September/October 2020 cover

The Land Back Issue

In our special 60-page Land Back issue, we address how to return land in so-called Canada to Indigenous Peoples, and encourage the flourishing of Indigenous laws, life, and governance on those territories. Inside, you'll find a timeline of 100 years of land struggle; essays on overlapping Indigenous jurisdiction, sex work, Land Back in the city, protecting Black and Indigenous trans women, and land as a social relationship; a round-table discussion with Indigenous women hunters; an investigation into the Canadian government's efforts to circumvent the Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs' consent; and visionary fiction about decolonizing Wood Buffalo National Park. 

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    “Land Back” is more than the sum of its parts

    When we say “Land Back” we want the system that is land to be alive so that it can perpetuate itself, and perpetuate us as an extension of itself. That’s what we want back: our place in keeping land alive and spiritually connected. 

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    “I have the inalienable right to protect this land”

    An interview with Elder Jo-Ann Saddleback about Land Back, matriarchy, democracy, and decolonization.

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    What is Land Back? A Settler FAQ

    Settlers have a lot of questions about Land Back: What does it mean? Who will the land be given back to? How will it be governed? Will settlers be forced to leave the continent? Brooks Arcand-Paul and Nickita Longman help clear up some of the frequently asked questions about the Land Back movement.

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    100 years of land struggle

    A timeline of Land Back events from the past century

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    Land as a social relationship

    The land has always been here and Indigenous Peoples have always been reclaiming parts of it. So Canada’s challenge is how to keep us off of it, and how to keep us from holding onto the idea that it’s right for us to reclaim it.

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    Four case studies of Land Back in action

    From land trusts to mushroom permitting, here are some examples of what Land Back looks like on the ground

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    Back 2 the Land: 2Land 2Furious

    Molly Swain and Chelsea Vowel of Métis in Space discuss Métis futurisms and how they started their Land Back project.

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    mâmawiwikowin

    European political traditions would have us believe that being sovereign means asserting exclusive control over a territory, whereas Prairie NDN political traditions teach us that it is through our relationship with others that we are sovereign.

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    Reconnecting to the spirit of the language

    In all of our interviews with nêhiyawêwin-speaking Elders, learners, and teachers across Treaty 6, we learned that the land is integral to Indigenous language revitalization, as the land and the language are inherently and intrinsically connected.

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    Becoming intimate with the land

    To make the link between hunting, land use, and Land Back, Alex Wilson spoke to three Indigenous women hunters about patriarchy, spirituality, and the joys of being on the land. 

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    Sexual sovereignty

    Indigenous sex workers continue to pave the way for sexual liberation. How is this fundamental to Land Back?

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    This Prairie city is land, too

    I wonder what it would mean to walk freely on my own lands without fear of surveillance by white prairie settlers and criminalization by the institutions that serve their interests.

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    Land Back means protecting Black and Indigenous trans women

    Historically, Black and Indigenous trans women were honoured within our communities. Today, Land Back means undoing transmisogyny in our movements and restoring the cultural importance of non-colonial gender identities.

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    Whose land is it, anyways?

    An interview with Ginnifer Menominee on treaty holders, ceremonial jurisdiction, and Land Back in Guelph.

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    Manufacturing Wet’suwet’en consent

    Why the Canadian government and industry are doing everything they can to avoid consulting with hereditary leadership on Wet’suwet’en yintah

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    To Wood Buffalo National Park, with love

    After a long legacy of power and control by Parks Canada, this story imagines how Lands and Peoples could once again live in healthy reciprocity.

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    Sustainer profile #64: Eden Robinson

    An interview with Haisla/Heiltsuk author Eden Robinson about her relationship to land, the importance of independent journalism in covering Indigenous movements, and why she donates monthly to Briarpatch.