A Mind Spread Out on the Ground

Elliott’s 12th essay addresses the non-Native Canadian expectations of what a Native person is, and the harm of said Canadians gatekeeping what it means to be Indigenous. She dives into “literary colonialism” to illustrate the catch-22 of being Native in Canada, providing numerous examples of Native writers whose success is criticized as being too Native or not Native enough for the topics they address. Many non-Native Canadian “settlers” explain away Native writers’ successes as being based on white colonial guilt: a pity-prize rather than something earned. These colonial ideals and myths persist because non-Native Canadians refuse to face the falsehoods and harm of their national myths of pleasant assimilation. If they were to address these falsehoods, their national identity would start to fall apart. Elliott ends the chapter with a scathing critique of Canadian Prime Ministers, providing details on the ways they’ve failed Native Canadians and pandered to Indigenous communities without following through on their promises.