An Outsider's Perspective on Thanksgiving

For my last post I wrote a long-and-rambling account of how I spent my first thanksgiving weekend in Canada – ironically, without a single Canadian. I had an excellent weekend, and I definitely enjoyed classes being cancelled on the Monday, but what was the reason behind the celebration? As a Brit, I have only ever understood thanksgiving to be a holiday during which North Americans consume a huge amount of turkey and pumpkin pie, and then spend their yearly earnings in the Black Friday sales. But the holiday has to exist for a reason, and has to be about more than food, right?

Today, thanksgiving is centred on giving thanks for your family and eating a lot of turkey. However, this was not always the case. American thanksgiving actually has a troubling history. Historically, thanksgiving was a celebration of the first harvest in the New World. The Pilgrim settlers had arrived and established themselves on American soil, and the first harvest symbolised the success of their new lives there. However, alongside this colonisation came vast destruction and damage to aboriginal people. There was the European belief in terra nullius, in which they believed any land uninhabited by Europeans was “nobody’s land” and thus was available to be claimed. The indigenous communities that already lived there were disregarded as insignificant. Therefore, the years that followed contained extensive destruction and damage to Native American communities, in which the Native Americans underwent mass murder, land seizures, disease and forced assimilation. This raises the problem of American thanksgiving: how can we celebrate colonisation, and the first harvest, when this event also marked the beginning of destruction and pain for Native Americans? (The Guardian Liberty Voice gives a good summary of the problems and complications surrounding American Thanksgiving, link below).

To some degree this is “old news” – many people are aware of, and discuss, the problems surrounding American thanksgiving. But does Canadian thanksgiving fall under the same criticism? Based on a quick look through Google, it appears this is not the case. There is significantly less discussion of Canadian thanksgiving being disrespectful, or inappropriate, than there is of American thanksgiving. But why is this?

The British Columbia Parliament Building in Victoria,
designed by an English immigrant, for Euro-Canadians, alongside
 a traditional native totem pole: this photo reflects 
Canada's conflict between colonisation and aboriginal tradition.

It could be because the two events do not share the same day – Canadian thanksgiving takes place in October, whereas the American celebration happens in November. My friend told me this was because Canada wished to disassociate itself from America, and while this is an amusing concept, it is most likely not true. Rather, what is more likely is that Canadian thanksgiving is a genuine celebration of harvest. Indeed, this year’s thanksgiving fell on the exact same weekend as the English Harvest Festival. However, the very fact that these two events occurred within the same weekend reinforces thanksgiving’s colonial origins; the tradition was originally brought over by an Englishman. The aboriginal people of Canada suffered the same brutalities as Native Americans under colonisation, and yet Canadian thanksgiving seems to have less of a connection to this genocide, and falls under less criticism. Why?

Perhaps it goes back to the usual question of ignorance. Studying a degree in American and Canadian Studies, and especially studying at Simon Fraser University, has given me extensive knowledge of the cultural genocide that aboriginal people underwent in Canada. According to my tutors, however, not many Canadians know about this troubling history. Other students in my classes have mentioned that they were never taught about the residential school system when in high school. In fact, some have said they did not learn about it until they reached university. This lack of knowledge is surprising, particularly when some of the history is so recent – the last residential school did not close until 1996. I have been told that nationally, many Canadians are unaware of the cultural genocide in their past. Perhaps the lack of discussion around thanksgiving is for the same reason – people have not realised it is a holiday that may have troubling connections. There needs to be greater discourse and awareness of this.

I am not suggesting Canadians should give up the holiday. Far from it. I believe that expressing thanks for your family and friends is a wonderful thing – indeed, it should be done every day. However, we no longer need to celebrate the first harvest the way the Puritans in the New World did. The colonial message behind the holiday should change. Coincidentally, Indigenous Peoples’ Day (a celebration in the US) falls on the same day as Canadian thanksgiving. This holiday exists as a direct counter-celebration to Columbus Day; rather than celebrating colonisation, the holiday focuses on showing respect and support to the indigenous people of America. Canadian thanksgiving can learn from this. Society is evolving, and so the meaning behind traditions should evolve too. As well as being grateful for family and health, thanksgiving could be an opportunity to celebrate, and show respect to, the aboriginal people of Canada, just as Indigenous People’s Day in the US does. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada aims to reconcile Canadian relations with aboriginal people. Changing the meaning behind thanksgiving could be our small, but positive step, towards reconciliation.

If you want to find out more about the controversy behind American Thanksgiving: http://guardianlv.com/2014/11/thanksgiving-has-a-controversial-history/

If you want to find out more about the cultural genocide that aboriginal people faced in Canada:  http://nctr.ca/reports.php        

Some ideas on how to take positive steps towards reconciliation: http://www.trc.ca/websites/reconciliation/index.php?p=335