Michelle Sterling a response

There is a discussion occurring at the Lasqueti Island Pub tomorrow with an individual named Michelle Stirling on the discussion point of residential schools. I am unable to attend (as I have work) but generally I would attend such an event to view differing opinions and to understand this community

better.
 

I will endeavor to state what I understand is Michelle Sterlings points (and please correct me if I am wrong).They are (and please feel free to correct me if I am wrong):
 

A)Stating deaths in the residential school system was intentional is not true and dismisses historicity (definition of historicity here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicity) and that the deaths can be accounted for by disease and other endemic health issues during the time of the existence of residential schools.

B)That the current political trend to approach reconciliation through a legal framework of individual compensation is not beneficial to indigenous peoples and does not encourage their development in the state of Canada.
 

C)That the concept of Canada as having to negotiate with indigenous communities on a nation to nation basis (as a legal framework) will lead to the balkanization of the country.

D)That the idea of climate change and what is or is not economically acceptable for indigenous peoples is corrosive to their financial wellbeing in the long term.

I will start with a few points:
 

A)The use of historiographies is inherently flawed as this methodology was created to legitimize the imperialist ambitions of Europeans (as well as other cultures). I will encourage people who are in fact interested in learning about this subject to read Michel-Rolph Trouillot's "Silencing the Past: Power and the production of History" as well as Edward Said's "Orientalism". I would also challenge Michelle Stirling to address these seminal works and why she has chosen a modality in her study that is inherently flawed.
 

In Layman's terms:

using a Historiographic approach (definition here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historiography) solely is actually outdated and has been shown to foundationally be designed as an approach to legitimise the system of the writer. It is also a statement on David Olsen and this community that no one has even questioned this modality.
 

B)The idea that residential schools served any purpose but to destroy indigenous peoples is laughable and not matching both historical records (using the same flawed methodology of Michelle Stirling). Sean Carleton and other historians using these methodologies have written enough and researched enough for those who believe this is a viable methodology to review and make their own decisions.

I will not however debase my thought in using this methodology and instead point out that our education system as a whole is designed to propagate both the idea of the intellectual supremacy of the European and to cement class (which is inherently tied to the racism that developed our current education system). If you are interested in this subject I will direct you to another two books. They are Franz Fanon's "Black Skin White Masks" and Ivan Illich's "Deschooling Society".
 

In Layman's terms:
 

The educational system as it exists today is designed to indoctrinate us into certain class roles as well as indoctrinate us into a western imperialist system. They are a tool to destroy and delegitimize any opposing culture framework and to maintain a system of class that privileges both the wealthy and the European. I will also ask to read the two books listed above before approaching me to discuss (and if you have I would be happy to do so).
 

C)I agree with Michelle Stirling that reconciliation is a meaningless concept . I however have a differing view as to the reason. There is no reconciliation to be had with this nation and those that support it. This land is occupied through violence and erasure (as all settler colonial projects are). The system itself can not be reformed. The only ways to proceed is to either disappear and delegitimize the indigenous person (which is both the goal of the current processes taking place with the state of Canada as well as the physical acts of violence, creation of reserves, indoctrination in residential school and so on) or to end this system completely and have a new one built where actual reconciliation takes place.
 

In Layman's Terms:
 

The truth and reconciliation process was modeled after the South African Model for reconciliation when apartheid was ended and a new system was created. There was involvement from South Africans initially in Canadian efforts but they no longer participate due to the fact that they do not see any actual resolve to end the colonial system in Canada and the efforts are merely to legitimize it. We as Canadians should be aware of this and should view the process not as one to celebrate but one to dismiss and look to real reconciliation which requires an end to Canada as it currently is structured.
 

Recommended reading for this is Franz Fanon's "Wretched of the Earth" and the Three part series on Racism by PBS titled:
 

"The difference between us"

"The story we tell"

"The house we live in".
 

(Link to videos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AienBGf9YiO-gRJAB4Rzv6bVLsVX?e=w0LRIO)

D)I also agree with Michelle Stirling that the concept of environmentalism has no place in a discourse with indigenous people. My reasoning for this however differs in that this approach is that it is paternalistic and imperialist rather than an actual concern about the natural world.
 

In Layman's Terms:
 

You can not tell people how to function when your entire system is based on delegitimizing them, disenfranchising them and taking their human and material resources to build your own infrastructure. This includes Environmentalism without an understanding that indigenous people are the ones who need to lead the thought processes on these initiatives.

E) The use of Ambiguous loss as a principle to discuss residential schools and to delegitimize oral histories and testimonies is intellectually lazy and is a dangerous use of pop psychology to legitimize death:
 

Rather than using a structuralist approach to discuss the deaths of indigenous people Michelle Stirling uses the term "Ambiguous Loss" (wikipedia definition here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambiguous_loss) to discuss the impact of the deaths of people in residential schools.
 

In Layman's terms she could have used the lens of cause and effect and relate it to the many similar case studies globally of settler colonial systems (definition of systems analysis here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_analysis) but instead poorly applies psychology to legitimize a poor argument (definition of pop psychology here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_psychology).
 

I will end with this note. Whether you support the legitimization of Canada through a "Truth and Reconciliation" process or not is immaterial to me. I am not aware of anyone in this community that has taken the time to question the foundations of Imperialism, the existence of Settler Colonial Nations and of white supremacy. What I have seen is a very surface understanding and a lack of intellectual rigor.

It would however be remiss of me (if I am indeed committed to our liberation as a human family)  to dismiss my neighbours and peers for their lack of knowledge or access to ideas. Instead I have provided some links so that we can have a shared common basis in moving towards liberation together.

I invite everyone to read the reading list attached and invite you to have a discussion with me afterwards (but only then please).

Sincerely and in solidarity
 

Reza

Reading List:

Michel-Rolph Trouillot's "Silencing the Past: Power and the production of History":
https://archive.org/details/michel-rolph-trouillot-silencing-the-past-po...

Edward Saids "Orientalism":
https://www.eaford.org/site/assets/files/1631/said_edward1977_orientalis...

Franz Fanon's "Black Skin White Masks":
https://archive.org/details/blackskinwhitema0000fano_j7u6

Ivan Illich's "Deschooling Society":
https://archive.org/details/DeschoolingSociety/

Franz Fanon's "Wretched of the Earth":
https://abahlali.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Frantz-Fanon-The-Wretche...
 

Three part series on Racism by PBS titled:
 

"The difference between us"

"The story we tell"

"The house we live in".
 

(Link to videos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AienBGf9YiO-gRJAB4Rzv6bVLsVX?e=w0LRIO)