Fodongo is put together in the territory that is currently called “Vancouver“.
These lands are the unceded and unsurrendered territories of Halkomelem speaking peoples, as well as the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Land acknowledgements are largely performative, and rarely do anything other than provide lip-service while local, provincial and federal governments continue to over-police, ignore and abuse First Nations.
Take for example the violence committed against land defenders by RCMP in Fairy Creek, or in favor of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion, or the numerous cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women that continue to go unsolved. Not to mention the devastating and lasting effects of Residential Schools. These things have been done while the governments purportedly support Indigenous rights and self-determination, and allegedly respect treaties and agreements with the Nations whose lands they intrude upon.
I am an immigrant, and as such I benefit from abuses and land theft done to the Indigenous populations of “Canada” since the establishment of the British and French colonies and to this day. The fact that I benefit from it does not mean I accept it as something that cannot be changed, and I support movements for actual Truth, Reconciliation and Land Back.
These land acknowledgements are the bare minimum that also allows the status quo to remain intact, but are also an opportunity for calls to action.
I encourage the reader to support local organizations that advocate for and help First Nations, to not fall for police and RCMP bylines and to engage with media that reports on these abuses.
Here’s a few organizations you can donate to, if you are able to:
Here’re some media outlets that report and give voice to the people being silenced:
Here are some books that are worth reading:
- Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga
- The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King
- Anarcho-Indigenism: Conversations on Land and Freedom edited by Francis Dupuis-Déri and Benjamin Pillet, and with interviews with Gord Hill, Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, Clifton Ariwakehte Nicholas, Veronique Hébert, Freda Huson, Toghestiy and J. Kehaulani Kauanui.
This is a living document. If there’s anything in here that you feel needs some revising, please let me know.