Indigenous ideas don’t require any outside approval

Conference proves progress, Daniel Heath Justice writes.

From the inquiry on murdered and missing indigenous women and girls to pipelines to the legacies of the Indian residential school system, water protection and more, indigenous peoples and their concerns are at the forefront of political, economic and artistic interests in Canada today.

Yet time and again, the dominant media voices on these matters are non-indigenous commentators who often have a long record of ideological hostility to indigenous peoples, rights and voices.

The recent Canadian literature appropriation controversy was just one of many ways in which under-informed non-indigenous opinion — marinated in persistent negative stereotypes — is privileged over depth of knowledge, training, personal experience and lived relationships.

Too often in Canada there remains a condescending attitude that indigenous people are incapable of speaking for ourselves, or that we require the sanction of settler saviours for our perspectives and concerns to be valid. Every newspaper, magazine and online discussion forum has a line of settlers with opinions about what’s “wrong” with indigenous people, but precious few give space for indigenous people to address our concerns, our priorities, what’s right with us and what’s wrong with a nation that still struggles to acknowledge the truth part of truth and reconciliation.

But things are changing. I see it as a teacher, and the hunger that my students — indigenous and non-indigenous alike — have for honest, open and difficult conversation. I see it on social media where indigenous writers, thinkers and activists face down blistering racism with fierce brilliance and no small amount of determination. I see it in land-based initiatives that support the work of coastal First Nations to protect their lands and waters as they have done since time immemorial.

I see it in other ways, too. Starting Thursday, more than 1,000 scholars from around the world will gather on unceded Musqueam territory at the University of British Columbia for the annual Native American and Indigenous Studies Association conference. The largest interdisciplinary scholarly organization of its kind, it has a mandate to promote native American and Indigenous studies through the encouragement of education and academic freedom, and broaden knowledge among the public about native American and indigenous studies.

Many of these local and visiting scholars are affiliated with academic institutions, while others are based in indigenous communities or community-based organizations. Of course, it’s not just academics and scholars doing this vital work — there are many indigenous people across Canada whose voices deserve to be heard, people who don’t have the privileged access to academic structures or national media venues but who have vital knowledge and understanding to change the colonial template we’ve inherited from past generations.

Academic gatherings like these offer important opportunities to speak back against the silencing efforts of settler apologists.

We’re no longer in a time where non-indigenous people can assert authority over indigenous peoples’ lives and understandings. Those days are gone, although there remains much work to do to realize the fullness of our resurgent strength.

Guided by a commitment to indigenous peoples’ realities, intellectual productions and values, and constituted primarily by indigenous scholars, teachers, and knowledge holders, along with well-informed allies, NAISA at UBC offers just one more important alternative to the paternalistic talking-over that so often characterizes discussions in the mainstream.

Over three days until Saturday, hundreds of indigenous and non-indigenous speakers will participate in 160 panels to share their work, experiences, struggles and hope with each another — and with all of us. The public is welcome to join us for this gathering, to be a small part of the bigger shift to a better way of being in the world and with one another.

The dominant media voices on these matters are nonindigenous commentators