In Person: CFGS C168 (Sedgewick building, University of Victoria) or Zoom. The meeting will take place from 12:00pm to 1:30pm PST. Register in advance for this meeting here. Registration is free but required.
Generations of settler colonial policies have sought to sever Indigenous peoples from each other and their homelands and waters. Despite recent commitments to reconciliation, many of these harmful policies continue and are evidenced in the ongoing removal of Indigenous children, and the pushing through of various extractive industry projects. These moves attempt to erase understandings of justice and self-determination that explore the intimate connection between lands, waters, and bodies. As coastal Indigenous nations—as nuučaańuł and Coast Salish peoples—we are intimately connected to our waters. We endure, guided by our kinship and deeply embedded in our relationality, responsibilities, and reciprocity. Drawing on two summers traveling with Kwumut Lelum during Tribal Journeys, this talk centers Indigenous youth experiences and voices on the annual canoe journey bringing together nations along the Pacific. Through their reflections and personal experience, this talk explores how we resist colonial violence and erasure by honouring and renewing our relationality to each other and the water that sustains us.
Rachel yacaaʔał George is nuučaańuł of Ahousaht and Ehattesaht First Nations and grew up in the Metro Vancouver area of British Columbia on the territories of the Qayqayt, Musqueam, Skwxwú7mesh, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. She holds a BA in History and English from the University of Victoria, an MA in Genocide Studies from the University of Amsterdam, and a PhD in Indigenous Governance from the University of Victoria. She specializes in Indigenous politics—particularly on Indigenous conceptions of justice and their intersections with projects of reconciliation. Her current areas of research include coastal Indigenous governance, relationality, resurgence, and storytelling.
