Contrasting colonisations: (re)storying Newfoundland/Ktaqmkuk as place

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe island of Newfoundland/Ktaqmkuk is the traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq and Beothuk people. However, this truth is rarely acknowledged in the official and popular stories of the island as place. In Newfoundland, dominant stories construct a particular sense of the island as place, which often work to displace and ignore the histories and experiences of Indigenous Newfoundlanders, especially the large population of Mi’kmaq people living on the island. They also displace and ignore the role that settler Newfoundlanders play in perpetuating the colonisation of Indigenous peoples on the island. This article asks how including the story of settler colonialism in dominant understandings of colonialism can unsettle the official and popular stories of Newfoundland as place and homogenous characterisations of Newfoundland identity in the island’s cultural memory. It explores points of intersection between these two understandings of colonialism in three historical periods, including Newfoundland’s time as a British colony, the process of joining Canada and the post-Confederation period. Without including settler colonialism, vital understandings of these events and their consequences for Indigenous peoples are rendered invisible. The framework of comparative colonialisms creates a starting place for building authentic and accountable solidarities between Indigenous and settler Newfoundlanders.