In a year with no shortage of hardships, I find myself taking solace in opportunities that have emerged for real change in our community.

Next Monday’s meeting of City of Kitchener Community & Infrastructure Services meeting is one example. Staff have prepared a report that directly addresses one of four demands made by O:se Kenhionhata:tie/Land Back Camp months ago:

3. We demand that the cities create paid positions, at all levels, for Indigenous Peoples to be able to engage with the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples living on this territory. 

The staff report begins with the following motion:

In response, O:se Kenhionhata:tie/Land Back Camp has said: “This motion is extremely important to continuing all the momentum that has been built up through Land Back Camp to enact real change in our community.”

This is momentum I deeply hope all City of Kitchener Councillors will build on by supporting this motion, and that they go a step further by calling for Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Colour to be hired for the full-time permanent positions being proposed. If you’d like to join in emailing City Councillors directly, here is a template.

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For many in our community, the gulf between what feels necessary to move towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and what we have agency over, can feel completely overwhelming. 

The long dark shadow of colonization looms large, and its devastating impact continues to this day:  

When European settlers arrived on this continent, it had already been inhabited for more than 40,000 years by Indigenous peoples from many different nations and communities. Estimates are that what we refer to as North America was inhabited by anywhere from 1,200,000 to 2,600,000 Indigenous people, pre-contact.

Once contact was established, colonization – an ongoing process where one group of people takes control of another group of people – began. More specifically, colonization has been described to me as: serious modifications to Indigenous ways of life, setting up external political control, forced economic dependence of Indigenous populations, and the provision of abysmally poor quality social services (ie education, healthcare).

Colonization was legislated through laws like the Indian Act, and continues to this day. As one example, today there are still 61 drinking water advisories across the country. Sixty-one First Nation reserves where the Indigenous people living there don’t even have access to clean drinking water. In Canada. 

More specifically to our community, what we refer to today as the City of Kitchener, is situated on a larger piece of land previously inhabited by the Attawandaron (Neutral) people, referred to as the Haldimand Tract: six miles on each side of the Grand River, this land was acquired by the Canadian government in 1784 for the purpose of giving to the Haudenausaunee people (for “them and their posterity to enjoy for ever”). It was meant to be a belated thank you to the Haudenausaunee for their allyship with Britain in the American War of Independence (they had previously been promised land in upstate New York, but this was – maybe unsurprisingly given the pattern that begins to emerge – “forgotten”).

So how did this land become known as the City of Kitchener? Well, Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant, decided to lease parcels of land in the Haldimand Tract. Most of the City is in what was referred to as “Block 2” of the Haldimand Tract.

In short, what happened next is maddening: the Canadian government wouldn’t allow Brant to sell the land they had just “given” him outright, so the government required “Crown-appointed trustees” to handle the transaction. Then, when Brant went to then sell these leases, not only did he not receive the full payment (Haudenausaunee Six Nations report that 90% of the leased land has never been paid for), but the individuals Brant sold the leases to turned around and sold these leases outright as deeds for land title. They changed the arrangement from one of long term rental, to full land ownership.

The value of the land that was inappropriately sold, along with the income generated from the land, plus interest, is – not surprisingly – in the trillions of dollars.

This is just one chapter of an ongoing saga of lying, deception, and, of cultural genocide, wrought upon Indigenous peoples of this land.

To learn more about this history, I recommend 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, UAlberta’s Indigenous Canada online course, and the full report of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

While this all just scratches the surface, I recognize that this context is part of what leads many in our community to feel hopeless about what can be done to move towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. And also, that it’s important to repeat and share this history, even if brief, as we seek to move forward in a spirit of true reconciliation.

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This all begins to explain why I believe we should all be grateful to O:se Kenhionhata:tie/Land Back Camp: they’ve put in the work to offer us all a tangible path forward for our community. Within a few weeks of setting up the camp, they shared four clear demands and thousands were quick to sign onto a petition in support:

1. We demand that all fees be waived for the Indigenous communities to host events in public spaces.

2. We demand that land in Victoria Park, and Waterloo Park, be given back to the Indigenous Peoples. These spaces will be used for gathering and ceremonial purposes.

3. We demand that the cities create paid positions, at all levels, for Indigenous Peoples to be able to engage with the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples living on this territory.

4. We demand that the cities create Indigenous Advisory Committees (paid) that will work with the Mayors and City Councillors in helping to address topics such as racial injustice, the lack of access to Indigenous services and community spaces, and addressing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Actions.

In late August, a resolution went before council regarding the first demand, waiving fees. And while some Councillors questioned the financial implications (the staff report estimated it at a paltry $5,000 in lost revenue), this resolution passed unanimously.

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Which brings me back to Monday’s upcoming meeting, and what we can do, today. O:se Kenhionhata:tie/Land Back Camp is actively requesting Kitchener residents email Councillors in support of the motion, and Councillors are reporting incredibly high supportive email volume. Some have already begun to share they will be supporting on Monday. 

I hope you’ll consider sending an email, and as a result, that this motion may pass unanimously. City staff have stated clearly in their report why they see this motion as urgent. Here is just one fantastic example from the report:

As of today, only 10 of the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission – released in 2015 – have been implemented. Even just the action plan to move forward on the Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, released over a year ago, has been delayed.

And earlier this week – after tens of thousands of people marched in support of significant action to address anti-Black racism – despite a very clear demand from Black leaders across Waterloo Region for a reinvestment of $29M from the WRPS budget into community services, the Police Service Board was presented with a request to increase the policy budget by $8M in 2021.

Be they precedents from 1784, or those from just a few months ago, there is much to feel disheartened or angered by.

And that’s exactly why Monday’s meeting is so important: this is an opportunity to build on the momentum for equity, anti-racism and Indigenous initiatives that has been growing over the past number of months.

The approach being taken is one that we know can work. As one example, when I was in my last years as a student at Laurier, a number of students were frustrated with the University’s lack of progress on addressing its environmental impact. Together, we launched a campaign in support of creating a new staff position responsible for campus sustainability, and following a successful referendum, administration did exactly this. Fast forward a decade, and this action was the seed for transformational action on campus. 

While we can’t undo the harms of the past, and there is so much work to do, I’m grateful at least in our community we have opportunities like this one to begin bringing about real change.

I’m particularly grateful for the work of community leaders like Amy Smoke, Terre Chartrand, Shawn Johnston, and others at O:se Kenhionhata:tie/Land Back Camp. For putting pressure and creating space for the conversation that is now being had across Waterloo Region, and for providing such concrete and actionable demands. Like many that live near Victoria Park and/or that have been following along via social media, it has been inspiring to see the evolution and flourishing of the Land Back Camp.