Stories to Spaces: Land Back - What Does It Really Mean?

By Elya White

“I suppose you want this piece of land too, eh?” said a non-Indigenous person to my Indigenous dad in the line-up at the grocery store.

The answer is, “No, of course not”. The Land Back movement is not about kicking every non-Indigenous person out of Canada and returning to some utopian way of living. Personally, I am not a successful outdoorsperson. The last time I went fishing, I “caught” (more accurately, “attached to”) a seastar that was still suctioned to the bottom of the ocean, which resulted in us having to go in circles until it let go so we could get the hook out of its arm. I am a self-proclaimed urban Indigenous woman and that’s completely okay, but also means that giving the land back and leaving it to me to manage simply because I am Indigenous is probably unwise.

So, if the Land Back movement doesn’t mean literally giving your land to the Indigenous people, then what DOES it mean?

Well, first let’s investigate the difference between “land” and “property”. According to the Oxford Dictionary, “land” is a noun defined as: “the part of the earth’s surface that is not covered by water, as opposed to the sea or the air”; whereas “property”, while also a noun, is defined as “a thing or things belonging to someone; possessions collectively”. In other words, land is just earth and property implies ownership.

In any Indigenous creation story, there is typically a reference to being responsible for or stewards of the land. Artist Bomgiizhik (Anishnaabe) explains this perfectly by saying “if you have somebody that has a right to that glass of water, and you have somebody else that has a right to that glass of water, then you have somebody else that has a right to that glass of water… it becomes a conflict. But when you have three people that are responsible for that glass of water, it changes the whole narrative, it changes the whole feeling.”The idea of ownership of land came with the “Doctrine of Discovery” which was a Papal decree that dates back to 1100 CE that “aimed to justify Christian European explorers’ claims on land and waterways they allegedly discovered, and promote Christian domination and superiority”. This meant that if an “explorer” planted a flag, reported it to the Crown and occupied the space within a certain amount of time, the land was his despite the likelihood of someone else was already living there. If the Indigenous people of the land tried to fight back on this invasion onto their land, the “discoverer” would label them as intruders and in the way of European progress. Of course, certain colonial countries were given wider or more numerous “discovery” opportunities because hierarchies are everywhere.

As more settlers arrived to “claim land”, Indigenous were pushed into increasingly small areas of land on which to live. Even once these reserves were “given”, settlers still installed roads and railways through Indigenous lands.

Then, in 1885, the Indian Act was created to “do away with the tribal system and assimilate the Indian people in all respects with the other inhabitants of the Dominion as speedily as they are fit to change” as so eloquently stated by John A. Macdonald in 1887. The Indian Act was amended in 1951 and 1985 to reinstate some rights, but here are 21 restrictions put on Indigenous people:

1.     Denied women status (Amended in 1985 with Bill C-31).

2.     Introduced residential schools.

3.     Created reserves.

4.     Renamed individuals with European names.

5.     Restricted First Nations from leaving reserve without permission from the Indian agent.

6.     Enforced enfranchisement of any First Nation admitted to university.

7.     Could expropriate portions of reserves for roads, railways, and other public works, as well as move and entire reserve away from a municipality if it was deemed expedient.

8.     Could lease out uncultivated reserve lands to non-First Nations if the new leaseholder would use it for farming or pasture.

9.     Forbade First Nations from forming political organizations.

10.  Prohibited anyone, First Nation or non-First Nation, from soliciting funds for First Nation legal claims without special license from the Superintendent General (this 1927 amendment granted the government control over the ability of First Nations to pursue land claims).

11.  Prohibited the sale of alcohol to First Nations.

12.  Prohibited sale of ammunition to First Nations.

13.  Prohibited pool hall owners from allowing First Nations entrance.

14.  Imposed the “band council” system.

15.  Forbade First Nations from speaking their native language.

16.  Forbade First Nations from practicing their traditional religion.

17.  Forbade western First Nations from appearing in any public dance, show, exhibition, stampede or pageant wearing traditional regalia.

18.  Declared potlatch and other cultural ceremonies illegal (amended and removed in 1951).

19.  Denied First Nations the right to vote.

20.  Created permit system to control First Nations ability to sell products from farms.

21.  Created under the British rule for the purpose of subjugating one race – Aboriginal Peoples.

And that’s just 21 out of originally 266 sections of the Indian Act! Yes, some amendments have been made, but it’s still called “The Indian Act” and I still hold a “Certificate of Indian Status”.

Considering all the years of trying to get rid of the “Indian problem” with extermination attempts, assimilation and genocide, Indigenous people are only now starting to reclaim their sovereignty over their lands. Some movements are more subtle which others require louder and more forceful action.

It’s likely that you’ve seen a land acknowledgement somewhere along the way that reads something to the effect of: We acknowledge we are on the unceded traditional territory of the _______ peoples. We want to express our gratitude and respect for the honour of living and working here. Some are longer and some are shorter, but they typically exist on the bottom line on websites for universities, colleges, high schools, museums, etc. An important side note: unceded “refers to land that was not turned over to the Crown (government) by a treaty or other agreement”.

The Canadian government uses the words “decolonize” and “indigenize” frequently, especially after the findings at former residential schools that began in May 2021 in Kamloops, BC and has continued to grow exponentially in the many months that follow. Part of this process is through the “Land Back” movement, which is essentially “a call to restore land stewardship to Indigenous peoples” and basically means that Indigenous people will “make decisions about land so they have a say in things like the construction of destructive oil pipelines”. So, instead of filing for a permit from the government, anyone who wants to make changes to the land would need to get permits from the Indigenous peoples to ensure sustainable and eco-friendly developments and changes.

It’s important to remember that when Indigenous people call for “Land Back”,  Amy Smoke (co-organizer of the Kitchener Waterloo Land Back movement) reminds us that “it’s not just land back. It’s culture back, language back, ceremony back, water back. We’ve lost so much. So, Land Back is…reclaiming all of that and revitalizing all of that”. Tammy Webster (teacher and Anishabeg Outreach Board President) adds that “before treaties, before contact, before politics, before colonies and before all those governments came in, we had our own systems, we had our own understandings. We had our ways of doing things and interacting with one another. So, let’s reawaken that”.

So definitely not putting everyone into boats and shipping them back to where they came from, which is often the thought process. This ridiculous retort doesn’t even consider the mixed Indigenous people – do we cut ourselves into pieces and only ship back the European sides? Of course not.

Robin Kimmerer, author of “Braiding Sweetgrass”, wrote an article for Orion Magazine on the rights of land and used her gentle wisdom to perfectly summarize why the Land Back movement is vital to the future of humanity. Kimmerer writes:

The Earth is generous with us – and forgiving. We can be the same with each other. Becoming indigenous to place also means embracing its story, because the restoration of the land and the healing of our relationship mirror one another. Coming to terms with injustice is an act of liberation.