Questions of Indigenous identity at Queen's University

[marshwiggle]

This is an interesting story.

Indigenous community hurt amid allegations of false identity at Queen's

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, especially if consensus is elusive regarding what counts as legitimate "identity".

[Parasaurolophus]

We'll see how it plays out. The story on the report (which is 53 pages long) is here.

This particular case sounds pretty complicated, since it involves a number of faculty members who identify as members of a non-status Nation. While members of a non-status Nation may not have legal Indigenous status, that doesn't mean they aren't Indigenous. Think of the Métis, for instance, who were only recently recognized as a Nation; or think of the Inuit, who are Indigenous but not a First Nation. And we have to remember a long history of status-fuckery with the Indian Act, which meant that women couldn't pass on their Indigenous status, that men going to war had to renounce theirs permanently, etc. (I have a friend whose grandfathers both served in WW2 and so had to renounce their status; they came home, married Indigenous women on their home reserves, and their children were therefore counted as white. That's fucked up.)

Meanwhile, another mass grave of hundreds of children was found at the last Residential School to close (it closed in 1997).

[marshwiggle]

We'll see how it plays out. The story on the report (which is 53 pages long) is here.

This particular case sounds pretty complicated, since it involves a number of faculty members who identify as members of a non-status Nation. While members of a non-status Nation may not have legal Indigenous status, that doesn't mean they aren't Indigenous. Think of the Métis, for instance, who were only recently recognized as a Nation; or think of the Inuit, who are Indigenous but not a First Nation. And we have to remember a long history of status-fuckery with the Indian Act, which meant that women couldn't pass on their Indigenous status, that men going to war had to renounce theirs permanently, etc. (I have a friend whose grandfathers both served in WW2 and so had to renounce their status; they came home, married Indigenous women on their home reserves, and their children were therefore counted as white. That's fucked up.)

Sure, those situations were caused by the Indian Act, but now it's the Indigenous community themselves debating who belongs and who doesn't. This time it's not the government's problem.

Meanwhile, another mass grave of hundreds of children was found at the last Residential School to close (it closed in 1997).

The sooner they do these investigations at all of the former residential schools, the better. It's horrible, but having these things dribble out over decades just ensures that nothing can ever get any sort of proper resolution.