"From my MÄori perspective, a key point is that there was always a continuous Jewish presence in the land; they kept the fires burning, and that is what indigeneity looks like to us"
Dr. Sheree Trotter is an indigenous scholar and activist. She spoke at a first-of-its-kind conference called Building IndigenousâJewish Friendship, held in Toronto in conjunction with the annual Walk with Israel march.
She called Israel, "the most successful landâback project, the greatest decolonization project."
âIncreasingly, indigenous identity is being treated as a metaphor, a branding exercise, a political strategy. Indigeneity isnât any of that; it is a lived reality rooted in specific people and place.â Karen Restoule, an Ojibwe from Dokis First Nation, who is director of Indigenous affairs at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, spoke at the conference, too.
Why do Western activists insist they know more about indigeneity than indigenous people themselves?