White Settler Blog
Talking treaties, terminology, family history, land, white privilege, colonialism, and more …
-
“Walking the Land”
When I dreamed up the idea for this project I had this really romantic and quite frankly ridiculous vision of myself “walking the land”. In these visions I was wearing hiking boots. Maybe I would need a compass to set a bearing back from the highway where I’d park my car with the clicker on. I…
-
Settler thoughts on Ancestry
So I guess I understand our family road trips to cemeteries, and I am lucky that my dad did lots of genealogy for both sides of the family. But I still think ancestry.com and vast underground Mormon archives are creepy and weird. BACK TO BLOG
-
Settling on Settler is UnSettling
My definition of the term Settler with insight from Chelsea Vowel. NOTE: Terms are tricky. And they change over time. We need terms so we can talk broadly about context and categories, but hopefully these don’t become labels or ways to enforce stereotypes. How someone else identifies you and how you identify yourself are often…
-
Little Settler Buttercup
Let’s talk about my feet. They exited a white womb on March 4th 1976. I don’t think they came out feet first, but the right foot emerged with two tiny birthmarks on the bottom. My parents called them my stork bite. Over the past 4 decades my feet have moved into and out of…
-
EMPIRE: A Warring, Shitty Friend
Peace & Friendship Treaties: what are they and how were they used by Empires to appropriate land? One example of a P&F Treaty is the The Silver Covenant Chain, a complex set of alliances or agreements between the British Empire and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and Seven Nations. These various treaties require(d) constant “polishing” to keep…
-
The Power Of The Pen
I find it hard to remember some of the shock and outrage I felt at the beginning of this research as I began to discover the way Treaties have been brokered and upheld in this county “to the prejudice of the Indians.” I discovered that Robert Colquhoun had done more than just sign the 1809…
-
Just Because I Can’t Find You Doesn’t Mean You Aren’t There
I am having a hard time finding an Indigenous presence anywhere in Prince Edward County. The closest present day community is the Mohawk of Tyendinaga. There is very scant mention of the Mississauga people who were in this region when Europeans first started to arrive. Apparently the first white Settler to come to Wellington, Daniel…
-
Colonialism Does Not Spark Joy
So I saw this graffiti walking to the subway one day. I thought is was such a hilarious cultural mash-up that I decided to make a hat. I figured at the very least it would spark conversation. I wondered if I would meet the artist if I wore it around the neighbourhood. Most people think…
-
I want to be a Treaty Person, but I suck.
PART 1: A Preamble to the Crawford Purchase What’s wrong with me? I want to be a Treaty Person, but I suck. Last April I felt like weeping when I realized it had been a year and a half and I still couldn’t explain the Crawford Purchase. This whole project began because I realized that…
-
Some lace hats, some red cloth, but definitely no islands.
PART 2: The Crawford Purchase Explained (to the best of my knowledge) The Crawford Purchase happened because the Crown needed land to relocate all the Loyalists who had fought and lost the American Revolution. People lost lives, but they also lost land. Wheather owners or squatters they were no longer welcome. What isn’t mentioned in…
