Understanding the RCMP’s role in residential schooling
Kent Monkman, “The Scream.” Etching copper plate, 2017. Courtesy Kent Monkman Studio. On May 23, 2023 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police celebrated its 150th anniversary and kicked off a series…
Sean Carleton
Black and Indigenous Solidarity: An Oral History of Maestro Fresh Wes’s “Nothing At All”
Maestro Fresh Wes. Still image from YouTube. Before artists such as Drake and The Weeknd became global ambassadors for Canadian hip hop, Wesley Williams (better known as Maestro Fresh-Wes or…
Decolonizing the Zombie Apocalypse: An Interview With Jeff Barnaby About His New Film Blood Quantum
Promotional artwork for writer-director Jeff Barnaby’s Blood Quantum. Illustration by Chippewar. With people sheltering in place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many are turning to their TVs for…
Coronavirus Colonialism: How the COVID-19 Crisis Is Catalyzing Dispossession
This image from a transmission electron microscope shows a sample from a case of COVID-19. The spherical viral particles, colored blue, contain cross-sections through the viral genome, seen as black…
Might is Not Right: A Historical Perspective on Coercion as a Colonial Strategy
Full-dress mounted parade by members of the North-West Mounted Police near Calgary, September 1901. I, like many Canadians, watched in horror as the RCMP’s invasion of unceded Wet’suwet’en territory in…
Putting the RCMP raid on the Wet’suwet’en in historical perspective
Protesters and land defenders erect a barricade in Vancouver in support of the Wet’suwet’en, who are blocking a pipeline from being built on their land. Photo by Sally T. Buck…
An Oral History of Propagandhi’s “Oka Everywhere”
Frontman and guitarist Chris Hannah of the Winnipeg-based thrash-punk band Propaghandi during a show in Brisbane, Australia, May 29, 2011. This summer will mark 30 years since the start of…
Trudeau Called on to Stop Land Fraud as Kanehsatake Hunger Strike Ends
Al Harrington, an Ojibway man from Shoal Lake 39 at the Ontario/Manitoba border who resides in the Mohawk community, was on a hunger strike since Oct. 11 at the Kanesatake.…
All Eyes on Kanehsatake: What You Need to Know about the Hunger Strike to Stop Colonial Land Fraud
Mohawk flags are placed at the border of the Kanasatake Mohawk territory and the town of Oka, Que. Friday, July 19, 2019. Photo by Ryan Remiorz/CP. On 11 October 2019,…
Kanesatake Resident Begins Hunger Strike to Protest Ongoing Colonial Land Fraud
Photo by Rebecca Zandbergen/CBC On 21 August 2019, Ellen Gabriel and other Kanien’kéha:ka (Mohawk) of Kanehsatà:ke held a press conference in the Pines, the site of the so-called “Oka Crisis”…
Trudeau Refuses to Stop Land Fraud: Press Release of the Mohawks of Kanehsatake
Ellen Gabriel at a July 2013 demonstration against Enbridge’s Line 9 on Kanehsatake traditional territory. Photo by Tim McSorely. On 21 August, the Kanien’kéha:ka (Mohawk) of Kanehsatà:ke held a press…
Canada Must Stop Land Fraud: Press Release of the Mohawks of Kanesatake
Photo by Jessica Deer/CBC On 21 August 2019, Ellen Gabriel and other Kanien’kéha:ka (Mohawk) of Kanehsatà:ke held a press conference in the Pines, the site of the so-called “Oka Crisis”…
‘This is Our Land’: An Interview with Ellen Gabriel about Ongoing Land Fraud at Kanesatake
Land back is land back. For the Kanien’kéha:ka (Mohawk) of Kanehsatà:ke, the return of stolen land – fraudulently sold first by a religious order and then by the municipality of…
The legacy of ‘Oka’ and the future of Indigenous resistance
Photo by Ellen Gabriel In the summer of 1990, Ellen Gabriel (Katsi’tsakwas) was chosen by the People of the Longhouse and her community of Kanehsatà:ke to be their spokesperson during…
Thrashing Colonialism: Skateboarding, History, and the Power of Education
Micheal Langan, owner of Colonialism Skateboards • Photo by Troy Fleece Most skateboarders have a least one good story about a security guard. Micheal Langan, who is of Cree and…
Indian Horse is a Film All Canadians Must See
Indian Horse Stephen Campanelli Elevation Pictures, 2017 Indian Horse, a film based on the late Richard Wagamese’s bestselling novel, opens in theatres nationwide on April 13th. Wagamese was a masterful…
Kent Monkman’s Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience
Kent Momkman, The Daddies (2016) 60ii X 112.5ii, Acrylic on Canvas Kent Monkman’s Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience may not be the art exhibit Canadians wanted during Canada…
Our Land: 150 Years of Colonialism
The Graphic History Collective (GHC) has launched a new activist art project: Remember | Resist | Redraw: A Radical History Poster Project. The collaborative project will be an ongoing poster…
The Popular Front: An “Alternative Year in Review” of 2016 Pop Culture
Photo by Geoffrey Gallaway 2016 was quite the year. As the calendar winds down, some people are talking about 2016 as one of the worst years in human history, or…
Clear the Way for the Prophets of Rage
When a friend first told me that members of Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy, and Cypress Hill were joining forces to “Make America Rage Again” with a musical “super…