McMartin: How long must I live in Canada before I am no longer a colonist or settler?
2025/11/18 1 Comment
Valid concern. I am always amused by op-eds or articles by new arrivals who adopt this language, apparently not considering some of the hypocrisy involved:
…In the modern context — in the context in which William’s history and, by association, my history are now being refigured — William’s emigration to Canada was not the stuff of dire need, or daring in the face of events beyond his control, or the stuff of nation-building. There is no recognition, appreciation or accounting of William as an individual dealing with forces greater than himself.
But there is government-sanctioned shame and remorse.
And the indelible stain of trespass.
And the attendant name-calling of “colonialist,” “occupier,” and “settler” — all meant not only to demonize William’s and my history, but to delegitimize it. There are the performative apologies that, while purporting to recognize that this stage play or children’s Christmas concert is taking place on the unceded territory of the local First Nation, they really serve to remind us that all non-Indigenous history is one of thievery.
And I get it.
And to a great degree I agree, because the fury and anger of the Indigenous Peoples in Canada is justified. The history is undeniable. The deaths, displacement and Eurocentric supremacist racism suffered by the Indigenous Peoples took place, and is still taking place. And I cannot deny the fact that my family prospered under the rule of successive colonial and post-Confederation governments while those governments marginalized Indigenous populations.
But.
While enlightened initiatives like truth and reconciliation speak well of Canada’s attempt to heal long-standing wounds, there is the real danger here that reconciliation can quickly become resentment and retrenchment, as we have seen in the U.S. and in Europe, where hard-right political parties, fighting race and cultural wars, have ridden popular resentment to the top of the polls and formed governments….
Source: Opinion: How long must I live in Canada before I am no longer a colonist or settler?
About Andrew
Multicultural Meanderings 
My mother’s family came to Canada in 1903, as poor immigrants coming off the boat in Montreal. My father came to Canada from the United States in 1970. To be sure, there was colonialism in Canada. But I somehow don’t feel that relatively new arrivals to Canada like my family should be viewed as colonizers. In the case of Mr. McMartin, whose ancestor came more than 200 years ago, a case could be made that his ancestors were colonizers. But as to Mr. McMartin himself, he has no control over what his ancestors did. I view him as native to Canada.