From July 24 to 30, Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church, was in Canada on an “apology tour” for the church’s involvement in Canada’s residential school system. This is the first papal visit to Canada in decades, and was lauded as a great moment for truth, reconciliation, and even national unity. Even though the […]

Crown prosecutors have charged Indigenous land defenders with criminal contempt for defying a court order that banned interference with Coastal GasLink pipeline construction on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory. A total of 19 people face charges, including Sleydo’, a spokesperson for the Gidimt’en Clan who was one of more than two dozen people arrested last November during […]

By nearly all metrics, Indigenous people consistently rank as the worst-off group in Canada. Incarceration rates are no different. While incarceration rates as a whole have dropped off steadily through the past few decades, more Indigenous people are being imprisoned now than ever before.  The disparities in incarceration rates between Indigenous people and the rest […]

Sometime during the first week of March, 28-year-old Indigenous man Dakota Sagutch went missing. He was last seen on March 3 or 4 in the Pearl Street area of Thunder Bay, Ontario. After nearly a week, Thunder Bay police finally began to look into the disappearance, possibly far too late to make a difference. Tragically, […]

Part Four: The North-West revolution An inevitable clash While thousands of Métis fled west, there was no escaping capitalism. As Marx explained in the Communist Manifesto, “The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe.” Indigenous peoples, including the Métis who played a role […]

Part Three: Why the Red River revolution was defeated But how did this inspiring mass movement, which ejected the governor, stopped the transfer of land, defeated the attempts of the counter revolution and united the Métis, go down in defeat with Riel fleeing to the United States?  The question of class divisions in the Métis […]

Part Two: The Red River revolution While the rebellions of 1837-38 went down in defeat, the situation forced the British government to make concessions and reform from above. A process began which eventually led to the establishment of “responsible government” and Confederation in 1867. At first there were just four provinces, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, […]

Official histories often portray Canada as a peaceful country where the path of compromise is preferred to the path of conflict. But this could not be further from the truth. In fact, revolutionary and counter-revolutionary events are at the heart of the foundation of Canada. And the struggle of the Métis, led by Louis Riel, […]

On Dec. 18, nearly 200 students, community members, Indigenous activists and workers rallied at X (Ryerson) University to say no to Indigenous genocide denial. The rally was organized as a response to a far-right rally announced by the Ryerson Conservatives, with People’s Party of Canada (PPC) Leader Maxime Bernier and Ontario MPP Randy Hillier—leader of […]

“Decolonization” has become a word that is often cited as a key task for the left. Subsequently, it has been applied to almost every activity imaginable. Countless guides have been written about the need to decolonize your: mind, space, corporate board, bookshelf, lawn, wardrobe, even Thanksgiving. An article has even been titled: “It’s Time to […]