Understanding emotions as a pathway to settler accountability : an arts-based inquiry

Conversations about reconciliation in Canada often burden only Indigenous Peoples with the emotional responsibility to heal from the violence that was, and still is, inflicted through land dispossession and policies of cultural genocide. However, non-Indigenous people also have an emotional relationship to colonization that often remains unnamed, even though it affects the way they relate to reconciliation and decolonization. This research focuses on the emotional work required of non-Indigenous Canadians to decolonize relationships with Indigenous people based on responsibility and respect. Using the City of Vancouver as a case study, this work explores the emotions that non-Indigenous government employees feel about reconciliation and decolonization. The broader aim of this project is to understand how processing these emotions could invite non-Indigenous government employees to more effectively support Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination through their work. The project learned from conversations with three experts on settler emotions, as well as a collage workshop and a focus group conducted with seven non-Indigenous City of Vancouver staff. It adopts an arts-based approach to research, using collage, because collage moves away from binary thought patterns and language, helping participants express ideas that are difficult to put into words. Five key themes emerged from participant collages: learned myths about Indigeneity and colonialism, current city dynamics impeding decolonial work, becoming agents of change, visions of decolonization and reconciliation, and personal learning journeys in Indigenous-settler relations. The project confirmed that reconciliatory and decolonial work is emotionally charged for non-Indigenous government employees and that developing emotional resilience and regulation skills is key to doing this work in the long-term. It proposes a Settler Emotions Wheel as a pedagogical tool to visualize and draw attention to the diversity of settler emotions, naming emotions such as worry, awareness, hostility, gratitude, powerlessness, care, shame, responsibility, curiosity, discomfort, and hope. Finally, this thesis advances that using a collage workshop as a research method allows participants to illustrate tensions, engage in self-reflection, and learn differently. This project suggests that non-Indigenous government employees should name, engage with, and process their settler emotions to become more accountable to their decolonial learning and actions.