Indigenous peoples have complicated relationship with Thanksgiving

By Lethbridge Herald on October 12, 2024.

Herald file photo Alvin Mills, founder of the Kii Maa Pii Pii Tsin Healing and Recovery Camp, at left, along with volunteer Monte Kelman, hand out bannock sandwiches to some of the city’s vulnerable outside the Lethbridge Public Library downtown in this Herald file photo.

Alexandra Noad
LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

Since the early 1600s, Thanksgiving has been celebrated by settlers of Canada and the United States, however many Indigenous people have a complicated relationship with the holiday due to its colonial history.

Alvin Mills a member of the Blood Reserve, says he wasn’t always aware of the colonial history of Thanksgiving.

“I was totally ignorant to the roots of Thanksgiving,” said Mills.

Mills added that Indigenous cultures, including Blackfoot, believe they have always had Thanksgiving, even before the settlers arrived.

“We would gather, especially after hunting, and have a feast. So, we were probably practicing Thanksgiving without even knowing it,” said Mills.

While Thanksgiving may have good intentions, many Indigenous people associate Thanksgiving with the stealing of their lands and the colonization of their people.

According to websie history.com, the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in November of 1621 between Pilgrims who journeyed from England to what would eventually become the United States and Indigenous allies from the Wampanoag tribe.

These allies stemmed from Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who was kidnapped by an English sea captain, sold into slavery and then escaped to London and returned to his homeland.

Squanto helped show the Pilgrims how to live off the land and build relationships with Indigenous people.

This 50-year alliance was one of the very few examples of harmony between the Indigenous and colonists.

Mills believes that while the history is dark, Thanksgiving can be used by Indigenous people to build reconciliation.

“Thanksgiving is for Indigenous to recognize that’s another part for reconciliation to be looked at. It’s always going to be a two-way street,” said Mills.