Book review: Settler Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada
Reviewed by Karl Hele
Settler Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada written by two United Kingdom-educated academics explores Settler Canadian identity in terms of origins, privileges, colonialisms, fear, and responsibility.
Lowman and Barker posit that Settler identity and Indigenous identity are linked; one cannot exist without the other. Simply, without Settlers/Colonists there would be no Indigenous. The book does not focus on how these identities are linked, instead it explores the facets of Canadian Settler identity. Importantly, the authors note that being Settler Canadian is not simply about being non-Indigenous or White. For Lowman and Barker, it is about relationships or linkages to the land and the resulting stories. Indigenous people are from the land, whereas Settlers are occupiers of the land. Indigenous culture originated from the lands whereas Settler culture is portable wherever the individual has settled. Yet Lowman and Barker do not want their readers to view the identities as binary opposites since there are permutations and grey areas. Instead, the identities are seen in an intricate dance with Settler Canadianism needing to incorporate, contain, and extinguish Indigenous identities. By extinguishing Indigenous identities, the Settler state and its Settler subjects, according to the authors, would be able to ignore the moral and ‘legitimacy’ issues surrounding Settler sovereignties and claims to the land. Hence, state efforts to control and eliminate Indigenous ties to lands are undertaken through extinguishment of claims, languages, cultures, and peoples. After presenting the constructs of Settler identity, the authors discuss issues with allyship, fear, and moves to (re)establish comfort by Settler Canadians.
In short, the authors contend that Settlers, using ally as a noun and touting their personal accomplishments toward reconciliation, are failing to move reconciliation and decolonize current constructs of Settler identity. The term ally is truly a verb where it denotes ongoing actions, work, and efforts to engage and support (partly by refusing to remain silent) Indigenous peoples. True allies never try to assume the leadership or the key role in place of Indigenous leadership.
Fear, anger, and frustration by Settler Canadians are represented as fear of change as one realizes that Canada is an ongoing colonial construction that all Settlers are engaged in to varying degrees. It is this discomfiture that leads to fear and anger that then can lead to either action to engage in decolonization by action or to engage in re-establishing comfort. Comfort is presented as the maintenance of stories that ‘Canadians are nice’, ‘Canadians are peacekeepers’, ‘Canadians always had or did have harmonious or good relations with Indians (minus a few erroneous experiments)’, and that ‘Canada has no history of colonialism.’ Comfort is being able to engage in land ownership, work hard, and enjoy a ‘good life’ unaware and ignorant of how Canadian colonialism and the resultant Settler identity is harming the land and its peoples. The move to comfort is also connected to the ‘ally’ crying in the corner of a call-to-action meeting as they try to come to terms with their connection to the harms of Settler colonialism and Indigenous peoples feeling obligated to comfort that individual. This is a ‘power’ play, intentional or otherwise, to re-establish Settler identity and comfort through ‘exceptionalism’ which results in the return to comfort.
Taken as a whole, Settler Identity is an excellent exploration of Canadian Settler constructs and ways to decolonize or un-Settler the contemporary identity aimed at redefining relationships to lands and peoples. The authors promise no quick fix or easy path. Lowman and Barker acknowledge that illustrating how Settler identity is constructed and maintained is part of the effort to undo it. This is a fascinating must-read for Settlers, allies, and Indigenous peoples.
For me, it helped explain the crying student in the back of class and their outright hostility when I refused to engage in ‘there, there you are different because you are in an Indigenous studies course’ narrative. It offers ways to challenge and effectively answer those Settler Canadians attempting to return to comfort by engaging in exceptionalism that leads the individual back to the pillars of Settlerism.
Emma Battell Lowman and Adam J. Barker, Settler Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada (Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2015).