Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian Residential Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada

by Paulette Regan

In 2008 the Canadian government apologized to the victims of the notorious Indian residential school system, and established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission whose goal was to mend the deep rifts between Aboriginal peoples and the settler society that engineered the system. In Unsettling the Settler Within, Paulette Regan, a former residential-schools-claims manager, argues that in order to truly participate in the transformative possibilities of reconciliation, non-Aboriginal Canadians must undergo their own process of decolonization. They must relinquish the persistent myth of themselves as peacemakers and acknowledge the destructive legacy of a society that has stubbornly ignored and devalued Indigenous experience. With former students offering their stories as part of the truth and reconciliation processes, Regan advocates for an ethos that learns from the past, making space for an Indigenous historical counter-narrative to avoid perpetuating a colonial relationship between Aboriginal and settler peoples. A powerful and compassionate call to action, Unsettling the Settler Within inspires with its thoughtful and personal account of Regan's own journey, and offers all Canadians -- Indigenous and non-Indigenous policymakers, politicians, teachers, and students -- a new way of approaching the critical task of healing the wounds left by the residential school system.

Genres: Indigenous, Nonfiction, History, Canada, Indigenous History, Race, Politics

316 pages, Paperback

First published December 22, 2010

Reviews

[David Leung · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a pretty good read but I skipped mush of it. Regan goes into depth and length quoting many sources to supplement her understanding of the decolonization process. I skipped much of this because I used to work with Indigenous communities regularly. Of course, I was working under the Indian Act so whatever I was doing was already part of the colonial system. I was at a meeting where our DM was noted saying, "The Indian Act cannot be stripped down; it is like the roots of the tree. You cannot kill the roots and save the tree." So our direction as employees is to move bands out of the Indian Act using alternative management regimes. There was some benefit to it but given that we had objectives to complete these moves per year, we didn't have the time to really help communities settle with their "new" roles as managers of their own affairs. It is not a completely separated system since the relationship with Canada was still maintained.

My gut reaction to this book was that it was hard for me to accept the decolonization process. I don't know how to achieve it. I don't know how to make it right and I felt like I was being attacked for being me. I suppose that's the "unsettling" part of the title of this book. As an immigrant to this country from a country where the government treated its own people even more cruelly, I can't feel the shame that Regan admits to at the Feast in Hazelton. I ask myself if this shame is the same as "white guilt" and I wonder if it is possible for a non-white person to feel it since I participate in the same system as the colonizers (white people did also colonize parts of my home country too).

[Laurie Siblock · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a long time to read this book (a year and a half) because it was dense with learning and I needed to pause after sections to absorb the information before I moved on. In 2014, I participated in a courageous and imaginative event, a Reconciliation Event, that was the vision of the youth of a fly-in only Northern Ontario First Nation community called Kitchenuhmayooosib Inninuwug (KI) or Big Trout Lake. I went with 30 other "ordinary Canadians" and lived with a family for a week and participated in teachings and activities to learn about their lives and to begin to work towards reconciliation. It was an incredible experience and it changed my life. However, I found it difficult to articulate my experience and it has taken me a long time to process it; in fact, I'm still processing it and I went again on the Reconciliation Event in 2016. I needed to know more and I missed the incredible people who I met and who became my friends and "family" over the course of the week.

Paulette Regan's book has been essential to helping me further understand my experience and the wider context of the poverty, inter-generational trauma, and ongoing injustices I was witness to in KI and that are faced by First Nations people all over Canada. It has helped me to learn to articulate my experience, to overcome feelings of helplessness and ultimately to move towards action to make a difference. I highly recommend this book as required reading for any Canadian. Read it just after you've read Thomas King's, the Inconvenient Indian.

[A.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a difficult book to read, and, I imagine, a hard one to write. Paulette Regan has made an extensive study of decolonization writings and put them into practice in her work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It was interesting and instructive to read about her own experiences as a settler-Canadian as she came to terms with the shattering of the myth of Canadians as peacemakers in the context of the violence done to Indigenous communities of Canada by the residential school system. Her book provides guidance in answer to the 'settler problem' of how do non-Indigenous people make amends without perpetuating colonial attitudes of trying to fix things for the aboriginal population of Canada. Her advice is to listen, to review one's own actions in the context of what has gone before and to work towards challenging the myths and attitudes which pervade settler society.

"We bear witness, and in doing so, we accept responsibility for making change in the world...As allies, we learn to listen with humility and vulnerability to the history of dispossession, racism, and oppression that is still alive. We critically reflect upon these stories as a catalyst for action...We would work in solidarity with Indigenous people to restory the IRS history and legacy through ethical testimonial exchange and in public history and commemoration projects as part of national truth telling."

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really important book with a lot of great insight from a voice of experience and intelligence. I mainly wish it had been written more accessibly, less academically. Because every settler Canadian should read this kind of book and think about it. But for many it would be too much of a slog to do so. Hopefully though this book serves as the start of an ongoing conversation.

Because as Regan says, there is no "Indian problem." There is rather a "Settler problem."

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turns the gaze away from the subject, Aboriginal peoples, to the settlers. With the intention of achieving 'genuine' reconciliation, the author aims to have Canadian settlers see themselves, not as peaceful and tolerant administrators, but colonisers deploying all the tools that colonisers use upon original inhabitants.

[Nikki Reads A Lot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dense read, but necessary for any settler wishing to decolonize their minds & hearts & dismantle the colonial project of Canada. Gives pedagogical guidance for settlers who wish to work in solidarity with indigenous peoples towards peace, justice and truth, without reinscribing the deeply entrenched colonizer-colonized relationship. Took some time, but glad I read it.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good! It was well-written and meaningful and truly inspiring. Without leaving any illusions about the breadth of the problem the ending was still infused with hope.

[Bradley West · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this title, among many others, as a personal recommendation from Senator Murray Sinclair, on what books to read, as part of my own learning journey in reconciliation.

As a settler, who is also an immigrant to Canada; who is the son of immigrants to Australia; who were themselves the children of immigrants; from a family who has benefited from colonisation in a number of locations- I wanted to be an active participant in the Calls to Action, from the TRC [ Truth and Reconciliation Commission]. Where do I begin to learn about the histories, experiences and stories that I had been trained by my cultural lens, to ignore; not to see and if I did see or hear them, not to value them as being equal to, or as worthy, as stories of my ancestors; my nation state building project.

The text is focused on the experiences of residential school survivors, as they interact with a series of government bodies, agencies, commissions and programs - the same bodies who in the past inflicted the massive wounds upon them, their families and communities - who are now, playing a part in truth telling, reconciliation in the experiment that is known as Canada.

It is told by a settler, who worked with the federal government on documenting stories of survivors and her quest to better understand; participate in and honour, not only the stories being told...but the of the people who were sharing them; gifting to us, if you will, the honour of their experiences.

It is a comprehensive review of how the residential school system created inter-generational trauma for all the communities and families it impacted - while taking an inter sectional, multicultural view of 'how' this happened and the ways in which, we can move forward in action and empathy, to rebuild a better relationship with our indigenous brothers and sisters.

It has gotten much praise from many sources.......and I truly see why.

It is a bit more of an academic read - many of the pages, I had to read over a couple of times.......sit it aside and muse, chew over and ponder the content I had just taken in - like any good class or learning session, I often left with more questions than answers.
"Fruitful discomfort" a previous professor of mine, would call it.........that moment, when you come to the edge of what you thought you knew....and step over, into something that is both entirely new, yet seemingly familiar.

I thoroughly recommend this book - if you are involved in education, social systems, child care or child welfare, in health care, social services, government, non-profits, in any way, shape or form - or any one who is simply interested in being a more active participant in reconciliation.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

"If the current quest for reconciliation is no different from settler practices of the past - a new colonial tool of oppression - it has now become imperative to challenge Canada's peacemaker myth. Peeling back the layers of myth reveals that we must confront our own repressed and unscrutinized past as a necessary part of our own truth telling." (p. 67)

Paulette Regan's calls upon settler Canadians to take responsibility for their own decolonization, starting with letting go of Canada's peacemaker myth. Challenging some of our deepest held beliefs is a necessary and potentially transformative step towards rectifying the relationship between Indigenous and settler Canadians.

[Luciana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be insightful and meaningful; however, I wish that the book could have been written in layman's language rather than as a dissertation or thesis for the academically inclined. I think this book has a lot of value, it contains a lot of research, & I think that all Canadians should try to read it; however, again, because of the way it is written, not many will want to put the effort into reading this, which is just a shame.

It is a book that encourages you to listen, to hear the ways of the First Nations, to understand the issues of reconciliation in Canada, to move forward, to have conversations on where to go next. Thought-provoking and hopeful!

[Magdalena Milosz · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the research director of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada comes a thoughtful analysis of settlers' role in reconciliation with Indigenous people and decolonization. Regan provides a well-researched "historical counter-narrative" illuminated by accounts of her personal experiences working through these processes.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75 -> Read for class. Some very interesting points were made.

[Lindsey Pattinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and researched. A good start for understanding important issues surrounding truth and reconciliation from the perspective of a non- Native, 'settler-ally '. Quality content. Interesting insights. A little hard to read but not really.

[Coatesj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as transformative as I had expected. Very thoroughly researched and the history of the reconciliation process was interesting - how wrongfully it started. I appreciate the hopeful tone at the end.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most powerful and profound books I have ever read

[Steven Tannock · Rating 4 out of 5]

hard, hard read. So good.

[Trycia · Rating 5 out of 5]

accessible and decolonizing call for everyone.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a is great book and should become a part of basic school reading for everyone. will be buying a copy to own.

[Leif]

Mixed feelings, good intentions: a helpful and necessary book, but a good one? Unresolved questions abound.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part memoir part laying the groundwork for “unsettlement” where we do more than listen with empathy to those who were victims of colonialism. We need to own our history that is dismantle the myths that lead us, the Canadian Government to do so much harm in the first place. Otherwise the reconciliation on offer is simply repackaged colonialism.

I am descended from colonizers and I have benefited immensely from the destruction of the indigenous peoples and their way of life. I do not want this. I remember trying very hard to hide from it. Hiding from the truth is never the way forward. It’s time to set aside the myths and stories we tell ourselves so we can listen to others with open minds and hearts as equals.

This book was written before the TRC started work and the author was cautiously optimistic that the truth telling would spur the decolonization in our attitudes that is sorely needed.

Is there a how to guide to unsettlement? It would be nice if that were the case. But healing can’t come unless we’re willing to turn over the rocks in the Canadian garden and confronting the ugliness underneath. Leaving it alone just leaves things to fester.

[Loretta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not an easy read, but really worthwhile. It's fairly heavy on the academic-type language, which is one reason it's hard. But it also challenges settler Canadians to really unpack some of dearest national myths, like the peacemaker myth (that's the one where I had to really sit back and go "oh...whoa...").

But it is well worth the read, if you have a genuine desire to understand and come to grips with settler colonialism and how to unpack settler privilege, be a true ally, and not further contribute to the colonial project. Hard work, yep. Worth doing. This book was really helpful in that project.

[Vicky · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I’m sure this book had great intentions and plenty of good viewpoints, it comes off as overly self-pretentious and ignores the state of the average human being. While many applaud it for “unsettling the settler” and instilling feelings of guilt, many communities I’ve communicated with find this sense of “white guilt” useless and focuses the matter on the settlers feelings instead of the indigenous communities. This book comes off a long winded emotional manipulation in an attempt to validate the authors experience instead of any substantial way of helping the community.

[Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A MUST read for any settler in Canada!

[Jan Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Academic but made me change my thinking about our relationship between "white settlers" and our Indigenous peoples.

[George Hodgson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book, very enlightening.

[Kelly]

Not my cup of tea

[Clivemichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well articulated, researched and presented. An expansive encouragement to be "unsettled".

[Trisha Roberson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very important book for settlers living on title Island and in so called Canada. Question the myth of the benevolent peacemaker and recognize instead the through line of violence in Canada colonial history. Decolonization is a lifelong struggle.