Last Updated on August 3, 2018
The Great White Father syndrome displayed by the governments of Canada and Australia toward indigenous peoples this week has deep roots. Rooted in European Christian colonialism, the edicts handed down in Ottawa and Canberra over federal education policy reek of nineteenth century imperial racism. Holding indigenous communities’ benefits for such things as decent housing hostage, by conditioning fulfillment of these federal obligations on indigenous peoples’ acquiescence to state coercion over education, is reminiscent of an earlier era when indigenous children were kidnapped by missionaries and state police in order to eradicate indigenous governance, religion and culture. The fact we still see this humanitarian drama playing out five years after the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples indicates how little modern states have learned from the colonial experience. Improving their relationship with indigenous nations in the future requires discarding the harmful attitudes of the past.
Across the world right now, Indigenous peoples are facing a renewed assault on their lands, rights, and ways of life.
From extractive industries pushing deeper into ancestral territories, to governments rolling back hard-won protections,
the threat is global—and it is growing.
What makes this moment especially dangerous is how little attention it receives.
Stories like this are disappearing in real time. Mainstream media
barely covers it and the coverage is fragmented. The public is left without the context
needed to understand what is truly at stake.
That is exactly why IC Magazine exists..
For more than 20 years, IC has reported on Indigenous struggles worldwide — consistently, independently, and without compromise.
We don’t follow news cycles; we trace patterns. We don’t sensationalize; we provide context.
And when the world looks away, we stay focused.
But this work is increasingly difficult to sustain.
We refuse to lock our reporting behind a paywall. We don’t sell access through subscriptions.
And we don’t answer to advertisers. IC Magazine survives solely because readers like you choose to
support independent Indigenous journalism.
Please donate today if you can. Every contribution helps us to continue this crucial work.
Thank you,
John Ahni Schertow
Founder and Editor in Chief
