Unsettling Canada

Arthur Manuel’s Unsettling Canada, A National Wake Up Call is absolutely inspiring and a must read for all Canadians as they go through the discoveries of colonization policies, legislations and unfair treatment of Indigenous land and peoples. This book completely resonated with me as I feel the necessity to settle Indigenous title and rights has been long overdue and the imperative requirement for all to live lightly on the land. Unsettling Canada has substantial value as a pertinent text worth examining based on both past and present grassroots organizations who take action for Indigenous sovereignty and rights.

Unsettling Canada focuses on the battle for the return of Indigenous title and rights and how it has been to the benefit of the Canadian government and stake holders while they carefully and strategically diminish Indigenous inherent birthrights. Let’s be honest, it is the grassroots organizations within Canada such as “The assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Summit, INET, the Defenders of the Land, and Idol No More” (p. 176) to name a few, who have always fought for respect of
their inherent rights and although at times they have been defeated, they have also maintained steady victories at both government and political levels. Manuel shows how more strength is gained when we come together as a people and work together for change.

Manuel points out our history with the Canadian government and the manic oppression imposed by that government in his statement “the world is not in tune with Canada’s nineteenth-century colonialist approach” (159) therefore making education a valuable asset in rebuilding Indigenous and government laws and relations.
The Canadian government will not repudiate colonial laws however they would rather defy their own laws in a racist act of keeping control over Indigenous peoples. Our history concerning the Canadian government and Indigenous peoples’ affairs has mostly been deceiving, consequently contributing to Canada’s relationship with the land being reduced to a constructed fantasy of the doctrine of discovery and as a site of resource extraction. Indigenous struggle in Canada has been consistently rooted in Indigenous title and rights and keeping our lands
untouched.

We live in a world where capital corporations are praised and romanticised ideals such as terra nullius (108) are fantasized about but they lack the ability to see the spirit and beauty of the land we inhabit. “The economic system today looks at Mother Earth and sees only profits; the rest it sees as simply garbage. The planet cannot sustain the damage we are inflicting on it” (180). The land cannot be bought; no monetary amount could ever equal the value of the land. The land is giving and the land is healing, it has all that we require. Indigenous peoples have never needed or wanted the land for gaining economic benefits and capital interests, however, Indigenous people need the land for traditional use while they remain in a harmonious cyclical relationship based on respect and reciprocity.

Manuel points out that our restored relationship with one another at both the national and inter-national level can bring hope, support and encourage change in ways where both the government and Indigenous people work together across nations. By collaborating with fellow Canadians and grassroots organizations, we as Canadians living together on Turtle Island can work to rebuild colonial laws that will finally return Indigenous title and rights in an imperative act of restoring the land and our relationship with one another. Unsettling Canada, A National Wake Up Call is a significant read for all Canadians in understanding Canadian history from an Indigenous perspective to rewrite early history and honour those who fought and continue to fight for the rights of our people and land.