Living In Indigenous Sovereignty

Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara with Gladys Rowe

In the last decade, the relationship between settler Canadians and Indigenous Peoples has been highlighted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the Idle No More movement, the Wet’suwet’en struggle against pipeline development and other Indigenous-led struggles for Indigenous sovereignty and decolonization. Increasing numbers of Canadians are beginning to recognize how settler colonialism continues to shape relationships on these lands. With this recognition comes the question many settler Canadians are now asking, what can I do?

Living in Indigenous Sovereignty lifts up the wisdom of Indigenous scholars, activists and knowledge keepers who speak pointedly to what they are asking of non-Indigenous people. It also shares the experiences of thirteen white settler Canadians who are deeply engaged in solidarity work with Indigenous Peoples. Together, these stories offer inspiration and guidance for settler Canadians who wish to live honourably in relationship with Indigenous Peoples, laws and lands. If Canadians truly want to achieve this goal, Carlson and Rowe argue, they will pursue a reorientation of their lives toward “living in Indigenous sovereignty” — living in an awareness that these are Indigenous lands, containing relationships, laws, protocols, stories, obligations and opportunities that have been understood and practised by Indigenous peoples since time immemorial.

Collectively, these stories will help settler Canadians understand what transformations we must undertake if we are to fundamentally shift our current relations and find a new way forward, together.

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Living in Indigenous Sovereignty Book Review

This book certainly was something. Where to begin? This book exists to educate non-Indigenous people like myself, and it’s perfect for that. Living in Indigenous Sovereignty talks about many things, but that main idea is to teach and encourage those who are not Indigenous to learn how to live in Indigenous Sovereignty. (You’d never be able to guess that from the title, I know 😉 ) It talks about the racism that many Indigenous have faced throughout the years, and the struggles that they had, and still have to go through. One thing that I really got from this book was to not be a toxic person, and be open to learning and accepting the fact they lived in Canada first, and that this is their land. This book talks about respecting the Indigenous, listening to them, and allying with them. In a way, we’re supposed to help them, but not in a toxic “I’ll help you because I’m better than you” way, more like an ally—or a new term that I learned recently; accomplice. Even though there were some parts of the book that I might not’ve fully understood at first, it was all explained fairly clearly at the end. And in the end I was truly inspired and left with a lot to think about. I found that the stories of other people who were working with Indigenous to be very helpful. Some people were Indigenous, but a lot of them were not, and it was their story and journey of learning to live and accept Indigenous Sovereignty. It was a very informational read, but I will admit that I did struggle a little bit to process the information. It took me a while to finish it, as well.

Here are some other new words that I learned reading this book:
anti-colonialism ~ the struggle against imperial rule in colonized countries
heteropatriarchy ~ a hierarchical society or culture dominated by heterosexual males whose characteristic bias is unfavorable to females in general
settler colonialism ~ a type of colonialism in which foreign settlers immigrate and permanently reside on land already inhabited by Indigenous residents
anti-imperialism ~ opposition to imperialism
imperialism ~ the extension of a nation’s authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political dominance over other nations.

There were many quotes used in this book, but here are two that stuck out to me the most:

“I am convinced that most Settlers are in denial. They know that the foundations of their countries are corrupt, and they know that their countries are “colonial” in historical terms, but still they refuse to see and accept the fact that there can be no rhetorical transcendence and retelling of the past to make it right without making fundamental changes to their government, society, and the way they live.” ~ David C. Williams

“If you can allow yourself to feel what’s there, including the grief, it passes. It doesn’t mean it’s over, it doesn’t mean that, okay now everything is fine, but it’s a working through, it’s an acknowledgement of how bad it was. And in my experience, unless you come to that acknowledgement, it’s going to be pretty hard for you to work with Indigenous people and for Indigenous people to trust you…. Where your heart is, is really important, and I think that unless we do open our hearts and let our hearts grieve, and feel even a smidge of the pain of what’s happened, which Indigenous people had to live with, we can’t really connect honestly. We’re avoiding it.” ~ Victoria Freeman

I recommend this book.