A Canadian academic joins the “lowercase movement,” according to a university in Calgary, Alberta.
dr. Linda Manyguns, associate vice president of indigenization and decolonization at Mount Royal University, said she joined local leaders in rejecting hierarchical symbols “wherever they are” and that she will not use capital letters “except to recognize the indigenous struggle for recognition.” . ”
He noted that it was the beginning of efforts to describe the use of lowercase letters on the website of the Office of Indigenization and Decolonization.
“We resist recognizing power structures that oppress and join the non-capitalizing movement,” manyguns wrote in a “in perspective” story published this week on the university’s website.
manyguns made their comments after the discovery of more than 1,000 unmarked graves in residential schools, underscoring Canada’s dark history, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
The National Center for Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) estimates that some 4,100 children died in residential schools in Canada. According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a large number of indigenous children were forcibly sent to residential schools and never returned home.
“It was a genocide and adults are dying at the same rate as children in residential schools. our reserves should be filled with cemeteries and there are none, ”manyguns told the Calgary Herald.
In May, CBC cited an Alberta government resource guide on residential schools.
“These schools were created to forcibly assimilate Indigenous children to Euro-Canadian culture. Underfunded, located in remote locations, far removed from communities in the children’s home and not adequately supervised, schools were affected by disease, questionable educational outcomes and physical, emotional and sexual abuse, ”the guide reads. resources on the history of schools.
Manyguns said earlier that in order to move forward as a country that respects indigenous culture, Canada must step back to review the rotten roots of colonization, according to the Herald.
“Indigenous peoples have been actively involved in a multidimensional struggle for equality since time immemorial. we strive for historical-cultural recognition and recognition of colonial oppression that persistently devalues the diversity of our unique cultural heritages, ”he wrote on Monday. “These places of struggle are usually in blockades, where there are demonstrations against racism, where racialization and cultural domination and discrimination leave the mark of imbalance and abuse of power. Sometimes these places generate interest for the media, but the interest is generally volatile.
“The explicit demonstration and practice of Aboriginal culture in everyday life or in places of resistance is called for by academic events,” manyguns added.