When I first came to Canada as an international undergraduate student, I thought I knew a decent amount about the country. After applying to various universities and finally deciding on Canada, and Kelowna in particular, I began to do my research. It was a methodical process, looking into all the new things I would have to learn to live, survive, and hopefully do well as an international student. Throughout my research, I found mentions of the land on which UBC Okanagan was built. I learned briefly about the Sylix Okanagan people from a page on the university website, in reference to an Indigenous Studies program and the language fluency programs provided. I clicked through photos, watched a video, and then stopped, thinking I had learnt enough.
This, by all measures, was false.
I came to Kelowna amid wildfires and did not understand anything about the land I had decided to move onto for the foreseeable future. I had started my first year by not understanding the importance of the land acknowledgements at the beginning of speeches, on top of syllabuses, and at the bottom of websites. I know the familiar land acknowledgement well by now: “We respectfully acknowledge the Syilx Okanagan Nation and their peoples, in whose traditional, ancestral, unceded territory UBC Okanagan is situated.”
I understand now that I am a non-white settler on these lands. My ability to come to Canada and take up space in an institution like UBCO is a privilege. Still, it is also me being complicit in the generational violence against Indigenous People, especially on the land that I find myself on, which is the land of the Sylix Okanagan people. But is knowing that enough?
If the land is traditional, ancestral, and unceded, what is UBCO doing here? What rights do we, students, faculty members, and workers, have to live, work, and profit from this land? Who are these land acknowledgements for, and how can we move beyond them? What can settlers do beyond saying: yes, this land is not ours. What do we do about that?
I interviewed various people who work in Indigenous circles at UBCO and the Students’ Union Okanagan to get their thoughts on the subject and what Indigeneity, the identity of being Indigenous, means to them as a practice, a life, and a way to honour the land of the Sylix Okanagan people.
Professor Monica Good, an Assistant Professor at UBCO, spoke to me about the complicated institutionalisation of land acknowledgements:
“When I came here 11 years ago from the States, there were no land acknowledgements [in the US] at the time, so I found it very beautiful that they were doing it here at UBC Okanagan. But now… While I do recognise its importance, I do not want it to be tokenised. [...] I believe that [land acknowledgements] should not be merely symbolic. If it's done thoughtfully, it can play a bigger role in the process of decolonisation and reconciliation in different ways. It should not be just acknowledging the land but also acknowledging historical injustice, land displacement, dispossession, violence, and the racism that Indigenous people[s] continue to face due to colonisation. Land acknowledgements can and should take up roles in different ways, not just for acknowledgements but as tools for change.”
We cannot escape the idea of responsibility while talking about land acknowledgements and their importance. The whole idea of acknowledging the land that we are on is not simply to say we are on this land; it is to take responsibility for our presence on this land, to ensure that we provide space for Indigenous people to reclaim their land, and not contribute to the further stealing or destruction of it. Land acknowledgements cannot remain to be just statements. They are just the first steps.
Land acknowledgements have always been about responsibility. Do you take responsibility for the land you are on? But the question can also be broadened. It is a question that Canada has tried to answer through the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2007, which was created to share and collect stories of survivors from Canada’s residential school system. The Commission’s final report included many Calls to Action, which included the creation of the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation as a statutory holiday in Canada, more informally known as Orange Shirt Day.
But is this day just another land acknowledgement in disguise?
Lily Packo, the lead volunteer of the Indigenous Peoples Collective at the SUO, shared some of her thoughts on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation at IPC:
“The [Indigenous Peoples Collective] had an event during the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, and we had a community meal at Picnic. While the event went well … it’s a time that is so hard for a lot of Indigenous people. [...] I think people need to realise that that time is for you to find ways to educate yourself and support the Indigenous community instead of depending on learning from us only at that time. People rely on Indigenous people to understand Indigenous truth and reconciliation. They think, ‘So I need to ask Indigenous people about this or learn this from Indigenous people.’ But you also have to understand that this is a day that Indigenous people are mourning.”
While the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation was initially meant to be a day for survivors of the residential school system to have a space to heal and reconcile their trauma within their communities, more often now, it has become a day for the settlers to educate themselves. To a large extent, Indigenous People are expected to be the holders of truth and history, expected to do the emotional labour for settlers on this day, which is already so painful for them. We also often forget that this day is not meant for remembering and honouring. This day represents what many Indigenous People want: action. Action beyond wearing an Orange Shirt for the same day two years in a row and then donating it. Action beyond a neutral land acknowledgement.
Professor Shawn Wilson, an Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies, shared some words about The National Day of Truth and Reconciliation:
“Remembrance Day was just a couple of weeks ago, and for [Indigenous People], it's the same as Remembrance Day if you start to think about the weight it holds for us. When you think about how Veterans Day started, it was specifically to honour the people who gave their lives in World War I and II. So part of that Remembrance Day was to remember the horrors of war so that you don't repeat them. It's not about honouring war. It's honouring the victims of war so you don't repeat the process. So, if you start to think about Truth and Reconciliation Day, it's recognising the Indigenous People who died. If you were a soldier in war, you had better odds of surviving that than surviving going to residential school. So, for many Indigenous People, the day recognises that, yes, we need to honour those people who died, but we also must recognise that we do not want this to happen again.”
So, what can we do so that what Canada has done to Indigenous People is not repeated? Land, which has still not been returned to Indigenous People, is now being used for pipelines, gas lines, and other destructive constructions without consent. Instead of returning to the land and its stewards, we do the opposite. We move towards technology and so-called ‘innovation’ to save us. Despite the overwhelming evidence in front of us, people have decided to move away from the land and ignore the tribes and elders, to let it all burn and work on something else until the cycle continues. We try again until nothing is left.
When it is too late, it is then that we may realise we have been doing it wrong the whole time. That we should have taken into consideration the Indigenous knowledge systems that have existed here since time immemorial and remember that Indigenous People are the ones who took care of this land far before the colonisation of Turtle Island began.
Professor Wilson, whose research focuses on applying Indigenous methodologies to community practices, shared his thoughts on how Indigenous knowledge works.
“Indigenous knowledge is a science in its own right, and it has its own system behind how things work, as compared to Western science. We must recognize that they're different systems, but they're still both systems, and they each have their limitations. Western science is limited in that it's really good at seeing things that are inside the box and understanding them well, but it sucks at understanding anything that's outside the box. Indigenous science has the ability to understand some ways of doing things that fall outside the box of Western science in a deep and profound way. So, as soon as you start to think of … things like understanding my own feelings or … my own relationship with the land, Western science is not going to give you that understanding. But there are different Indigenous systems and ways of doing things that will help you to understand that a lot better.”
Indigeneity on this campus still has a long way to go. There is a distinct lack of understanding of Indigenous identity and recognition despite UBCO's agreement with the Okanagan Nation Alliance and the programming the university has set up in accordance with it.
We, as settlers, often relegate issues related to Indigenous People as other or not having anything to do with us. But, what we must realise, whether it is regarding Indigeneity or issues having to do with any oppressed, racialised group, is that all systems of power are interconnected. Whether it has to do with labour rights, the autonomy of women, or even our rights as students – to have our voices heard and, at the very least, be treated equally – it all comes back to the ways of life that the Sylix Okanagan people are already living and the values they have enshrined in every part of their lives.
The adoption of Western, colonial values has led to these issues in our lives as students, people, and citizens of the world.
Sometimes, it can feel overwhelming to cope with the weight and the history of an unfair world. At those times, we must remember how action can lead to healing, for healing the Sylix Okanagan people is also healing for us. As Professor Good put it:
“Learn how to speak nsyilxcən. Recognise the knowledge that Indigenous elders have. Understand the world as Indigenous people have understood it.”
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