Question 4) Figuring out this place called home is a problem (87). Why? Why is it so problematic to figure out this place we call home: Canada? Consider this question in context with Chamberlin’s discussion on imagination and reality; belief and truth (use the index).Chamberlin says, “the sad fact is, the history of settlement around the world is the history of displacing other people from their lands, of discounting their livelihoods and destroying their languages” (78). Chamberlin goes on to “put this differently” (Para. 3). Explain that “different way” of looking at this, and discuss what you think of the differences and possible consequences of these “two ways” of understanding the history of settlement in Canada.
In Edward Chamberlin’s book “If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories,” he speaks about the history of settlement as “the history of displacing other people from their lands, of discounting their livelihoods and destroying their languages” (78). He then goes on to describe this history, in what he says is a different way, as “a history of dismissing a different belief or different behaviour as unbelief or misbehaviour, and of discrediting those who believe or behave differently as infidels or savages” (78). It seems to me that this second way of thinking about settlement is not different at all, but an elaboration or even justification for the actions of these settlers. Not to say that Chamberlin condones these actions– It’s very clear that he does not – but he humanizes the action by giving it a motivation. The consequences of this could be troubling. Now the settler does not simply say, ‘I need a place to live and I choose this place.’ Instead, despite the fact that it is wrong, the settler makes an active decision to displace someone from their home with a strong justification—that being, because the original owner does not believe in, whatever the settler has decided is the ‘right’ belief. And of course, this is exactly what has happened in Canada’s past.
Now the Native is displaced and what are they to do? They could turn around and force someone else from their home, but this doesn’t seem to be the trend. Why not? Perhaps because Indigenous people have a different connection to what ‘home’ means than the settlers (and their descendants) do. So then I ask, what is a home? To me, ‘home’ represents a place of safety, comfort and love. I haven’t had too many homes in my life but what I’ve found interesting is what the transitions from home to home have been like. Sometimes the anticipation has been gut-wrenching, sometimes anxious and excited and sometimes I don’t notice it at all. However, there is a large distinction between how I would describe my personal home and the collective Canadian homeland. As I am not an Indigenous person and have no background as such, I can only speculate at this, but I wonder if people who have a more passionate, spiritual connection to the physical land they live on, have a deeper connection with their ‘homeland.’ I’m very proud to be Canadian, but ask me to describe what it means to be Canadian and I would struggle, especially after a few enlightening years of higher education that blew the lid off my, perhaps, sheltered, naïve understanding of Canada’s history. In his book, Chamberlin talks about the differences between belief and truth, or something you imagine and something that is real. For most of my life I believed that Canada was the greatest country in the world. Way better than those crazy Americans, but perhaps slightly less cool and classy than the Brits. I believed that in Canada everything was fair: we have public health care and everyone gets to go to school. Is this a product of the stories I heard as a child and growing up, from my parents or the media? Yes, it very likely is. And for some reason I didn’t get to hear stories that had something different to say. If we return to the idea of settlement and displacement, it must also have been from stories and experience that caused those settlers to create their beliefs. The mistake they made was confusing those manufactured beliefs for reality.
Works Cited
Chamberlin, J. Edward. If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories?: Finding Common Ground. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2004. Print.
“Downton Abbey.” PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.
Ullrich, Julia. Park Bench in Deep Cove, N. Vancouver. Digital image. N.p., 19 May 2016. Web.
“What Does Home Mean to You?” Real Simple. Time Inc. Lifestyle Group, n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.
Hi Julia, thanks for the interesting read. It’s so scary when you think about the humanizing features of the most horrific acts. It’s so much easier to dismiss horrible acts as something done by ‘the other’. But that’s another issue altogether.
I think the concept of home you bring up really complex, too, and reading your post helped shape my own definition. That place of “safety, comfort and love” you mention is really important to us. And, each time we move places, I think you have to start all over again to take an empty space and make it ‘home’. I have moved apartments almost every year since coming to Vancouver, and taking that sense of belonging with me can be hard to keep up with. Each time I move, it almost feels like I am faced with a decision of how to define myself in a way, by the things I choose to surround myself with. I have to understand myself to reinvent the space around me to then make it feel like I belong in that space.
I don’t know if I can take that same concept of moving apartments to the idea of belonging in a country as a whole – but maybe it has something to do with how we feel we belong within the constructs that the country defines itself by. Thanks for giving me something to think about!
Hi Ashley,
Thanks for your comment. I agree, it’s tough to compare our relatively low-trauma experiences with being asked/forced to leave your home. We may think we know how we’d feel, but it’s truly impossible until it actually happens.
You described Chamberlin’s opinions very simply and eloquently. I think his message to ‘find common ground’ is really important and emphasizes the importance of a home. I think you bring up a great point of home being part of someone’s identity. I mean Canadians are known for sewing our flag to our backpacks when abroad. I know that by doing that I felt more comfortable and like I was bringing part of home with me. This pride can only come with a safe feeling that a country like ours provides. I wonder how other countries would respond to this discussion. You also bring up the idea of the manufactured beliefs of the settlers – how would you classify their definition of home? Particularly in relation to those they displaced whether that be in Australia or here or anywhere else where it has happened?
Hi Charlie,
That’s a great question and I really don’t have an answer for it. I suppose those settlers, who themselves were displaced, were also just looking for a land that they could feel safe in, and the Natives they found in that land were simply an obstacle for them getting what they want. Subsequently, because of their close-mindedness to people who tell different stories and exhibit different behaviors, they discounted the Native presence altogether. Or, in some of their more ‘charitable’ moments, decided to help the so-called ‘barbarians’ learn to live in a more civilized way, which as we now know, made the problems much much worse.