| May 24, 2017


There is a debate raging in the pages of Canada’s major old school media outlets, the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, CBC, etc., all Toronto based bastions of the written word. The rest of the world is preoccupied with other matters: melting ice caps, bombings in England, and the idea that the Russian government may be controlling the executive branch of the United States government. Still every day one or two articles are published in those publications about the “cultural appropriation” debate.

The whole thing was sparked off when the editor of Write Magazine, a quarterly publication for members of the Writers Union of Canada, wrote an unfortunate note to go with their spring edition, which featured indigenous writing. The now former editor, a novelist by the name of Hal Niedzviecki, wrote a 450 word piece asking non-indigenous writers to take the same kind of imaginative risks that the indigenous writers published in that edition had taken.

But, Mr. Niedzviecki got a bit too clever. He wanted to extol Canadian fiction writers of all backgrounds to take on diverse characters and situations, to quit writing what they know and explore other cultures, other ideas, other realities.  So he called the article “Winning the Appropriation Prize”  and in the first line of the article he said “I don’t believe in cultural appropriation”.

He thought that taking on the phrase “cultural appropriation” would garner more attention for his article. And it did. He was chastised for cultural insensitivity and soon resigned from the magazine. Other writers took up his defence, and the whole thing has turned into a back and forth battle about dominant and minority voices, who can speak for whom, and on and on and on.

Two things interest me about this whole debate. First, I know what it is like to try and make a point in a back handed, satirical way when plain speaking would be the smarter option. Fortunately a lot of editorials that I have written over the years have ended up being tossed out because they were somehow undercooked. I don’t mind offending people if I have to, if there is an important point to be made, but offending people without a purpose in mind is not a good career plan, and can also descend into cruelty if handled in too callous a manner.

The second, more important issue that has been raised out of this, is the way it has touched on a hole in the heart of this country, the question of how to face the past and then forge a future for indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians to live in together.

The celebration of the 150th anniversary this year lays bare the fact that one of the defining characteristics of Canada was the wilful destruction of the economy, environment, linguistic and social structures of indigenous peoples. This was done in a systematic manner, through the genocidal policies of all the powerful elements in society, from government to the mining industry to the churches and beyond.

As we fumble towards the future, it is abundantly clear that there will be no instant solution to any of the complex issues on and off reserve. There are issues of displacement, identity, poverty, and many others that will not be solved by decree. The survivors of this genocide, who very often face their own internal conflicts because they are descended from both sides of the chasm between indigenous and settler realities, need to be given space to create a new reality, and we all need to sit still, listen and learn. This will take time, effort and patience on all of our parts.

Even in the limited work I have done over the years covering local Algonquin politics and the Algonquin land claim it has become apparent to me that some of issues cannot be easily or quickly solved, and some political differences within the Algonquin community cannot be simply patched. The sad spectacle of the expulsion of at least 200 people from the land claim, and what that said about how a process that was supposed to secure peoples identity as Algonquin people could do the opposite, was a stark example of that. What is impressive, however, is how the local community has survived this bureaucratic indignity.

A writer recently reflected on this complicated reality and its effect on indigenous writing.

“Indigenous writing is the most vital and compelling force in writing and publishing in Canada today. And this is because, in large part, indigenous writers, buffeted by history and circumstance, so often must write down what they don’t know. What at first seems like a disadvantage also pushes many indigenous writers into the spotlight. They are on the vanguard, taking risks, bravely forging ahead into the unknown, seeking just the right formula to reclaim the other as their own.”
Hal Niedzviecki wrote that, in the second to last paragraph of the article that got him fired.

Perhaps he should have led with it.

Support local
independant journalism by becoming a patron of the Frontenac News.