I’m Indigenous Canadian in northern Ontario. My ethnic group were here in North America before European arrived so our ancestors have always been here since humans first arrived on this continent. I’m 100% Indigenous on both sides of my family. The short history is that once Europeans arrived in Canada about 250 years ago, they waited until roughly about 100-150 years ago to make agreements (called treaties) with local Indigenous people where Europeans took control of the majority of the land in exchange for the Indigenous people to get small parcels of land and some specials rights for hunting, travelling and other services, treatments or even monetary compensation. There were multiple treaties across Canada that varied in timing, types, amounts and variety of compensations … but all of them included setting aside lands for Indigenous people. The small parcels of land that were set aside were called Reservations … lands reserved for Indigenous people according to treaties.
So today … when someone somewhere in Canada mentions the word ‘Reservation’ to an Indigenous person, it is a very loaded word that may mean different things to different people depending on the situation. Indigenous people like me like to play with it as a joke for amusement. Others would be offended by the word. Some non-Indigenous people use it in a derogatory racist way to make fun of a minority group.
It’s also very interesting because the word is actually very negative to most Indigenous people now. For the past 100 years whenever that word was mentioned, it was always in the context of how the government controlled, manipulated or negatively affected Indigenous people. Today the word is not often used in official settings.
Indigenous people now prefer to use the words ‘First Nation’ or ‘Indigenous lands’ or ‘Traditional territories’ to refer to the treaty lands.
In city settings where few people know about this history, it’s still common to visit a restaurant and a waiter asks ‘Do you have a reservation?’ and to the majority of Canadians, the phrase means nothing … but to an Indigenous person, it means a lot.
Thanks for the clarification. I’m aware of the general story behind this, just the exact word was new to me because the corresponding word from my language would more translate to “reservoir”. So I guess the phrase “did you reserve a table?” Would not cause any harm?
I’m Indigenous Canadian in northern Ontario. My ethnic group were here in North America before European arrived so our ancestors have always been here since humans first arrived on this continent. I’m 100% Indigenous on both sides of my family. The short history is that once Europeans arrived in Canada about 250 years ago, they waited until roughly about 100-150 years ago to make agreements (called treaties) with local Indigenous people where Europeans took control of the majority of the land in exchange for the Indigenous people to get small parcels of land and some specials rights for hunting, travelling and other services, treatments or even monetary compensation. There were multiple treaties across Canada that varied in timing, types, amounts and variety of compensations … but all of them included setting aside lands for Indigenous people. The small parcels of land that were set aside were called Reservations … lands reserved for Indigenous people according to treaties.
So today … when someone somewhere in Canada mentions the word ‘Reservation’ to an Indigenous person, it is a very loaded word that may mean different things to different people depending on the situation. Indigenous people like me like to play with it as a joke for amusement. Others would be offended by the word. Some non-Indigenous people use it in a derogatory racist way to make fun of a minority group.
It’s also very interesting because the word is actually very negative to most Indigenous people now. For the past 100 years whenever that word was mentioned, it was always in the context of how the government controlled, manipulated or negatively affected Indigenous people. Today the word is not often used in official settings.
Indigenous people now prefer to use the words ‘First Nation’ or ‘Indigenous lands’ or ‘Traditional territories’ to refer to the treaty lands.
In city settings where few people know about this history, it’s still common to visit a restaurant and a waiter asks ‘Do you have a reservation?’ and to the majority of Canadians, the phrase means nothing … but to an Indigenous person, it means a lot.
Thanks for the clarification. I’m aware of the general story behind this, just the exact word was new to me because the corresponding word from my language would more translate to “reservoir”. So I guess the phrase “did you reserve a table?” Would not cause any harm?