Webster's dictionary defines a “jabroni” as, “a foolish or contemptible person.” Which I bring up for no particular reason. Certainly not to suggest that St. Catharines Councillor Tim Rigby is a jabroni. I wouldn’t do that.
Anyway, last week St. Catharines Councillor Tim Rigby busted out his Webster’s to look up the word “Indigenous” and somehow he didn’t stop right there and think to himself, “This is a bad idea.”
If you are a white dude, and you’re reaching for your dictionary to look up the definition of the word “Indigenous,” just stop. Stop because whatever you are about to do next is almost certainly going to be a disaster.
Alas, Rigby didn’t stop. He powered through, and at a recent Niagara Regional Council meeting, he came to the very misguided conclusion that he is, in his own words, “an Indigenous Englishman because my family came from England.”
No.
No, no, no, a thousand times no.
I can’t believe I even have to say this but, no, Rigby, you are not “Indigenous” and I don’t care what Webster’s says.
The topic of discussion that brought about this silliness was a land acknowledgement, which is clearly meant to show respect to Canada’s Indigenous population, not (and I can’t even believe I have to explain this) “Indigenous Englishmen.”
Anyone unable to see the difference is probably beyond the point where they can be reasoned with. And since I don’t think Rigby is a dummy, I’m sure he knows and understands the difference between himself and an Indigenous person. He’s just being obtuse and using his dictionary as a means to attempt to make some poorly concocted point.
Anyone unable to see the difference is probably beyond the point where they can be reasoned with
Which is a shame, because the wider discussion about the value and purpose of Indigenous land acknowledgements is a valid conversation that is worth having. But it shouldn’t come from Rigby. It shouldn’t come from me either.
I’m the whitest guy you’ve ever met. I’m a mix of Czech, Croatian, Romanian, and a dash of Irish in there somewhere I think, so I’m basically Super White. I’m the Final Boss of Whiteness. I’m also male, heterosexual, atheist, upper middle class, and tall enough to enjoy tall-guy-privilege, so I’m very aware that I’ve lived my entire life completely and utterly free of all forms of discrimination.
I’m not the guy you wanna bring into the conversation when talking about the efficacy of Indigenous land acknowledgements. That’s a conversation that should be led by people like Brian Kon, an Indigenous relations adviser for the Niagara Region, or Karl Dockstader, who is Niagara College’s Indigenous education cultural consultant.
Which is why I don’t really have much to add to this topic, other than to offer up a helpful bit of advice to my white privilege brethren to stay in our damned lane when these kinds of things are brought up.
And that goes for the jabronis in the comments section under all these stories. Against my better judgment, I looked at the comments on a story about the Rigby/Indigenous situation, where multiple people made the same inane post along the lines of, “Maybe we should do a land acknowledgement for the dinosaurs too, they were here first.” Good one bro, hilarious, that’s so funny except for the fact that we didn’t murder, impoverish, and kidnap baby dinosaurs and force them into residential schools, so maybe, just maybe, this isn’t quite the clever quip so many people seem to think it is.
James Culic only truly felt at home when he was in Tokyo, so maybe he’s an Indigenous Japanese. Find out how to yell at him at the bottom of this page or tell us where you were once Indigenous in a letter to the editor.
