TAKING
BACK
TKARONTO
We lived on top of the graves for many, many years. But we couldn't do nothing.
- Harvey Desjarlais
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People deserve answers and they deserve justice.
- Micaela Champagne
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It was difficult, but I also needed to understand, as a granddaughter of a survivor what she went through. - Micaela Champagne
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The recent discovery of unmarked graves of Indegenous children across Canada has been extremely devastating for Indigenous survivors and surrounding friends and families. An indigenous nation in Canada reported 751 unmarked graves at a former residential school in Saskatchewan which The Cowessess First Nation has said the discovery was the most substantial one to date. This came after the discovery of 215 children in British Columbia. There have also been reports of 182 human remains near the city of Cranbrook in British Columbia at another former Residential School. These numbers, including many more discoveries, have added to over a thousand unmarked graves and has caused growing outrage in Indigenous communities across Canada. These discoveries are in relations with the continued oppressive systemic, systematic, and institutional spaces which Indgenous folks reside within. The practice of assimilating Indigenous folks into Euro-centric systems by the government and Catholic churches through the use of sexual, physical and verbal abuse has put traumatic tolls on survivors and families of children that were forced into Residential Schools.
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The growing outrage has resulted in Indigenous communities and folks in allyship with Indigenous communities to act on varying tactics to bring awarness to these issues, get the government to accept and act on measures in order for families to continue to heal, and overall deconstruct systems and institutions that continue to perpetuate colonial spaces which Indigenous communities suffer in.
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Unmarked Graves of Indigenous Children
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Seeking justice for the Indigenous community cannot be fully measured because of the immense amount of efforts that are demonstrated physically, artistically, politically, and digitally. Below you will find a few ways in which the Indigenous community has tactfully protested after the discoveries of the unmarked graves of children from residential schools, and how these tactics have rhetorically been successful and ways in demonstrations like such can continue to push for justice that the Indigenous community deserves.
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The tactics outlined below are in accordance with personal expression, and form an analytical opinion based on their rhetorical success. The in-depth analyses of these tactics are in no measure of attacking or commenting against their demonstration but a way in sharing knowledge about how these measures can continue to contribute to the social mobility of Indigenous communities.
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The following video depicts the ways in which Indigenous archeologists use ground-penetrating radars in order to discover the unmarked graves of Indigenous children at residental Schools. The video also highlights and follows survivors from the residential schools, and how they assist in locating the unmarked graves of hundreds of children.
TACTICS OPERATING
Mass Protesting
The tactics of protesting in Toronto and Ottawa were the most influential ones because of the power in numbers. The marches and rallies were a combination of surprise protesting, holding banners, marching in solidarity, public speeches accompanied by different art mediums to commemorate the lost lives of Indigenous children in residential schools. The various forms of protesting are rhetorically successful because of the following reasons. The aspect of the emotional turmoil which is generated during the process of marching and holding these rallies grows because of the number of folks who are there for the same reason of creating awareness and demanding action from all levels of government. The importance of this as a tactic is also expressed in Until we are Free which highlights the magnitude of creating real movement in communities. "We create rhythms that allow us to keep moving and keep excitement and keep people engaged in a way that makes them feel powerful. When you’re marching down the street with those, you feel powerful. It’s so many things, right? It’s scary. But it’s also exciting because you’re part of something so much larger than yourself while utilizing something that is your art practice" (Ravyn Wngz 141). What's important to note is the expression that these protests serve as creative art forms because of their higher representation of collective thought and shared experience. The credibility which folks hold who were at these marches were either directly affected by these oppressive systems, had family or friends, or are represented as allys. The way in which this tactic can derive change is by demanding direct action of change for Indigenous communities. Though these Residential schools are no longer in operation, the systematic oppressive conditions in which Indigenous communities must reside are continuing to marginalize them. In a digital era, a mass protest like this brings awareness of various elements of the protest and doesn't highlight only one aspect. It enables to document each and every aspect from distinct signage used, which carries its own rhetorical purpose, such as phrases like take back or cancel Canada day. The rhetorical purpose and success of colour, and unity in clothing is also a crucial elemtn in extending the seriousness that the movement holds. It depicts collective organization and creates critical creative marketing. These tactics will be discussed in the following sections.
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#CancelCanadaDay
The tactic of hashtag #CancelCanadaDay had been emphasized throughout the marching and rally protests. This hashtag (tactic) has an immense amount of rhetorical value in its use, and extends far greater than the protests but is engraved into the minds of many Indigenous folks as an ongoing contemporary fight for justice. The reason for this hashtag yearns for more critical reflection on Canada's wrongs and colonial past, in order to move forward to a more equitable future. Hashtags and overall digital sharing of text and visuals have become monumental in organizing movements beyond word of mouth and collective thought (Daer 1). As Janaya Khan emphasizes in Until we are Free, there are many advantages to the use of hashtags in strategically planning direct action in a digital era. She states, "We are the first generation to have the tools that we do, and in many ways, we are building the plane as we are flying it. Still, there is something pretty remarkable in being tasked with bringing our twentieth-century models of organizing, activism, and direct action into the twenty-first century, of creating the blueprint for winning in the digital age" (Janaya Khan 118). The rhetorical purpose of this hashtag allows users to communicate topics and common events that surround Indigenous communities. It enacts as a tool for research about upcoming events, artistic expressions surrounding the hashtag, and the social and cultural implications of the hashtag in real-time. It also allows users to connect with other users in order to begin to organize direct action. The direct action in the instance of organizing mass protesting leverages the power in numbers against oppressive systems and institutions that continue to push colonial perspectives. The use of #CancelCanadaDay creates mass mobilization digitally that turned into thousands of direct action participants within the marches and rallies. Extending the concept of utilizing social media to mobilize and engage with opinions and perspectives digitally, conveys a different rhetorical position than mass protesting. The reason is that the variable of credibility and emotional connectivity can be expressed so far visually and textually ( in movement situations). Physically showing up to a movement has a far greater impact though, the use of social media and news channels are the outlets in which our contemporary society operates in organizing various types of protesting.
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The narrative of the Orange Shirt refers to a woman named Phyllis Webstad who was given an orange shirt by her grandmother for her first day of school at St. Joseph’s Mission residential school in British Columbia. All her belongings were taken away from her and never returned, including her shirt. residential schools are not something that was far in the past with the last one closing in 1996. The narrative of Phyllis grew and the physical, verbal, and sexual trauma from children's experience has caused intergenerational trauma felt through the entirety of Indigenous communities (Phyllis Webstad). Orange Shirt Day- Truth and Reconciliation day on September 30th was created to discuss the effects of residential schools and to celebrate the resilience of the communities and that every child matters. The rhetorical implications of using articles of clothing to represent a movement rhetorically push for unity and representation o an annual basis. Having a designated date that the movement involves, creates urgency, and repetition to the significance of the movement. It isn't seen as just a digital movement of representing digital voices but, physically showing up and supporting the cause by wearing this colour of a shirt. Wearing specific colours or articles of clothing represents unification. consistency with the message, content, and movement that the protest is representing.
Orange Shirt Day or wearing orange shirts allows for the movement to have visual confirmation and purpose. This in all operates as a strategic tactic that can be seen across movements such as Black Panthers' pairing with tight formations to give off a "militant" look and thus give unity to the movement. It springs a sense of legitimacy and organization. The rhetorical presence in visual representation extends both ethos and pathos because there is a narrative attached to wearing the shirt and the emotional turmoil of the distraught events as well. The visual representation didn't stem from a marketing scheme in order to sell t-shirts but became a collective effort by community members in order to expand the support that they currently have and get institutions and systems to begin to join the progress as well. As a means of wearing them to protest sites, audiences axiomatically associate orange shirts to movements surrounding Indegeouns organizations, which makes surprise protesting successful because these visual representations mobilize their purpose of heightening awareness of the unmarked graves and survivors of residential school systems.
ORANGE SHIRT [DAY]
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X UNIVERSITY
The Mash Koh Wee Kah Pooh Win (The Standing Strong) Task Force have wrapped up their 2 monthly investigations on " what the university can do to reconcile the history of Egerton Ryerson and how the university should approach commemoration" The group itself is compiled of academics, students and faculties and were given the opportunity to broadly consult with students, staff, faculty, alumni and other members of the community to contribute to this research.
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Not long after this research had been wrapped up X University's, Yellowhead Institute (First Nations-led think tank) issued an open letter saying that the University's name will not be used in email signatures and social media by students and staff members but will instead be replaced with "X University".
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These actions came to light after over a decade of protesting the use of Egerton Ryerson's name with the institution. He was considered a considerable architect in Canada's approach to building the residential school systems, which were aimed to assimilate and convert Indigenous children into white Canadian culture.
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Below is both The Standing Strong recommendation package as well as Yellowhead Institute's letter which highlights recommendations, actions and the ways in which institutions and systems can move into reconciliation and proper commemoration.
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X UNIVERSITY
X UNIVERSITY
The implementation of this plan will need an immense amount of financial resources, which funding strategies will be made more clear in January 2022.
Recognizing the responsibility for both Black and Indigenous support systems is vital in creating equitable opportunity.
The responsibility to educate will
go beyond University classrooms
for students to continue to share
the correct histories of the Indigenous
community.
This is significant because celebrating him in any manner is continuing to perpetuate colonial and euro-centric values.
It is important to note that though removing the statues is challenged in this statement, the actions have caused great waves of change to occur (dismantling of power structures).
This is the first step in which many staff and students had taken before the University had even made it official.
TACTICS OPERATING
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Creative Disruption
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Digital Organization
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The tactic of cretive disruption came in many forms surrounding this event. From surprise protesting, and the toppling of Egerton Ryerson's statue these elements were quite significant in this tactic successfully operating in the event in order to succeed and continue to move forward in the demands of the Indigenous community.
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To begin, the toppling of the statue can be seen as a way in which the community is continuing to dismantle the euro-centric and white supremacist spaces in Canada. The statue represents the colonial history of Canada and its wrong doings with residential schools, and the act of toppling it, destroying it, spray paiting over it is in actuality an artistic expression of Land Back. If the statue, along with many other racist, white and euro-centric ones continue to stand, that means that we as a nation are contiuinig to accredit these colonial perspectives.
The uproar of the toppling of this statue can also be seen when community members toppled the Queen Victoria and Elizabeth II monuments in Ottawa after the discovery of the unmarked graves of Indigenous children from residential schools. This tactic alongside surpise protesting is extremely powerful in the essence of not seeking permission from the systems that continue to oppress the Indigenous communities. The statues themselves are yet to be put back up or restored. These tactics enact as storytelling and overall, changed the course in which Indegenous voices were suppressed in colonial history. This tactic highlights on how to disrupt the pillars that were holding power. This tactic has put pressure on the University to speed up there decision process and ultimately see the rage of community members and ally's with delaying this process.
Creative disruption is rhetorically successful because it comes as a surprise, which allows the demands to come to full fruition. The reason is because of the emotional connection which these protesters march and rally their way to topple and destroy these commemorated statues. From an external perspective, some of these motives may seem violent, and harmful but in actuality, they perpetuate the violent narratives in which Indegenous communities reside. The tactic of creative disruption allows for radical change that has been shut down throughout the years and not addressed in seriousness until direct action like such is done.
The tactic of digital organization working in this issue also has many layers in order for the demands to be properly addressed. The first and most significant one is the digital organization done by The Standing Strong Task Force who has put together bodies of written work which outline demands, reccomendations and concrete steps to move forward to an equitable future ergo the change of name by the institution. This Task Force was also in charge of allocating over 22,000 responses for research purposes in putting together the recommendations which can be read in the attached above PDF ( Phil Tsekouras 2021).
These digital conversations that were organized by the task force allowed for direct interaction with the Indigenous community and ally's and correctly outline the ways in which the University can implement and integrate more opportunities to learn about coloial realtions ( in respects to the real legacy of Egerton Ryerson) and as well as Indigenous history. Digital organization also enacts as a forms of a quantitative and qualitative collection of data that can aid in future research in change and recommendations that the institution can continue to implement once the name is fully changed. This will also allow for the Task Force to power map the exact people needed in order for continuous change.
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Borrowing from the words of Silvia Argentina Arauz, addressing this one issue in the community is a part of a larger movement. In her self reflection she expresses, " Mothering in the movement has been as much about creating and reclaiming language and space for myself as it has been about curating for others" (Silvia Argentina Arauz 241). What's important to take away from this tactic is that digital organization allows to connect with a huge number of individuals that would be near impossible through just physical interaction. The platforms of social media are used as a tool and mechanism in order to connect with other activitists that were interested in being. apart of a historical movemmebt where digital organization still can push for direct action.
Both the creative disruption and digital organization tactic worked hand in hand because the creative disruption allowed for media coverage and physically showing up for demands, while digital organization aided in putting these demands in written motions in order to move forward with the institution. This can be see as a meassure that is more "put together" where there is a lot of back and forth between the Task Force and the Institution. The influence in which digital organization has is reaching audeinces across Indigenous and ally communities to shed awareness on this issue and overall the movement of Indigenous issues being addressed.
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Closing Thoughts
In the following short audio clip, I express a few thoughts I had while creating this page and its content.