Manitoba residential school survivor challenges meaning of Thanksgiving

A residential school survivor is hoping people acknowledge Thanksgiving’s complicated history as it pertains to Indigenous People.

Vivian Ketchum says the holiday’s colonial heritage in relation to the harms done to Indigenous People stops her from celebrating.

“Helping each other and being welcoming – I think that’s supposed to be the spirit of Thanksgiving. That doesn’t really happen,” said Ketchum.

The residential school survivor feels the holiday, meant to symbolize the coming together of Indigenous People and colonists and celebrating a bountiful harvest, should be about helping each other. But he experiences make her feel that’s far from reality.

“Not when we have a high number of Indigenous women getting killed, when there is a number of racisms here in Canada, in Winnipeg, in this very city,” said Ketchum. “How many times will I go to the store and I get followed? How about when I go to the waiting room and get treated out the door, when my brown face is perceived as a threat?”

Residential school survivor Vivian Ketchum on Oct. 7, 2023. (Temi Olatunde, CityNews)

Ketchum says she finds the memories of Thanksgiving during her school days upsetting.

“In school when we had to get ready for Thanksgiving and the holidays, we would be there making paper bags as the turkey. This really gets me angry when I think about it. When they used to make those headbands and little feathers and that, for that pilgrim story and how we used to be perceived.”

Anishinaabe Elder Marcel French says it is important for the wider community to remember that the privilege of being in Canada came at a cost to Indigenous People, many of whom don’t have access to what’s being celebrated.

“I think sometimes they take that, and I’m talking about the general public I guess, they somewhat take that for granted,” said French. “It’s a cultural component that people forget.”

Anishinaabe Elder Marcel French on Oct. 7, 2023. (Temi Olatunde, CityNews)

Though she won’t be participating, Ketchum says it is still a good thing when community members gather together. The residential school survivor did point to one thing she finds worth celebrating this year: the recent election of Wab Kinew, the first First Nations premier of a Canadian province.

“Maybe that’s a little bit of hope right there,” Ketchum said.