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TORONTO
NATIVE YOUTH
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Toronto Native Youth
(TNY) is a newly formed group of
young First Nations people dedicated to resisting colonialism
and exposing the racism of canada against our people. This is no small
task. The history of white supremacy and intentions of genocide of
First Nations peoples' culture and bodies began from first contact. A
numerically
decimated people, we take our strength from our ancestors that have
passed
on to the west, our Elders of a previous generation, and our sisters
and brothers
who join us in the struggle to engage our warrior spirit against
colonial will.
While we recognize that the assault against our very existence is a
government-led
one, we also require non-Native individuals to recognize the ways in
which
they benefit, and ask that you support us in our work by being prepared
see
the way this nation must change for treaties to be honoured and
Indigenous sovereignty
to be realized.
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As residents of
Toronto, we experience the legacy of Western racist patriarchal
capitalist settlement on stolen land in a unique way. Most of us
have strong roots with our land of origin.
We travel there and back, switching gears between city life and reserve
life
as we go. We are able to see the effects of colonialism in both worlds,
and
it is all too apparent that there is no quiet place to simply be. There
is no way
to hang on to the dream that when we tire of city life we can return to
our
roots, our land, and live a Traditional way. The ability for First
Nations people
to live a culturally-intact existence is being eroded.
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As a group, TNY begin
by empowering ourselves with knowledge of our own history and
teaching it to others. In order to fight for a healthy community, we
must first
be healthy individuals. Internalized racism weighs heavily on us, as
the temptations
of a material life devoid of Tradition sounds an easier way of living
than a life guided by responsibility to ourselves and the seven
generations to
come. But we have emerged from the struggle strong and proud. We may
live in the
city, but we remain a culturally inspired activist group.
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TNY is a
member of the Rebel Youth Network.
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