This Magazine

Progressive politics, ideas & culture

Menu

First Nations

July-August 2019

Deciding Factors

The decision of whether or not to bring children into the world is always complex. Here, identity, ancestry, age, capitalism and climate change are all part of the considerations.

Thirza Cuthand

Being a Plains Cree non-binary lesbian with a non- functioning uterus makes baby-making hard. And the looming pressure of total environmental and climate collapse has made a lot of my friends choose not to have children at all. Is it selfish to bring a child into the world as it stands now? And can I […] More »
September-October 2018

ACTION SHOT: Camping for justice at Saskatchewan’s Wascana Park

Photo by Eagleclaw Bunnie Thom

This Magazine

At Wascana Park in Regina sits a group of protesters, their teepees erected around them. They are waiting. Camped out just across from the Saskatchewan Legislature, the group wants justice after the deaths of Tina Fontaine and Colten Boushie, two Indigenous youth whose accused killers were acquitted of murder charges. The camp set up in […] More »
September-October 2018

Rework

Poetry by Arielle Twist

Arielle Twist

I am reworking my reality.  How does a tranny coexist    with lust,       being told of an    “unattainable” touch even with the saliva of a man    dripping off of my chest   how he bites at my soft parts       and kissed me    rigid. I think this man    could love me,   fuck me       outside of glory holes       a […] More »
September-October 2018

Celebrating Indigenous writers and artists: A special feature

Featuring Gwen Benaway, Kai Minosh Pyle, Lindsay Nixon, Ziibiwan Rivers, Fallon Simard, Jaye Simpson, and Arielle Twist

This Magazine

EXPLORE THE FEATURE: Editor’s note by Gwen Benaway ● Prose by Kai Minosh Pyle ● Interview with Lindsay Nixon ● Visual art by Fallon Simard ● Interview with Ziibiwan Rivers ● Prose by Jaye Simpson ● Poetry by Arielle Twist A note from the editor: When I was asked to guest edit an Indigenous-specific supplement for This, my first instinct was […] More »
September-October 2018

this woman, nokum

Prose by Jaye Simpson

Jaye Simpson

how do i explain my queerness to the gatekeeper of my blood line when she flushed hers out with communion wine and holy water? how do i explain my ever-shifting body to the woman who prayed for damnation for me, rather than my absolution? my grandmother who held me at birth, has prayed for my […] More »
September-October 2018

Prose

Works by Kai Minosh Pyle

Kai Minosh Pyle

THE MYTH OF THE ATOM i am learning not to be alone. kinship is a practice: it is performed through repeated actions. is it queer to be alone? is not the same question as, is being queer lonely? but i might be forgiven for not knowing the difference. my language has no word for queer; […] More »
September-October 2018

Interview: Ziibiwan Rivers

On music, toxic masculinity in the industry, and the importance of community

Gwen Benaway

Genre hopping from ambient experimental electronics to hip hop, trip hop, R&B, and more, Ziibiwan Rivers is an electronic musician with a no-holds-barred approach to production. Beautiful and tension-filled soundscapes follow dense, calm, trap-inspired epics where land, sky, and deep sea meet. Ziibiwan is Anishinaabe from Wiikwemkoong, based in Tkaronto. When I first heard Ziibiwan […] More »
September-October 2018

End Violence Against Trans Women

Visual art by Fallon Simard

Fallon Simard

This piece is part of a collection of works by trans and queer Indigenous writers and artists. Explore the rest of the feature: Prose by Kai Minosh Pyle ● Interview with Lindsay Nixon ● Interview with Ziibiwan Rivers ● Prose by Jaye Simpson ● Poetry by Arielle Twist More »
September-October 2018

Interview: Lindsay Nixon

On writing, motivations, and futures

Gwen Benaway

Lindsay Nixon is a Cree-Métis-Saulteaux curator, award- nominated editor, award-nominated writer, and McGill Art History PhD student. They currently hold the position of editor-at-large for Canadian Art. Nixon has previously edited mâmawi-âcimowak, an independent art, art criticism, and literature journal, and their writing has appeared in Malahat Review, Room, GUTS, Mice, esse, the Inuit Art Quarterly, Teen […] More »
July-August 2018

It’s time to stop cottaging on Indigenous land

Because the land we relax on—and take for granted—isn't our land

Denise Hansen

Every Canada Day long weekend, thousands of us leave smoggy cities and flood hurriedly north to summer homes. We can’t wait to escape to our little slice of paradise, our piece of the natural Canadian landscape we’ve dedicated to pleasure, relaxation, and tranquility. We spend the long weekend unplugged or revelling in one too many […] More »
July-August 2018

ACTION SHOT: Protesting the Trans Mountain Pipeline extension

At the pipeline's construction site, on Burnaby Mountain

This Magazine

Since the Trans Mountain Pipeline extension project was approved by the Trudeau government in 2016, the west coast’s Indigenous communities have fought to cease potential damages on their land. The project, which would extend the pipeline from Edmonton to the Vancouver area, runs through several First Nations communities in B.C. and Alberta—and protests have been […] More »