Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up SYDNEY/TORONTO, Sept 18 (Reuters) – When Australia’s newly elected Indigenous MP Lydia Thorpe was sworn into office last month, she raised her fist above her head in protest and called Queen Elizabeth II “queen that settles”. “It was like kneeling before the killer,” the Greens senator told Reuters this week. “I had to pledge my allegiance to a colonial power that has caused so much harm to our people.” Queen Elizabeth’s death has led First Nations people from Canada to Australia and former colonies in the Caribbean to speak out about their pain and marginalization, as well as renewed calls to remove the monarchy as head of state in some countries. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up King Charles’ accession comes amid a surge in anti-colonialism fueled by growing awareness of historical atrocities and greater recognition of indigenous culture and knowledge. “There is a growing popular consciousness around injustices around the world, what is being done in the name of the nation itself to exploit indigenous peoples,” said Veldon Coburn, an indigenous Anishinaabe professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada. “Almost overlapping the reign of Queen Elizabeth, from the 1950s, you also see resistance movements emerging.” Calls for reparations and apologies for slavery are growing in some Caribbean countries, while Canadian indigenous leaders want the monarchy to act on a range of historical injustices. Australia is on a path to giving Aboriginal people an official voice on indigenous issues in parliament, but Thorpe contrasts the government’s decision to observe a day of mourning for the Queen with the historic neglect of indigenous Australians. “[It] it’s just another nail in the coffin in terms of how we feel and are treated as First Nations people,” he said. “It’s like we never existed.” Changing demographics in Commonwealth nations and accusations of racism within the royal family following the departure of Prince Harry and Meghan have led to more questions about the need for an aloof monarch as head of state. read more
DEBATE DEMOCRACY
A decision by Barbados to ditch the queen as head of state in November 2021 has been seen as a boost to the democratic cause and has been echoed in other Caribbean nations such as Jamaica and the Bahamas. read more Polls in Australia, New Zealand and Canada have shown a growing view that they should end ties to the monarchy with Elizabeth’s death, although this is unlikely any time soon in countries such as Canada. read more In New Zealand, the indigenous Maori represent about 17% of the country’s 5 million inhabitants. They are well represented in parliament, Maori has become an official language and the history of British colonization is taught in public schools. But Māori are over-represented in prisons and state care and the community remains the poorest in the country. “If we can’t deal with the negativity and effects of colonization now, then when? Are we waiting for Prince William or Prince William’s children?” asked Maori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, which supports the abolition of the monarchy and a New Zealand head of state. “Nobody who takes that role, king or queen, princess or prince, knows the damage colonization has done to us as indigenous people,” he said. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said she expects New Zealand to become a democracy eventually, but certainly not anytime soon. read more Australia’s centre-left Labor prime minister Anthony Albanese, who openly favors a democracy, has assigned a minister to do just that. But any change would require a referendum and is only expected if the government wins a second term. Albanese said now was not the time to discuss the matter, but noted in a radio interview this week that the automatic ascension of King Charles was an opportunity “to reflect on the system we have over a period of time”. In Canada, polls show about half of people think the country should end ties to the monarchy with the death of Queen Elizabeth. Indigenous peoples represent less than 5% of Canada’s population of approximately 38 million and suffer from higher levels of poverty, unemployment and lower life expectancy than other Canadians. But experts say removing the monarchy from Canada’s constitution will prove difficult.
MESSAGE FOR THE KING
Indigenous leaders in Canada who spoke to Reuters were less interested in severing ties with the monarchy than in keeping it to commitments it made hundreds of years ago. When now-King Charles visited Canada earlier this year, Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnn Archibald asked him to personally apologize for the monarchy’s role in colonization. Archibald repeated this call after the queen’s death. Anishinaabe lawyer Sara Mainville said she does not want to see the monarchy abolished in Canada, saying the king “has a very important and special place in reconciliation.” Kukpi7 (Chief) Judy Wilson in British Columbia said she hopes the new king will act on things his mother didn’t — repudiating the “Doctrine of Discovery” that justified the colonization and removal of indigenous people, apologizing for abusive residential schools , recognizing indigenous artefacts in British hands and calling for action on climate change. “Perhaps King Charles could step forward … to right these historical wrongs that have affected indigenous peoples worldwide,” he said. “He has the eyes of the world right now. What tone will he set in his reign as king?” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Praveen Menon in Sydney and Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto. additional reporting by Jill Gralow. edited by Richard Pullin Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Anna Mehler Paperny Thomson Reuters Toronto-based correspondent covering immigration and health, among other topics.
