resolving settler racism way to prevent unrest

Doug Cuthand

Photograph by: file photo , The StarPhoenix

Whenever there is racial unrest in the United States, Canadians look around nervously with a combination of fear and guilt and ask, "could it happen here?" The answer is a definite maybe.

Somehow, this issue continues to raise its ugly head. When we had the Oka crisis, I remember reporters asking me when Saskatchewan Indians were going to the barricades. They failed to realize that First Nations are not monolithic. There were expressions of support and sympathy for the Mohawks in Quebec and even demonstrations supporting their action, but that's where it ended.

On a map of the greater St. Louis area that contains the small city of Ferguson, you see an area that looks similar to Saskatoon. Both Ferguson and Saskatoon are metropolitan areas divided by a river, and both have minority populations - blacks there and aboriginal people here - concentrated in the inner city area. Both populations are poor, underprivileged and victims of crime.

But the comparison begins to unravel when you take a closer look.

First, the police force in Ferguson is predominantly white. It has 53 police officers, only three of whom are black. The population of the city is 70 per cent black.

The Saskatoon Police Service, however, is far more diverse, with aboriginal members and other people of colour. The population of Saskatoon is about 20 per cent aboriginal and the overall population is growing in diversity.

The police in Ferguson have been accused of operating as an occupying army rather than a police force. The Saskatoon Police Service is far more integrated into the community.

In Ferguson the police have set up a scene of confrontation. The protesters and police square off against each other. In Saskatoon, police are usually present at demonstrations, but to provide a safe escort for the protesting group. The Saskatoon Police Service has a policy to place public safety first.

Americans are armed to the teeth. Handguns have been reported in the hands of protesters at the Ferguson demonstrations, with the resulting danger to public safety. Police have reacted by becoming a paramilitary force. In Canada, handguns are generally outlawed. If you carry a handgun, you face a three-year mandatory minimum sentence.

Canadians have this annoying attitude that somehow we are morally superior to Americans. It is assumed that we have a racism-free, pluralistic society that functions on a higher plane than the Americans. The reality is that the United States has racism based on bigotry. In Canada, our racism is based on settler colonialism.

Bigotry is straight up racial hatred. It's easy to identify and it has a long history in the U.S. The history of racism in the United States also includes settler racism against the Native Hispanics and Native Americans.

Settler colonialism is more complicated and seemingly benign. Many First Nations people can be mistaken for white people, so it isn't bigotry based on pigment. It's a deep-seated distrust of First Nations people and our communal land tenure, our treaty rights and our position as the first peoples of this land.

Settler racism is a winner-takes-all philosophy that's institutionalized in law. Canada was built on Indian land. Previous governments had to clear the aboriginal people from the land. This was done through treaties with the First Nations and land scrip with the Métis.

The First Nations peoples had been decimated by disease and starvation, and were vulnerable to government negotiators. Once the land was cleared and First Nations placed on reserves, the government began the settlement process.

Settler racism was underway. Our people played no role in the settlement or development of the West. We were denied our culture and religion and our children were taken so that they could be trained as domestics or farm workers.

In the eyes of the government and Canadians our people had nothing to offer and would have to assimilate into Canadian society. This policy was an abject failure as history has proven.

Today we have government termination policies to get rid of our treaty rights, privatize our land and eliminate the few remaining treaty rights the government recognizes. This is why treaty negotiations have been so slow in British Columbia; the federal government isn't interested in a treaty with honour.

The result is a cynical and frustrated First Nations population that's becoming increasingly militant. The Idle No More movement is an example of the resentment that lies below the surface.

So, is unrest possible in Canada and Saskatoon in particular? The answer lies in every one of us. It depends on our ability to work together, gain greater understanding of each other and take a serious review of settler racism and what role it has played in our lives.


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