Shake Up The Establishment Stands with Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders

My name is Aarisha Elvi Haider and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I am happy to share my positionality as I see this as an opportunity not only to reflect on my roots but also to ground myself before I begin any work that is of profound spiritual significance to me. I am lucky to wake up everyday to live, play and work on the unceded territories of Kwantlen, sc̓əwaθenaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsawwassen), S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), Stz’uminus, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples. Born and raised in Bangladesh up until the year of 2010, my family and I immigrated to what is known as so-called Canada. It has been exactly 10 years enjoying these beautiful lands and each time I reflect my presence and the space I hold as a first generation immigrant, I cannot help but feel an insurmountable amount of gratitude for how these wonderful lands and communities have treated me. This pushes me to explore in becoming a better ally, better ancestor and a community member. As an immigrant on unceded territories, I have come to notice how our society is deeply fragmented regardless of its multicultural presence and with that, I find myself feeling a deep urgency to bridge this distance amongst us and stand in strong solidarity with our Black, Indigenous and racialized communities.

My sense of drive in community mobilization is primarily due to the shift in privilege that I have experienced the moment I stepped foot in these territories. As a Bangladeshi Muslim woman and with respect to safety, I could not dream of exercising my autonomy in public spaces and therefore, was very limited to the confines of my settlement. However, my first bus ride in Canada gave me a sense of freedom that later materialized into a realization of how gendered and hierarchized power relations are manifested in regards to spatial forms in Bangladesh. Not only that, but my accessibility to clean water, air and food is also highly incontrovertible. From boiling water everyday to enjoying fresh tap water is a gift, and I give thanks to Nature for enjoying such a luxury. Yet I notice Indigenous communities that are void of the same resource. This is an example of the essence of colonialism that still thrives deeply in the form of systemic oppression in “Canada”. As Muslims, we are taught to obey the rules of the land we are in— and the land we are in are unceded Indigenous territories. I pay my respect to these communities who are the traditional stewards and knowledge keepers of the land who are constantly fighting to keep our environment safe. Without our Indigenous neighbours, there is no community, there is no Climate Justice, there is no Canada.

With that, I am cognizant of the privilege I experience is because of my parent’s hardship to provide their children with the best quality of life they can afford; I recognize that my privilege to a clean and healthy environment is due to the hardships of many racialized communities who work and strive for sustaining good life for our communities at the expense of theirs and lastly, I solemnly recognize that social, economic and racial injustices still continues to exist within our Black, Indigenous and racialized neighbours. My main intention as a researcher is to make information accessible, to raise awareness that challenge and inspire readers towards mobilizing and more importantly, to recognize that allyship and participation needs attention, continuous education and strong solidarity. My shift in privilege only grants me this perspective as a Bangladeshi-Canadian Muslim woman which is relational to my experiences only, and naturally the content I create by no means are intended to speak on behalf of Black, Indigenous nor communities of colour. The purpose of this work is to bring additional grounding, expanding our consciousness and moving forward as a collective. The hope is rooted within strong connections, kindness, story-telling and intercultural dialogue–all of which shakes up the establishment.