Unsettling Spirit: A Journey into Decolonization

361 Pages·2020·4.812 MB·English

by  Denise M. Nadeau, Deanna Reder

Unsettling Spirit

Unsettling Spirit
A Journey into Decolonization
denise m. nadeau
Foreword by Deanna Reder
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston • London • Chicago
© Denise M. Nadeau 2020
isBn 978-0-2280-0157-7 (cloth)
isBn 978-0-2280-0290-1 (ePdF)
isBn 978-0-2280-0291-8 (ePuB)
Legal deposit second quarter 2020
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free (100% post-consumer
recycled), processed chlorine free
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for
the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program,
using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Unsettling spirit : a journey into decolonization / Denise M. Nadeau ; foreword by
Deanna Reder.
Names: Nadeau, Denise Marie, author.
Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20190234482 | Canadiana (ebook) 20190234938 |
isBn 9780228001577 (cloth) | isBn 9780228002901 (ePdF) | isBn 9780228002918 (ePuB)
Subjects: LCsH: Nadeau, Denise Marie. | LCsH: Indigenous peoples–Canada–Social
conditions. | LCsH: Decolonization–Canada. | LCsH: Decolonization–Religious
aspects. | LCsH: Decolonization–Psychological aspects. | LCsH: Reconciliation–Social
aspects–Canada.
Classification: LCC e78.C2 n33 2020 | ddC 305.897/071–dc23
This book was designed and typeset by Peggy & Co. Design in 11/14 Minion 3.
Contents
Figures vii
A Note on Copyright and Intellectual Property ix
Foreword xi
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction 3
Part One
Mission Impossible
1 Missionary Musings 17
2 The Denendeh Seminar 29
3 Shifting Missions 40
Part twO
The Great White Helper
4 From Taking Space to Making Space 57
5 Healing and the Politics of Trauma 69
6 Decolonizing the Great White Helper and Reconciliation 86
Part tHree
Going Home: Gespe’gewa’gi
7 Blood 101
8 Unmapping 120
9 Decolonizing Rivers 141
vi Contents
Part FOur
Making Relations
10 Moccasins 153
11 Walking with Our Sisters 164
12 A Water Journey: Indigenous Water Laws 173
13 Ceremony 187
14 Reciprocity 206
15 Living Treaty 218
Part Five
Unsettling Spirit
16 Lejac Residential School and Rose Prince 231
17 Can You Hear the Drum? Indigenous Christianities 241
18 Returning to the Heart 251
Afterword 263
Notes 271
Bibliography 295
Index 323
Figures
i.1 Me in my cowgirl outfit (Denise Nadeau photo) 7
8.1 Nm’tginen map of statement of Title to Gespe’gewa’gi
(Mi’gmawei Mawiomi Secretariat) 121
8.2 Picture of Indian at the Musée Maison Legrand (Denise
Nadeau photo) 125
8.3 1765 map of Port Daniel (Bibliothèque et Archives Nationale
du Quebec) 128
8.4 1787 map of Port Daniel (Bibliothèque et Archives Nationale
du Quebec) 128
8.5 1888 map of Port Daniel (Bibliothèque et Archives Nationale
du Quebec) 129
9.1 Logs under railway bridge, Port Daniel West River,
1912 (Stedman Bros, Madeleine Quesnel Postcard
Collection) 146
9.2 Mi’gmaq place names along the Gesgapegiag River Watershed
(Mi’gmawei Mawiomi Secretariat) 148

A Note on Copyright
and Intellectual Property
The author respectfully acknowledges the inherent cultural Rights and
ownership of all oral histories and cultural information shared with
her by Knowledge Keepers from Mi’gmaq, Coast Salish, Anishnabe,
Métis, and Cree Nations. Those seeking to quote Elders and Knowledge
Keepers cited here must honour these First Nations’ inherent author-
ity in regard to their cultural information in their specific knowledge
system and must seek permission from the author or her duly
appointed representative.