Post Oka Kinda Woman

Gabriel, along with other speakers at the march, highlighted Canada’s colonial past for how indigenous people have gotten trapped in this cycle of oppression. Colonization involves the process of “othering”; that is, centering Eurocentric ideas and people at the top of the hierarchy. From the inception of Canada, ingenious women were “othered” and viewed as an extension of the land, to be colonized, dehumanized, and fetishized by the colonizers (Alexander M.J. et all, 39; Native Women’s Association, “Root Cause” 3). This attitude has been passed down for generations and compacted with the lasting effects of the 60s scoop and residential schools have left indigenous communities, especially women, vulnerable by disrupting their values, roles, and traditions (Native Women’s Association, “Root Cause”

Illustrating the way in which Canada is still oppressive towards Indigenous peoples, the article Idle No More Combats a Five-Hundred Year-Old Debt details a movement set forth by four Indigenous women working towards abolishing the discriminatory provisions outlined within Bill C-45. With Indigenous sovereignty and the protection of land and water in mind, the Idle No More movement protests the injustices caused by Bill C-45 against Indigenous treaty rights while advocating for environmental protection. Taking a feminist approach on the issue of Bill C-45, these women have created a movement that empowers Indigenous women to fight for justice among Indigenous nations. This was done by arguing that Indigenous women should have some influence

I think the poem is symbolic of the place they currently live and she assures her daughter not to fear because there are no people who will scare them in Saskatoon, their new home.

The Indian Act was created in 1876 and has been amended many times through history. The Act was created by European settlers under the British crown in order to assert control over the Indigenous people of Canada. It developed into the takeover of Indigenous land, imposed the rule of the Crown on Indigenous affairs, openly allowed discrimination, and restricts hunting. Also, the act implemented the abolishment of band councils, entrapment within harsh reserve living conditions, the creation of residential schools, the constraint on traditions, culture, ceremonies, and the systematic growth of cultural genocide. This racist relic has imposed a great deal of injustice towards Indigenous people. It establishes a “us v. them” mentality and separates

Unlike the Europeans, these women kept all the land they owned, as well as their property, and their children. (Ibid.) This was a dream for aspiring feminist leaders. Matilda Joslyn Gage writes, “It is through the Indian women that the problem of their civilization must be answered; the … lands should be in the hands of the women” (Gage 1893).

Thesis: Brenda Child’s My Grandfather’s Knocking Sticks depicts the consequences settler colonialism has had on the Ojibwe people and how the Ojibwe have attempted to repel such colonialism through acts of sovereignty, especially through wage labor. She incorporates personal family stories with a more broad Ojibwe history to more clearly illustrate the personal effects of colonialism rather than abstract concepts of these changes. Child addresses changes in gender roles and tradition as she argues that “[d]ispossession, poverty, cultural destruction, paternalism, and racism… were [and still are] experienced by Indian people in deeply human ways that always involved a loss of freedom (9-10).”

This line also marks a change in the poem for the narrator from expressing her frustrations to possibly coming to terms with them and attempting to put her experiences behind her and move

The overall diction that is used in the poem, is irony. The reason for this use of style, is the woman didn’t

Blauner states that Colonialism occurs when metropolitan nations fuse new territories or peoples through means which are involuntary, such as; war, conquest, capture, and additional forms of enforcement and control (cited by Stevenson,1999). Economic exploitation, as well as, forced entry, and cultural imperialism through the establishment of new institutions and methods of thought, are what distinguishes Colonialism. (Stevenson,1999). More specifically Settler Colonialism is a perpetual social and political structure in which colonizers come to a place, claim it as their own, and do whatever it takes to vanish the Indigenous people who already reside there (Arvin, Tuck & Morrill, 2013). This presentation will discuss the ways in which the European people overtook Canada and colonized the Indigenous women of Canada. This presentation shows that the indigenous women have not been submissive throughout the process of colonization, and the presentation will explore their acts of resistance (Stevenson, 1999). It will also exhibit how social systems have continued to perpetuate a state of colonization on the indigenous women of today. The social systems that perpetuate the colonization of the indigenous women are; heteropatriarchy, racism, and sexism (Stevenson, 1999). Lastly, the presentation will demonstrate how these systems intersect to form oppression of the indigenous women, while creating power for the European colonizers of Canada.

The hardships the young girl faces ultimately leads to her death, which Piercy describes as an "happy ending" (Piercy 25). This seems ironic because death is not something to be considered joyful, especially when one is being bullied and cast out of society. It is also ironic because everyone finally thinks she is pretty once she is dead: "Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said" (Piercy 23). It is horrible to think that it takes a tragedy, such as death, to get everyone to stop and pay attention to someone who was not accepted in society. This poem has a negative tone because of the extreme measures that this girl takes in order to be accepted by society, even if that means taking her own

The only purpose of the Indian Act was to relocate and assimilate Canada’s Aboriginal citizens. It was combined from other legislation meant to force assimilation and displacement. An example of a law from the Indian Act that integrated Aboriginal Canadians is, “The Gradual Civilization Act of 1857.” It was drafted from the principle that by gradually removing distinctions between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people through empowerment, it would be possible to fully absorb Aboriginal People into the Canadian society. This act was the basis of the Indian Act to incorporate the Native people, and absorb them into the Canadian culture. To further adapt Aboriginal Canadians the Canadian government created the “Policy of Assimilation.” The Policy of Assimilation was to ensure Aboriginal People in Canada have no rights unless they integrate and become Canadian. Being conformed into the Canadian mainstream culture meant that the Aboriginal Canadians were not allowed to speak their language; they were dealt cruelly if they spoke their language. For an example, a Native woman came to my class to speak on the subject of assimilation. She explained that she accidently spoke her language and got whipped as a result. Assimilation forced Aboriginal Canadians to dress western-like, change names to standard Canadian citizen names, change culture, religion, and move out reserves (Climatic Parallelism). For an example, an Aboriginal boy had to change his name to Alvin Dixon at

For instance, she says, “Each night I set my boats to sea/ and leave them to their bawdy business./ Whether they drift off/ maddened, moon-rinsed,/ or dock in the morning/ scuffed and chastened—/ is simply how it is, and I gather them in,” she simply compares her thoughts to boats which are hard to control because of the wind and weather (9-15). Symbolism is shown when she says, “…Then I sing/ to the bright-beaked bird outside, then to the manicured spider/ between window and screen”(17-20). The writer is attempting to send the message that stereotyping is unnecessary because everyone is unique in their own special

Writing My Resistance Essay I am a second year Humanities student, primarily studying Gender Studies and Indigenous Studies at the University of Victoria, which stands on the territory of the lkwn and WSNE peoples. This essay outlines why it is necessary for Indigenous women to resist harmful colonial norms and policies, and how Indigenous authors drive effective change toward decolonization through their storytelling. My paper addresses violence perpetrated against Indigenous women, and the reasons why this is an urgent and collective issue for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. I am a white settler and I’ve lived, worked, and studied in the territories of the lkwn and WSNE peoples my entire life. I am a heterosexual,

Native women activists, except those who are “assimilated,” do not consider themselves feminists; feminism is an imperial project that assumes the given-ness of US colonial stranglehold on indigenous nations. However, one of the founders of Women of All Red Nations (WARN), Lorelei DeCora,

These different views portray the idle ad infertile state of human society. Stanza I begin with the description of a cold winter evening and the routine scenario such as ‘burnt-out ends of smoky days’ (line 4), ‘the grimy scrapes’ (line 6), ‘withered leaves’ (line 7), ‘newspapers from vacant lots’ (line 8), through a third person omniscient point of view. All these description of the day and the street tells of something that is dark, uncheerful and even still. These lines suggest the mundane scenario of a society that has lost all its charms and liveliness. Then the point of view shifts to the second person ‘You’. The third stanza gives a picture of a person who waits for someone else to come to a lonely bed with hopes of something unreal. This has the suggestions to human lives where people wait for things to become better and in the hope lose grip of their own lives. The lines 33-34, “you have such a vision of the street as the street hardly understands” gives the reader the picture that the person on the bed dreamt of the street of the street as it actually never will be, implying to hopes the human, as an individual, has of how the society should be. Not cold, distorted and dead but lively, closely knit and warm with emotions. It indirectly shows of how distorted human society had become as an effect of the damage humans inflict on each other thus making the society a waste land. The