Dr. Margaret Robinson
Who?
"Dr. Margaret Robinson is a vegan Mi’kmaw scholar and bisexual activist based in Toronto. She holds a PhD from the University of St. Michael’s College. Margaret is currently a fellow in community-based research with the Researching for LGBTQ Health Team at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and an affiliate fellow with the CIHR-funded Social Aetiology of Mental Illness Training Program. Margaret is passionate about postcolonial theory and Aboriginal self-government. She is a past editor of the Journal of Postcolonial Networks and a present board member of the Postcolonial Network." (Earthling Liberation Kollective)
Indigenous practices and Veganism
"Traditionally, my ancestors ate what was plentiful, and that was usually animals that lived in or around the water. But our oral traditions, the stories that contain our values and ways of life, don’t glorify animal death. The people in our stories kill to survive, but even then there’s regret at animal death, and ceremonies to show gratitude, respect, and responsibility. So if I can survive without requiring animal death—which I can—then that relationship to animals—that gratitude, and respect and responsibility—can be expressed without asking them to sacrifice their lives for me." (Animal People Forum) - Dr. Margaret Robinson
"Vegan meal preparation and consumption, for example, can become infused with transcendent significance, as we recall our connection with other animals, our shared connection to the Creator, and prefigure a time when we can live in harmony with other animals, as Glooscap did before the invention of hunting. Veganism offers us a sense of belonging to a moral community, whose principles and practices reflect the values of our ancestors, even if they might be at odds with their traditional practice."
"Food production is gendered in Mi’kmaq culture. Hunting was a traditionally male activity connected with the maintenance of virility. The killing of a moose symbolized a boy’s entry into manhood. So when you challenge the hunting traditions, you’re challenging how Mi’kmaq men understand their masculinity."
Impact of Colonialism on Indigenous Dietary Habits
"The truth is, the eating habits of Aboriginal people have already been colonized. People have been trained to think that poverty is Native. So we see Aboriginal restaurants that have bologna, wieners and canned meat wrapped in fry bread on their menu. What we’re doing is traditionalizing our own poverty."
"White Veganism" and its harm
"White activists have often failed to see how they are perpetuating harmful dynamics and enacting colonialism, both by attempting to control Indigenous people and assuming that veganism and Indigenous worldviews are incompatible." (Animal People Forum) - Dylan Forest
"Meat, as a symbol of patriarchy, actually binds us closer to white colonial culture, than practices such as veganism do. Veganism might be seen as white, but it’s certainly not hegemonic."
"Veganism is often equated with whiteness. As a result, Aboriginal vegans are assumed to be inauthentic and assimilated. This presents a challenge for people like me, who view our veganism as compatible with our Aboriginality."
What is the reasoning behind it all?
"If we want to stand for justice and against suffering, it is necessary that we do the work to transform our movement to one that is committed to ending all the ways that beings are harmed and killed for being declared “other." (Animal People Forum) - Dylan Forest
"So for me, that was a really concrete experience of what that phrase “all my relations” means. “Let me not forget our mutual vulnerability”, and let the way that we treat each other reflect these ties that bind us all."
"The values obtained from an ecofeminist exegesis of Mi’kmaq stories can serve as a starting point for an indigenous veganism. The personhood of animals, their self-determination, and our regret at their death, all show that choosing not to ask for their sacrifice is a legitimately Aboriginal option."
Bibliographie:
Forest, Dylan. “Decolonizing Veganism: An Interview with Dr. Margaret Robinson.” ANIMAL PEOPLE FORUM, 21 Oct. 2020, animalpeopleforum.org/2020/09/23/decolonizing-veganism-an-interview-with-dr-margaret-robinson/.
Elk. “Indigenous Veganism: Feminist Natives Do Eat Tofu.” Earthling Liberation Kollective, 29 July 2019, humanrightsareanimalrights.com/2014/12/22/margaret-robinson-indigenous-veganism-feminist-natives-do-eat-tofu/.