Colonialism: We Were Made From This
Pop quiz: name all of the things wrong with this commercial:
The statement "We arrived 340 years ago". One of the most problematic statements in that commercial (also the first one they make). Who are 'we'? Judging from the time period they give, I assume it's white europeans. What about the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people who lived here as far back as 35000years ago? I guess they don't count. This whole commercial gives the message that there was no one and nothing here before (the comment about 'the land of rock, ice and snow'). That in itself is extremely problematic (and borderline racist).
"But Mathieu, this is about HBC, the company, not about Canada. HBC was a European company, therefore it wasn't run by aboriginals. So why the fuss?"
Ah, true enough. HBC was owned and run by white europeans. However, the HBC owes its existence to the Fur Trade. The fur trade could not have developed the way it did without first nations people. Therefore, the HB-fucking-C owes a huge chunk of its entire existence to the trade with First Nations. So,where are they in the commercial? They're certainly not the 'we' that arrived here 340 years ago that the commercial mentions.
Ah, nothing like good ol' fashion history rewriting to leave out a group that is essential, yet inconvenient to the whole 'nation building' narrative.
Click to viewThe statement "We arrived 340 years ago". One of the most problematic statements in that commercial (also the first one they make). Who are 'we'? Judging from the time period they give, I assume it's white europeans. What about the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people who lived here as far back as 35000years ago? I guess they don't count. This whole commercial gives the message that there was no one and nothing here before (the comment about 'the land of rock, ice and snow'). That in itself is extremely problematic (and borderline racist).
"But Mathieu, this is about HBC, the company, not about Canada. HBC was a European company, therefore it wasn't run by aboriginals. So why the fuss?"
Ah, true enough. HBC was owned and run by white europeans. However, the HBC owes its existence to the Fur Trade. The fur trade could not have developed the way it did without first nations people. Therefore, the HB-fucking-C owes a huge chunk of its entire existence to the trade with First Nations. So,where are they in the commercial? They're certainly not the 'we' that arrived here 340 years ago that the commercial mentions.
Ah, nothing like good ol' fashion history rewriting to leave out a group that is essential, yet inconvenient to the whole 'nation building' narrative.