As a settler Canadian, something I do is contribute monthly to Nii’kinaaganaa, a non-profit which grew out of an initiative called Pay Your Rent. My work to decolonise this land called Canada includes paying rent to the Indigenous people who steward this land. Nii'kinaaganaa just sent their monthly email, and I wanted to share this part in particular:

money given in solidarity is not charity, but an investment in a better world. But there’s another reason why it’s not charity. To provide donors with tax-deductible receipts, charities have to be politically neutral, and so often the work done to support Indigenous communities is not (it’s unavoidable when the root cause of Indigenous suffering is the settler colonial government).

This means true mutual aid that seeks to address systemic injustice can’t qualify as charity and solidarity that resists the oppression and assimilation of Indigenous people and fights for a just reconciliation (which includes, say it with me, land back) is considered political. 

Mutual aid is not charity, just like Indigenous land and water defenders are not protesters. This work is inherently political, and taking that stand now, in this moment, is more important than ever. Choosing to stay neutral is choosing not to act.

This money goes to people in need, yes (Pay Your Rent started as a fund to buy menstrual supplies for northern communities) but it also goes to help people do their work. It pays for travel for authors and speakers. It pays for printing education materials. It pays for retraining and career guidance. This month, it paid for a moccasin-making workshop. Mutual aid is about redistributing resources.

If you're Canadian, I encourage you to set up a monthly contribution to Nii'kinaaganaa. If you are also a settler living on Indigenous land, I encourage you to do some research about where you live and find a local mutual aid fund to support.

Nii'kinaaganaa's about page includes this quote from Naomi Klein:

It is not enough to say that we live on Indigenous Land, we have to act as if we do.

Land acknowledgements have become de rigueur over the last ten years. You've probably seen the boiler plate text at the bottom of every organisation's web page. Me, I live on the unceded territory of the Semiahmoo people. But acknowledgement is not enough. It's time to start paying rent.