Miigwetch Senator Marilou McPhedran and all the wonderful helpers and sponsors for such a wonderful day! April 18, 2018.

​​​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

Settler people must stop judging Indigenous women in petty and dismissive ways such as nasty name calling.
 
Recently, I had a few experiences that were really telling of questionable settler thinking and a sure indication that they remain unaware and ignorant of the legitimate manifestations of structural oppression and how best to address it.
 
One individual called me “needy”, another called an Anishinaabe women “a wimp” and further “too angry”. There is so much I could say that is wrong about settler people name calling, regardless I will remain with offering a bulleted point list as I am sure I can make my position succinctly.

1. Settler people need to remember that they have lived the privilege of colonization and that their privilege has come off the backs of Indigenous people.
2.  Settler people need to remember that your homes and all your material possessions stuffed within it are on land, and off the land, that we were and continue to be denied.
3.  Settler people need to remember that in the summer, it is you who go off and vacation in your summer homes that also reside on Indigenous lands.
4.  Settler people need to remember it is Indigenous women and their families who are dealing with pedophiles and sexual offenders at a higher rate in our collective communities.
5.  Settler people need to remember that Indigenous women are missing and murdered in much larger numbers.
6.  Settler people need to remember that it is the sons of Indigenous families who are filling up Canada’s jail industry in much larger numbers.
7.  Setter people need to remember that Indigenous families have a higher rate of disability, both physical and mental.
8.  Settler people need to remember that it is the poverty that has been imposed on Indigenous people, and again that settlers gained from and continue to gain from, that result in us making decisions that in many ways harm us in the long run.
9.  Settler people need to remember that it is our families that continue to be destroyed and divided so Canada can thrive.
10.  Settler people need to remember that it is our communities that lack clean water and who live boil water advisories.
11.  Settler people need to remember that it was our culture that was criminalized, and further it is our culture that continues to be appropriated by settler people.
12.  Settler people need to remember that it is members in our communities that are pooping in buckets.
13.  Settler people need to remember that is our family members who are dying homeless on the streets.
14.  Settler people need to remember that it is Indigenous knowledge that continues to be reduced to “elderism” and that Indigenous knowledge holders and intellectuals continue to be ignored and dismissed through “elderism”.

 Morals move through the heart, they take the same path the human spirit does, and the same path emotions take. The people we should all fear are the people who lack the moral, spiritual, and emotional intelligence to speak up about the injustice Indigenous women face on a daily basis. It certainly is not Indigenous people who are righteously sad or angry. In short, look out for the “nice” accommodating, subservient and obliging people.
 
If you lack the intellectual ability to understand Indigenous women and ALL the knowledge we have, have the intelligence to listen versus silence them through name calling.

​​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

 It is now clear to many Indigenous women that Maryam Monsef has been co-opted by the Liberal Government’s need to continue to deny Indigenous women’s rights. Monsef is ignorant of Canada’s history and she follows blindly while Canada continues with its policies of Indigenous genocide.

As a refugee to Canada Monsef's loyalties are misguided where she lacks the ability to understand that this Land is Indigenous Land, and it is Indigenous women she should be loyal to, not the power wielding nation state called Canada. It seems her university education has let us all down. Is Trent University proud?
  
Rights are Rights; We Do Not Negotiate Rights with Men
 
    While Canada enshrined the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that states Canadians are protected from sex discrimination, Canada refuses to eliminate all the sex discrimination in the Indian Act. This discrimination bleeds into, shapes, and undermines Indigenous self-governance efforts when developing our own membership and citizenship codes. This is an act of genocide through insidious cultural means. Without a doubt, the Minister of Status of Women Maryam Monsef, Member of Parliament for Peterborough—Kawartha, is complicit in this genocide.  Read more here:
http://www.electriccitymagazine.ca/2018/02/on-reconciliation/
 
Cultural Genocide with a Lovely Smile
 
    All too often patriarchs, colonizers and oppressors actively seek out nice, obliging, accommodating, compliant, young people who have lovely smiles, to carry out their oppressive, sexist, racist, and genocidal agendas.
 
Why is it that this person cannot see the reality that is right in front of their eyes? Is it because, as I suggested, they are blind to the cultural genocide; is it because Monsef does her political work with a kind and polite smile that people enjoy; is it because I have less to smile about in the context of oppression and cultural genocide? Read more here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/lynn-gehl/canada-is-carrying-out-cultural-genocide-with-a-smile_a_23204482/
 
Monsef’s Vote Perpetuates Sex Discrimination
 
    Despite the efforts of the Indigenous Famous Five – Mary Two-Axe Early, Jeannette Corbiere-Lavell, Yvonne Bedard, Sandra Lovelace Nicholas, and more recently Sharon Donna McIvor – the 160 year (as of 2017) history of blatant sex discrimination in the Indian Act continues.  Read more here:
https://journeymagazineptbo.com/2017/09/21/persons-day-the-indigenous-famous-five-contingent-updated-version/
 
KTRSG Chair Unhappy with Minister of Status of Women Maryam Monsef
 
    It has become clear to members of the KTRSG that the liberal government is not the feminist government Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed it to be in 2015. A genuine feminist government would not appoint female cabinet members and then proceed to remove from them their agency to vote in a way that was more in line with their own conscience and consciousness and sense of justice for all women.  Read more here:
http://anishinabeknews.ca/2017/09/05/open-letter-kawartha-group-disappointed-with-monsefs-voting-position-on-bill-s-3/
 
Pam Palmater on Genocide and Sex Discrimination
 
    Listen to Dr. Pam Palmater’s Woodrow Lloyd Lecture titled “Truth and Reconciliation in Canada: If It Feels Good, It’s Not Reconciliation”.  Move to the 32:00 and the 45:00 minute marks to hear what she has to say about Canada’s refusal to end the sex discrimination in the Indian Act. Listen here: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89s3l2mYGWg&feature=youtu.be

​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

​​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

While within the Indigenous paradigm and worldview all land and waterscapes are sacred, Indigenous people hold particular locations as especially sacred. One such place is just upstream from Canada’s Parliament Hill, known as Akikodjiwan where Akikpautik is inherent. Akikpautik is the land and waterscape where Creator placed the First Sacred Pipe, the ultimate symbol and ritual of reconciliation between father and son, between peoples, and between nations. The larger landscape of Akikodjiwan includes three sacred islands: Chaudière Island, Albert Island, and Victoria Island.

These islands are a special meeting place where different peoples and nations come together to rekindle and reconcile relationships through smoking the Sacred Pipe and associated rituals such as talking, feasting, prayer, song, and dance.

Indigenous people live more deeply within the naturalistic tradition because we value that natural processes exist closer to Creator’s original power. Said another way, Indigenous people respect natural law, and know that living within a respectful relationship with it is far more sustainable than the destruction of the human-created economic paradigm that is currently ravishing Mother Earth.

Regardless of this time-honoured Indigenous wisdom, Canada is claiming to “green-up Ottawa,” allowing a wealthy corporate developer to further desecrate Akikodjiwan and Akikpautik. Presently Canada, Ontario, and Ottawa are opening the doors that will lead to a private condominium and commercial complex where wealthy sports enthusiasts, boaters, and canoers will gain privileged access to the great waterway. This is a clear act of genocide.

The Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna, Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre, is complicit in this genocide.

​Read about more fake feminists here: ON RECONCILIATION

​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

​Treaty rights, such as the right to live on the reserve and health and education rights, are connected to Indian status registration. These are rights we are entitled to for sharing our land and resources with the settler people. Further, the Indian Act status registration process feeds into and shapes our self-governance efforts, as for the most part it is status Indians who become members or citizens of our nations.

Indigenous women have been living under a regime of sex discrimination in the Indian Act for more than a century. It was in 1869 that Canada first codified the sex discrimination in the Indian Act, where Indian women who married non-Indian men lost Indian status and thus their treaty rights, in a process called ‘enfranchisement.’ The same did not happen to Indian men who married non-Indian women.

Indigenous women have been challenging this since the 1960s, beginning with Mary Two-Axe Early, Jeannette Corbiere-Lavell, Yvonne Bedard, and Senator Sandra Lovelace. Eventually in 1985 this discrimination ended and Canada reinstated the status of women who were enfranchised, but Canada did not allow these women to pass on status to their grandchildren who were born before 1985 ‒ yet Indian men could. This meant the discrimination continued in a new form.

More recently, Sharon McIvor and I have moved through Canada’s court system, challenging this long-time sex discrimination. Despite our over 30 years of effort, and the current Liberal government’s so-called feminist platform, Canada recently passed into law Bill S-3, An Act to Amend the Indian Act, which continues to discriminate against many of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren who were born before 1985 to Indian women who married out.

In pushing this bill forward Canada relied on the pitiful argument that there was the need for consultations before they would implement the full remedy Sharon and I called for, known as the “6(1)a All the Way” clause. In short, this clause would make all the descendants of Indian women once enfranchised the same as the descendants of Indian men. Rights are rights, we argued; they are not something that requires consultations with First Nations Chiefs and Councils.

While Canada enshrined the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that states Canadians are protected from sex discrimination, Canada refuses to eliminate all the sex discrimination in the Indian Act. This discrimination bleeds into, shapes, and undermines Indigenous self-governance efforts when developing our own membership and citizenship codes. This is an act of genocide through insidious cultural means.

Without a doubt, the Minister of Status of Women Maryam Monsef, Member of Parliament for Peterborough—Kawartha, is complicit in this genocide.

Members of Peterborough—Kawartha rip up and/or delete your selfies with Canada's fake feminists.

Read about more fake feminists here: ON RECONCILIATION

​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

​While the City of Halifax has the intelligence to remove the statue of Edward Cornwallis, the City of Ottawa moves deeper into Canada’s practice of genocide against the Algonquin Anishinaabeg.
  
As many people know there has been a long-time effort to Free the Falls and Save the Islands located in the Ottawa River just upstream from Canada's Parliament buildings. Chaudière Falls and Chaudière, Albert, and Victoria Islands are an ancient sacred meeting place where Creator placed the First Sacred Pipe within the land and waterscape, the ultimate symbol and ritual of reconciliation.

Many supportive people have worked hard to have this sacred place restored, re-naturalized, and preserved as the sacred place it is. At one time this support also included the National Capital Commission and the City of Ottawa. Despite this, and within the context of the Liberal government's rhetoric of "reconciliation" corporate power and the economic paradigm are moving forward with the continued onslaught of Indigenous rights and Indigenous sacred places.
 
Although it is said the Tsilhoqot’in decision ushered in a new paradigm of the need for Indigenous consent versus consultation, on December 15, 2017, the Government of Canada approved a series of land transfers between the National Capital Commission, Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, and Windmill Dream Zibi for lands on the islands. This Crown land transfer happened without the consent of the larger Algonquin Nation, which includes the status and the non-status in both of the provinces living in Quebec and Ontario.
 
Regardless of this lack of Algonquin consent, as of February 5th, 2018 the Ontario Land Registry identifies Windmill Dream Zibi Ontario Inc. as owners of parcels of land on Chaudière Island and Albert Island.
 
What makes this worse is the City of Ottawa is currently in the process of constructing nine kilometres of parkland along the Ottawa River that they will name “The Sir John A. Macdonald Riverfront Park”. Why can’t Ottawa be as smart as Halifax?

Inspired by Dalhousie student and ally to Indigenous people Masuma Khan; it is my thought that, “Reconciliation can kiss my ass!”

​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

​As many know, one of the main differences between Indigenous people and most if not all settler Canadians and our knowledge philosophies is that Indigenous people value the original dream of the Creator and Creator’s natural law. Another way to understand this difference is to value that Indigenous assumptions, beliefs, knowledge, teachings, and rituals are intentionally and consciously designed around natural models and features. This serves to keep us rooted within the naturalistic tradition. In short, the naturalistic tradition places natural law at its core where humans are placed within the context of all the other beings.
 
The naturalistic tradition is different from the humanistic tradition. The humanistic tradition places humans above the natural world and above all the other beings. This includes all of humanity’s creations such as governance and economic traditions. They are not designed to work with Creation; rather they are designed to control and monopolize Creation. While humans are smart beings and we are able to create amazing things with the gift of our mind, our egos and blind selfishness of the paramount importance of the natural world, and that humans too readily default to, is our own worst enemy. This is what is meant by the Anishinaabe philosophy and saying, ‘humans are pitiful’.
 
As we all know the humanistic tradition and inventions that emerge from it is devastating our collective land and waterscapes, so much so that our water is polluted with layers and layers of different kinds of pollution: debris such as plastic and other forms of garbage; chemicals such as organic compounds like dioxins, heavy metals, and pharmaceuticals; sewage and biological waste; and radioactive particles. Again, this is the result of human beings placing their needs over and above all the beings within the natural world.
 
The problem is that most people are suffering from ‘cognitive paradigm paralysis’, meaning they are unable to think conceptually about the paradigm they live within, and thus unable to think critically about the limitations of their paradigm ‒ the humanistic paradigm ‒ and value that there is a better more intelligent option waiting for them to shift into. The culprit is the pitifulness of human cognition.
 
A telling example of people’s inability to understand that they are stuck within the irrational humanistic tradition / paradigm is the fact that when a brick and mortar Church, Mosque, or Synagogue is damaged, people are disgusted and outraged and they call it a hate crime; yet when a natural Indigenous sacred place such as Akikodjiwon and Akikpautik located within the natural world of the land and waterscape of the Ottawa River is further desecrated these same people are unable to shift conceptually and value that this too is a hate crime. This inability continues to harm Indigenous people as well as all people and Creation.
 
Akikodjiwon and Akikpautik are the very land and waterscapes where Creator placed the First Sacred Pipe, the ultimate ritual and ceremony of reconciliation. The Spirit of the West Wind gifted his son Nanaboozo with the Sacred Pipe for fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, and citizens of all nations to assist in reconciliation. Sadly, Akikodjiwon and Akikpautik are slated for further desecration through the construction of Windmill’s condominium and retail complex. This is happening just upstream from Parliament Hill.

As many know I have been on a long learning journey piecing together what Canada has done, and continues to do, to Indigenous peoples. What I know for sure is the most effective way to destroy a people is to destroy their sacred beliefs, stories, and places. It is an abomination that the further desecration of this sacred place of reconciliation is happening during the time of the Liberal government’s reconciliation platform.
 
You are likely more familiar with my recent work challenging the sex discrimination in the Indian Act. Over the last few years I have also been working with allies from Free the Falls and Stop Windmill and Indigenous people and Elders regarding the need to respect Akikodjiwon and Akikpautik. We are at a loss about where to turn and so I turn to members of the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal People.
  
Additional resources:

• http://anishinabeknews.ca/2015/05/26/opinion-lambert-on-free-the-chaudiere-falls-and-save-the-islands/
• http://albertdumont.com/dreamkeepers-politicians-chaudiere-falls/
• http://muskratmagazine.com/celebrating-canadas-150th-featuring-the-desecration-of-an-indigenous-sacred-place/
• http://albertdumont.com/asinabka-impossible-to-buy/
• http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/windmill-to-unveil-domtar-land-plan-1.2460753

​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

​Many Layers of Structural Oppression
 
The knowledge of living as a structurally oppressed person is foremost held within the everyday lived experiences of the oppressed. The location of the knowledge of oppression resides within the bodies and hearts of the very people. As such, the wisdom needed to remedy structural oppression is located within the critical thinking minds of the oppressed themselves. Not all structurally oppressed people are able to move the knowledge from their bodies and hearts to the location of their minds. Remember that critical thinking is a gift and a skill.
 
Most people know we live in a society that oppresses women. Few people will deny this. But we need to keep in mind that heterosexual, able-bodied, white women only experience one layer of structural oppression, and therefore only know one layer of the knowledge. Further, they lack the intersectional knowledge located within the spaces of having more than one layer of structural oppression.
 
It can be said that the level of knowledge within the “Well of Wisdom”, needed to challenge oppressive structures that white women have, is not deep and murky. This sounds unkind but this is true. This is one reason why older white feminism was critiqued by women of colour. While white women were happy with the shifts made, women of colour were not ‘celebrating the continuation of the oppression’ as the shifts were mostly the assimilation of white women into patriarchal systems.
 
Intersectional Feminism
 
While white women do have some of the knowledge of structural oppression and the wisdom of how to address it, it stands to reason that women of colour will have more. What is more, women of colour will also have the intersectional effects of being both a woman and a woman of colour; where the experience of intersectional effects mean they also know the inter-acting results of experiencing two levels of structural oppression. What this means is the level of knowledge in the “Well of Wisdom” that women of colour hold to challenge oppressive societal structures is deeper and more murky than the level white women have.
 
While women of colour know more than double the knowledge of structural oppression over white women, it stands to reason that women of colour with a disability embody even more of the knowledge and wisdom: more than three times the knowledge in that again they also hold the intersectional effects contained.
 
We can keep adding to this. For example, a woman of colour with a disability and who is gender non-specific will even have more of the knowledge and wisdom needed to address structural oppression.
 
In sum, the knowledge of structural oppression is located within the lived experiences of the oppressed where the multiply oppressed have more of the knowledge and wisdom needed to challenge it. My goal here is not to set up a knowledge competition but rather to illustrate why it is that people under more levels of oppression are able to identify the limitations of the less oppressed, that being white women. It is because they hold more of the knowledge.

Cognitive Dissonance is Unpleasant
 
All too often when white women take on a social justice issue, where they lack a deeper understanding of the knowledge of structural oppression, they are then faced with situations of cognitive dissonance when a person who is more oppressed speaks up letting them know they are not addressing issues in a way that the more oppressed need them to be addressed. Experiencing cognitive dissonance is emotional and the feelings that emerge are negative: embarrassment, shame, anger, hate, toxicity, lateral violence, arrogance, and ignorance. The good thing is the best learning is emotional; not nice though.
 
What happens all too often when white women are informed or told about their ignorance they become reactionary so much so that they can and will rely on and hurl nasty adjectives to describe the person who was brave enough to speak up. Interestingly, I have come to know that the nasty adjectives actually best describe the less oppressed person’s emotional state brought on by their cognitive dissonance rather than the more oppressed brave person. The emotions are a result of them being challenged in ways they are ignorant about; or result from them being called out about their unspoken political agenda that further oppresses such as them supporting the current Minister of Status of Women Maryam Monsef who is not addressing sex discrimination in the Indian Act, the land claims process, and the destruction of sacred Indigenous land and waterscapes.
 
On White Privilege; We Need White Women, But …
 
While it is indeed a wonderful thing that white people are now learning about, reading about, thinking about, and talking about white privilege, white people do not have the everyday lived experience of being at the back end of white privilege where as such they do not hold the monopoly of knowledge on white privilege. It is crucial to keep in mind they do not and cannot ever hold the depth of knowledge and wisdom that people of colour hold on this topic. In short, because it is not their everyday lived misery they do not know it wholistically, deeply, or completely.
 
Some people may be inclined to think, if white women do not hold enough of the knowledge of structural oppression, and if people who are more oppressed are not happy with the actions of white women, then they need to take a lead role in the process of challenging structural oppression and forget about white women. This line of thought is reactionary and not the thinking of a genuine social justice seeker, not at all. Asking white women to reflect on who has more of the knowledge is valid; it does not mean the more oppressed don’t need them in the struggle. Of course we do. What we need is for them to take a back seat or follow and serve the more oppressed.
 
What is more, the less oppressed people who argue there is the need for the more oppressed to be nicer when they encounter settler ignorance really need to think critically about intersectional feminism, and stop burdening more oppressed people with settler emotions.
 
I have produced a large volume of short reading materials that enhance the knowledge shared in this blog:
 
Intersectional Oppression:
https://journeymagazineptbo.com/2016/09/14/2830/
Follow the Turtle:
https://www.lynngehl.com/follow-the-turtle.html
Critical thinking and the Charity Model:
​www.lynngehl.com/black-face-blogging/critical-thinking-and-the-charity-model-of-social-justice
Kawartha Truth and Reconciliation Support Group on Maryam Monsef:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/lynn-gehl/canada-is-carrying-out-cultural-genocide-with-a-smile_a_23204482/
http://www.windspeaker.com/news/opinion/opinion-minister-monsef-disappoints-on-bill-s-3-and-continues-the-discrimination/
White Woman’s Gaze:
https://www.lynngehl.com/black-face-blogging/that-white-womans-gaze
On Nice People:
https://www.lynngehl.com/black-face-blogging/nice-people-scare-me
On Reconciliation:
http://muskratmagazine.com/celebrating-canadas-150th-featuring-the-desecration-of-an-indigenous-sacred-place/