FIRST PERSON | What no one told me about the land I called home | CBC News
Ashish Barua arrived in Canada in 2024 and has lived in Saskatoon and Regina before settling in Prince Albert. He says his 10-year-old daughter first pushed him to learn more after telling him about Métis beadwork and its background.
Barua writes that he previously knew little about Indigenous Peoples and had picked up unexplained stereotypes. Settlement programs helped his family with health coverage, housing, driving and winter preparation, but did not explain treaty land.
To learn more, he enrolled in Advancing Reconciliation, a course from the First Nations University of Canada. Originally from Bangladesh, he began connecting British and Pakistani rule over his home country with colonization experienced by Indigenous Peoples.
He says he paid little attention when his daughter attended a powwow with her school. Later, he visited Passage Home, a bronze travois-shaped memorial by the river in Prince Albert unveiled in August for the 150th anniversary of Treaty 6, honouring children who did not return from residential schools.
Barua concludes that feeling at home requires understanding local history. He says newcomers must seek that knowledge themselves rather than wait for others to provide it.
Key points
- Daughter’s lesson on beadwork sparked father’s learning journey.
- Settlement help omitted information about treaty land history.
- Bronze memorial highlighted residential school and Treaty 6 history.