‘For every border, there is also a bridge’: overturning borders in young Aboriginal peoples' lives

Abstract

In this paper, I offer thoughts and insights on young people, border spaces and revolutions. Following Anzaldúa, I explore how different types of borders – the borderlands of the mind – have disrupted young people's lives, particularly the lives of indigenous youth. While global in context, my emphasis is upon Canada where the magnitude of Aboriginal poverty is astounding given that the nation is often ranked as one of the best places to live in the world. Yet, despite a dismal outlook, I point toward optimistic futures as young people use their revolutionary imaginations to overturn internal borders and work for positive change. I suggest that youth are playfully reworking borders to build bridges between communities.

Keywords:

• indigenous
• youth
• Canada
• borders
• inequality
• revolution

Notes

In this paper, I use the term ‘indigenous’ to refer to the First Peoples or the original inhabitants of pre-colonial societies. I use the term ‘Aboriginal’ to refer to the First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples of Canada.

This was the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, in operation from 1828 to 1970 and run by the Anglican Church.

In 2007, Pickton was convicted of murdering six female sex workers in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is charged of murdering an additional 20 women and claims to have murdered 49, which is entirely plausible given the number of unsolved sex worker disappearances in the city. A disproportionate number of his victims were Aboriginal women.