We Are All Treaty People

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Is it time to decolonize your lawn?

When most people think of lawns they picture carefree kids playing in backyards, picnics in well-kept parks – perhaps they even feel a sense of pride at how green and immaculate their own swath is.
 
But the traditional lawn – manicured, verdant, under control – now finds itself at the confluence of two hot-button issues: climate change and Indigenous rights. Some environmentalists, First Nations leaders and even hobby gardeners are calling for a different approach to how we view and treat the ubiquitous urban green space. It is, they argue, a lasting symbol of how settlers appropriated Indigenous land and culture. And the rigid Western ideal we have imposed continues to hurt the planet and, in turn, all of us. The lawn, some go as far to say, needs to be decolonized.

Compelling argument.

h/t Comrade Terry

78 Replies to “We Are All Treaty People”

  1. Have white trash living across the street. They would love to have the unsightly premises bylaw repealed.

    Saw a sight in the Kanai res. No glass in the basement window. An old horse had it head stuck through to see what was inside.
    It’s giving away free stuff to the reserve. If you’re handed a house the glass in the windows will be made of aspenite boards within 3 months. No wonder they don’t like the paleface taking good care of property. Looks bad on them.

    1. I havent checked yet but I imagine there will be a stampede of WokeCanaduh!,fans asking about Teepees on Amazon.ca..

  2. Early lawns date back to the Middle Ages. The modern lawn, one of the finest achievements in gardening, has its origins in 18th century England, and brilliant English landscape architects like Lancelot Brown used lawns extensively in his garden designs.

    The only thing the left ever seems to be able to do is tear down achievements.

    They wake up each day jealous, and they go to bed jealous, and they are generally miserable, horrible, uninformed human beings.

    1. If somebody wants to return their lawn to nature in a tasteful way, who am I to have a problem with that. It’s when they attach it to their loathesome ideology and suggest or imply that I am some sort of evil racist colonizer if I won’t give up my own lawn that irritates the hell out of me.

      Decolonizer, decolonize thyself. Get thy head out of Marx’s colon.

      1. Come to Edmonton and repeat your comment. Entire public parks, miles of boulevards and medians have been abandoned. The City of Edmonton even has a special word and public policy for this. “Naturalization.” Congratulations! Your neighbourhood park has been chosen for Naturalization! Waist-high grass and weeds are in your future.

    2. Yeah this article is ridiculous bullshit but…It’s a nonfunctional patch of grass in front of your house, get over yourself.

      1. Beauty, order, and careful tending of a garden is hardly nonfunctional. It’s art. Yes … it is “man taming nature”. Transforming nature into art for the eye and soul. You must be really DEAD inside, eh Andrew?

        Oh! And the teams of Mexican gardeners in my neighborhood … with their mowers and leaf blowers … make quite a good living … manicuring my neighbors lawns and gardens. Should they learn to code too?

        1. The teams of Illegal Aliens cutting Lawns & cleaning Houses have (IMHO) a 85% chance of becoming Legal if Trump is re-elected…. The Democrat’s just want their slaves & votes. When Trump says he wants legal immigration that may be a giveaway to those caught in limbo….

          BTW: The biggest group of Illegal Aliens seem to be in NYC and they are not Hispanic…AKA Bronx Blacks

      2. Andrew, do you even wonder why I said when I ran into fools like you, who ran production facilities, that I did not have to look at the machinery, because the fools running it were the problem? You just made my case!

      3. Maybe we should simply grow Pemmican in our yards instead of a lawn. We could then be more acceptable to the marxist assholes who bring these lunacies forward and simultaneously provide a new ‘stealable’ food source for the Indians who wander in off the reservation.

        I know you can’t grow pemmican, but marxists don’t know that. They don’t know shit.

      4. It’s function is the beautification of one’s home. Without landscaping we will all be living like the Indians did 500 years ago. It’s called evolution. Even light industrial zones now landscape their properties to be more welcoming to the civilized.

  3. The first nations did not have the wheel, ergo, the wheel is a symbol of colonization. First nations have appropriated the wheel from “white” culture. We will give up the canoe, lacrosse and tobacco if first nations are willing to give up the wheel, firearms, the written word and the internal combustion engine. Thus, the absurdity of anathematizing colonialism.

    1. … and the wheel driven snowmobile rubber track. Back to mushing for the lot of ya … no more snow machines

  5. Under the stewardship of the pre-settlement stone-age Indians of North America, the continent supported 3 million souls who experienced slavery, famines, inter-tribal genocide, low life expectancy and had reached their upper population limits, given their level of technology or lack thereof. It is a testament to the incredible increase in living standards from colonization allowing more than a hundred fold population level increase and levels of surplus wealth that we can afford to allow the numerous likes of the nonsense pedaling scribes of the Globe and Mail to exist as non contributing nihilist members of society.

  7. Meh, I hate futting the cucking grass. And then the dandelions…The front is now mostly shrubs and flowers and a few weeds and clover. Basically the front yard has a grass brazillian.
    To each his own.

    1. That’s sort of like what the lawn at the house I inherited looks like. Mind you, my parents couldn’t do much in their later years, so the lawn looks scruffy. Municipal watering restrictions didn’t help, either.

      In the spring, I have lots of dandelions, particularly in front. Then again, so does the rest of the neighbourhood. Fortunately, later in the season, there’s more clover and there’s nothing wrong with that.

      1. True Story: When I moved into my South Jersey home, i went out and bought Fert & Dandelion killer. I was outside finishing up my work when my new next door Neibour came over to talk….He said not to worry about the dandelions because they turn White & blow away… I went inside and told my wife I had just wasted $300…….. (He was not Indian or Black, just had another priority ) I always hired lawn service anyway

    2. We took a bare ass patch of earth mover, reconstituted “prairie” with a view that was then interrupted by a reconstituted prairie earthworks blocking our view, added a few truckloads of non clay material, planted a couple of (grew to) mid size pines, a crabapple tree, some lilacs, potentillas, Nanking Cherries, currant bushes, cranberry bushes, a Saskatoon bush and left about 50 square feet of grass bounded by perennial beds and in the space of the last 20 odd years we don’t see neighbors either side and few park walkers behind the back chain link fence. Nice sunny patio off the back steps and complete privacy. From scratch, too. You can tell which month it is by what is in bloom. Right now sweet peas and tall sedums, replete with natural honey bees buzzing all day long. The birds we get are awesome. Saw a Bluejay the other AM, headed south. Our “pets” are Chickadees and their families. Ten minutes of lawn mowing at the height of summer.

      1. Nice. We have lots of bees as well.
        Working out in the backyard on Thursday afternoon I took a sip of my neglected coffee – with a bee – and it stung me on the tip of my tongue. It wasn’t much later I was talking like Juthtin…

  8. My lawn was effectively decolonized when the city council changed the way water rates are applied to make it very expensive to keep grass green. Meanwhile, bylaw officers will pass by junkies shooting up on the street to check that people aren’t watering outside of the allowed times (which correspond with no one’s life). Progressives are so wonderful!

  9. We must all recognize and adopt superior indian culture. Let your grass grow, scatter a couple of rusted out cars on blocks, throw some empty liquor bottles around, and tie a couple of feral dogs to a tree. Perhaps we should have a ten year sixty million dollar inquiry to look into this. Get out the drums, feathers, and chants to the sacred tree frog.

    1. Not just any cars. Need gmc Jimmy’s, ford aerostars and the occasional Astro van. If you want it to look like the Rez, you gotta do it right.

  11. I’m get really tired of the ‘stolen land’ argument.

    Borders are almost always shaped by war. Countries are shaped by war. Lose a war – deal with it. Decide not to fight a war – deal with it. Don’t come back a couple of hundred years later and tell us that you were wronged and need reparations.

    Pandering to this argument only leads to more reparation grievances.

    3. Don’t come back a couple of hundred years later and tell us that you were wronged and need reparations.

      Hey, it’s worked for Quebec for more than 250 years, or did you think that its attempts to seize the tar sands for itself at Alberta’s expense had anything to do with Mommy Gaia?

    4. What the globalists call ethnic cleansing—the removal of people defeated in war from a conquered country by the victors—is not a war crime.

      It is the only way to ensure that once a war is won, it stays won.

      The same people who whine about reparations for the drunken, idiotic simians who beg for beer money outside my local LCBO dream of the happy day when the “Zionists” will be driven into the sea by a victorious Muslim army come to “liberate” Palestine.

      If the Indians deserve reparations, the Jews deserve reparations for 2000 years of persecution by Gentile elites. If the Jews do not deserve reparations, neither do the Indians.

  13. On average Canadians (likely Americans as well) move (and sell their homes, if they own one) every 7 years. Reasons being: marriage, divorce, job change, growth of the family, empty nest or death.

    From C.R.E.A.
     “A study done by the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals estimates the average Canadian will own 4.5 to 5.5 homes in their lifetime. They found that each year, around 620,000 Canadian families will move into a new home. Of those Canadians, 45% are first-time buyers between the ages of 25 to 34. However, there are still first-time homebuyers joining the club through ages 45 to 64. Therefore, if you were to buy your first property at age 25 and stop buying property at age 65, the average Canadian who owns 4.5 to 5.5 properties over their lifespan could end up moving every seven years.”

    If one wanted to eliminate a beautiful manicured lawn (option 1)
    what are the other options one has for the no-lawn look?

    2– A landscape of rocks, boulders and natural tall grasses.
    3– An English garden landscape of perennial flowers, flowering shrubs and trees.
    4– A complete parterre container garden with vegetables and fruits.
    5– An artificial lawn ie: AstroTurf

    I’ve seen option 2 near the Foothills Hospital in Calgary where some modern houses have been built where old ones have been torn down. This option is lovely when professionally done on a small lot. This wouldn’t hurt the resale due to location, location, location and while costly, requires no further maintenance.

    Option 3 is costly and high maintenance.

    OTOH, option 4 would look better in back of the home. Would look rather farmer’s market-like for the front of the home, also is high maintenance.

    Option 5 is costly and the Greenies would poo-poo you, if you care.

    For resale purposes the manicured lawn requires the least maintenance and is the least costly vis à vis the other options.

    I rest my case.

    1. Same difference, colonization civilized the savages. They owe civilization a huge debt, they are the ones who should be paying the reparations.

  16. Way ahead of you. I have an old V8 engine block marking the entrance to my potholed dirt driveway and a dilapidated old school bus on blocks that I use to store useless crap that raccoons have made a home in. The weeds are four feet high and the last time I had some friends over one of them spray painted “ F*cktard “ in giant letters on the front of my house.
    All my neighbours can do is bitch, because I’m just that damn enlightened.

  17. I have a neighbour who couldn’t care less about his lawn – Hey, it’s his business.
    The neighbour on the other side, well, him and I are on the same page.
    I like nice lawns, gardens and hedges, I don’t know why, I just do. Problems will arise should someone tell me different. “mind your own fng business” will surely come up in the conversation.

    Best tip when you’re in the midst of a dry spell. 1/2 cup of beer, coke, Ammonia, baby shampoo and my own personal touch…a few dashes of liquid iron.
    Coke in this case being Coca Cola.
    Apologies in advance. I’m sure Kate doesn’t want her site to be a magnet for Lawn & Garden enthusiasts.

    1. Since we’re having a dry spell here, I Just made a batch of your recipe. Dude — tastes like absolute crap.

  18. In Ontario the process has been underway for some time now. Ever since herbicides had been banned because it could not be proven that they did not cause neurological damage to children. Proving a negative, that something doesn’t exist, is of course not possible in science, however it sounded sciency enough to be considered a victory for science at the time.
    Now our public spaces (and many of my neighbor’s lawns) are covered in weeds of all types; dandelions, broad leaves, clover etc. I guess it was only a matter of time for those of us who used nonherbicide treatment to be called out for it. The encroachment of decay over man made order is now to be mandated.

    1. The park behind me is a dandelion haven. They always seem to mow it after they go to seed. They are easily controlled, just dig ’em out periodically. What lawn is on this property is dandelion free. Just patrolled a couple of times a year. I use a shot of vinegar on the stubborn ones. A bit of a brown spot in the fall, but Spring growth takes care of those after the winter.

  19. This article isn’t really about lawns. They are a prop for the old mythical narrative that the Indians were one with nature and lived a utopian existence. It’s also about nurturing white guilt to continue to fuel the Indian industry and it’s unending and destructive cause.

  21. In other news but apropos for the heading we have an altercation on the East Coast. The Indigenous Bands of Canada have the best of both worlds, cultural appropriation and dual legal system.

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/fishermen-to-haul-traps-in-nova-scotia-indigenous-lobster-fishery/ar-BB19diRg?ocid=msedgdhp

    Mighty fancy canoes, eh!

    Who says you can’t have it both ways, never met the Liberal system of government, one rule for you but another for me.

    1. She has been spreading fertilizer for decades now. I don’t think she noticed this latest contribution.

  23. Wait until they set their sights on the ultimate turf – golf courses. I’ll continue to enjoy golf unencumbered by guilt.

    1. And all those fossil fuel guzzling mowers and trimmers and rollers….and herbicides and pesticides and wasted water resources….it’s a nightmare I say….a nightmare

  24. Well the indians should know about nice lawns.There’s probably not ONE in any of the reservation I can think of. Grass doesn’t grow well under wrecked derelick cars.And growing nice grass takes effort of which not a lot of them want to put in.
    Oh yea and a nice maicured lawn makes a property look nice, something not many know about.

    1. You don’t know any Indians do you. I cannot tell you how wrong you are. I don’t think you are racist. You are just uninformed. I think you should make an effort to meet Indian people. You would be very surprised and impressed.

    2. I lived on a Rez for a few years. There was the usual garbage one would expect but there were a few of places with very nice yards and manicured lawns with flowers shrubs etc.
      It wasn’t the mess that got to me. It was the sound of fighting at night as they tried to kill each other, and the screams of people on bad trips.

    3. About 70% of the reserve I grew up next to had lawns similar to that. The chief’s extended family had theirs manicured, cutting at least once a week, and flower beds next to the house. That was inland BC.

      I came to look at the state of the lawn as a statement of personal pride. If you bathe and keep yourself well kept, then you probably keep your lawn in good shape too. Both are public statements of who you are.

      When I visit the Queen Charlotte Islands and drive through a Haida reserve, most houses are in great shape. They’re proud of who they are, and were. And don’t want to signal that they’re not up to keeping up the appearances of civilization.

  25. There was a big debate in diverse Toronto this week about banning leaf blowers, because they are noisy and bad for the environment. Daily shootings and stabbings in that city, but they are worried about leaf blowers.

  26. We have a large lawn and a hobby farm.Water comes from a well on the property so I ignore all water rationing order from govt.. They say brown grass looks nice.I say bull shit.
    Few years ago they did a survey to see if they could put water meters on private wells.I said sure you can IF you take over looking after the well.So when the $1000 deep well pump craps out Saturday night at11:30 Ill just call you because we have horses to water the next morning.Make sure you have someone on standby to do it.Haven’t heard a word since.

  27. I’ve always hated lawncare. Think it’s a waste of time. When neighbours bother me about it I used to be of the “Mind your own business” attitude. But I’ve recently started telling them I’ve converted to their faith. I belieeeve in global warming and I’m not as immoral as them, destroying the planet. How much carbon have they added to the greenhouse to appease their vanity of having a bunch of grass all the same length?
    Usually gets some nervous laughs. Funny facial expressions. As if they’re thinking, “Does not Compute. I love my lawn and I’m committed to fighting global warming. Must mow lawn. Must pay carbon tax. If I can’t do both…Does not compute, does not compute, change subject”
    Like that android in Star Trek that Kirk and Spock messed up with their liar paradox

  29. Where’s Snake Hill in the background? We passed by that house every day on the secondary school bus taking us to Hazelton Secondary.

    Perhaps it’s a wider culture than thought.

    Perhaps it’s a wider “I don’t give a damn about what others think about me” (aka no self-pride) than previously thought.

  31. Lawn? That’s small potatoes.
    Look what else they have declared racist:
    Science
    Math
    Technology
    Logic
    Hard work
    Personal initiative
    Personal responsibility
    Punctuality
    Personal morality (monogamy, fidelity, trustworthiness, loyalty)
    Talk about the racism of low expectations. Just declare as racist (or sexist re STEM) anything you don’t expect POC (or women) to achieve. And that includes almost everything I grew up believing to be virtuous.
    Lawn? That’s about the only thing I paid people to do until I got too old to do plumbing. It just took too much of my free time when I was working.

    1. Funny how electricity never makes the list. If they really want to wipe out racism, then they should stop using electricity until someone from their group (who hasn’t been contaminated by western schools, or reading in English or Spanish) figures out what makes electricity work.

      1. Oh, they are not talking about what they use, only what they are made to learn. They have no problem using the results of “white privilege.”
        Yes, look at all those electrical appliances. Rolling blackouts cause large screen tv’s to go blank too.
        Look at all those plastic products they use, endless to recite.
        They have nothing against motorized vehicles, let alone just wheels.
        They have nothing against hunting with rifles.
        I know someone who is always talking about global warming and the evils of fossil fuel, but in the meantime keeps all the windows closed, and has central air on 24/7 to keep the whole house at 72 deg F. She is in Fantasyland if she thinks “renewable energy” can do that for her and all her friends in D.C.

        1. Lots of oil tankers continue to travel up the St Lawrence River every single day. Not a single Liberal or Progressive has even questioned that activity. “It gets cold in Montreal in the winter!” LOL

  32. I cut a lawn down the road with a 35 horse diesel , 6 foot deck. And it takes me 5-6 hours. That should make the lefties shit their strides!

  33. This has been bugging me all day since I posted earlier about the East Coast Lobster fishery. I’m getting a little p*ssed, no scratch that a lot p*ssed, about how this bl**dy diversity is only a one way street for minorities. The Indigenous Natives, read first immigrants, are allowed to hunt and fish throughout the country by treaty rights as part of their so-called lifestyle. Subsistence lifestyle or whatever. This grants them a non-compliance allowance, above the law that the rest of Canadians have to adhere to. So we have an East Coast and West Coast Fishery by Indigenous people that use modern equipment to accomplish this. How about if they want to retain their culture and heritage to hunt and fish as they desire then let them do it with their cultural tools. Flint tipped arrows and spears, snare traps, canoes, dugouts, and the like. No metal implements, no guns, snowmobiles, quads, diesel trawlers and everything else that they have appropriated. If they want to live like their ancestors all fine and good but if they want the conveniences that ‘colonization’ has blessed them with then they should adhere to the same rules as the rest of us.

  34. L- Will Prof. Jordan B. Peteson’s next book have a chapter called : “Clean up your yard !” ?

    If a clean well organized room is a sign of a clean and well organized personality and also, a more productive person. Think of your yard as simply a larger variation of your room. Your farm or business(manufacturing/service/retail) is again, a larger yet variation.

    Clean, well organized, productive people, they produce clean, well organized productive societies, nation states, and indeed, civilizations. Western Civilization is the pinnacle.

    The barbarians at the gate, on the gate, inside the gate, like Cain, are fueled by resentment. This is a resentment for those who find meaning in life by being more productive, in creating wealth and in reducing the amount of unnecessary human suffering. Additionally, all this is out of the same raw material/planet, they were born on.

    Why ? Because they can’t handle the truth of being the authour of their own misfortune !

  35. “That’s a huge part of settler culture. You see that river there? We can dam that. We can organize that water, we can make that water work for us. It’s essentially the same mindset. I can reorganize this landscape, flatten it, plant lawn, find a non-indigenous species of plant, of grass, and completely extract anything that’s not homogenous, that doesn’t fit with this green pattern and control it … A backyard with a big lawn is like a classroom for colonialism and environmental hostility.”
    ================================
    A much huger part of settler culture would be the farm. Colonizers and settlers didn’t plant lawns, they cleared the land of its natural vegetation and covered it with acres and acres of non-indigenous species of plants, not to mention animals.

    And then there are the cities – wipe out the natural ground cover, replace it with concrete and macadam, fill it with thousands and millions of non-indigenous people who imposed their settler culture.

    Clearly the lawn is a trifle. We must get rid of all REAL symbols of colonialism and environmental hostility – the farms and cities!

  36. I have a first nations friend. Very proud of his people, fluent in his native language won’t stand for any racist comment. He and his wife work and make a decent living. They have a house in town….with a lawn. An immaculate lawn of which he is very proud. When one of his white neighbours had a neglected lawn covered with dandelions in full bloom and wouldn’t mow it, he went over there with his own lawn mower and cut it for him so they wouldn’t infect his immaculate lawn with seeds.

    Somehow I don’t think he views the lawn as a symbol of colonialism.

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