Artist Jason Baerg on Canada Day's reminder of stolen land and broken promises: 'Canada is a colonial project'

Yahoo

3 days ago

Artist, designer and educator Jason Baerg is clear-eyed about what Canada and its celebration mean — and doesn't mean — for many Indigenous people across the country. Baerg, who uses they/them pronouns, says it plainly: 'Canada is a colonial project."
It's a statement that cuts to the root of Canada Day's enduring controversy: For many Indigenous people, it marks not a national celebration but a reminder of stolen land and broken treaties. As a Cree-Métis artist raised in Red River, Saskatchewan and now based in Toronto, Ontario, Baerg's very life and practice are acts of resistance, continuity and reclamation.
'I'm Indigenous and German — my father came from Germany, and I was raised by my Métis mother,' Baerg explains. 'So, every day is Indigenous for me. That's how I live my life.'
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That lived experience means Canada Day doesn't bring up the same kind of pride or joy others might feel. 'It's a weird thing to unpack,' they say. 'It's funny how many people don't even understand the basics, that First Nations have their own governments, that they're independent nations.'
Baerg doesn't dismiss Canadian identity entirely. They acknowledge: 'I'd be a fool to think I do not participate in a greater network of people that includes settlers. When I think about what it means to participate in that kind of nationalism, which is kind of fabricated, I think about continuum, where we are, out story. It's complex.'
That sense of continuum shows up powerfully in Baerg's work. As an interdisciplinary artist working across painting, fashion and digital media, their art is deeply rooted in Indigenous epistemologies, visual languages and futurism.
'I'm interested in sustainable fashion, in the presence and visuality of Indigenous people through their contemporary art practices,' they say. 'There's real intention there of how [we] participate in culture, and build and disseminate who we are as Indigenous people.'
Baerg also brings that philosophy into the classroom at OCAD University, where they teach and mentor the next generation of artists, many of whom — and, crucially, not all — are Indigenous.
'The artist has to know who they are before they can say anything to the world,' they say. 'So, I have my students research their own traditional homelands. It helps them understand their position and gives them cultural material to work with in their art. I'm grounding them in having them acknowledge that their ancestors are from a different place, and I'm also serving them the opportunity to get to know themselves even more, because I truly believe that the artist has to know who they are before they can say anything to the world.'
In other words, that sense of knowing isn't just about identity, it's also about place. Baerg believes deeply in connecting students to the land, and in challenging Canadian institutions — artistic, educational and political — to do better.
'It's not enough to have conversations anymore; art and education are just the beginning. We need action. We know communities don't have clean water, so fix that. We know curriculum is lacking, so change it.'
We know communities don't have clean water, so fix that. We know curriculum is lacking, so change it.
And for Baerg, that change has to start early. They point to models in places like Australia where Indigenous culture is embedded in early childhood education.
'Why not here?' they ask. 'If you're in Toronto, every child should know how to say 'hello' in Haudenosaunee or Anishinaabe. That kind of cultural fluency should be foundational. We should be bringing local Indigenous custodians into schools and daycares. Geography lessons should happen on the land with those who know it best.'
There are already some glimmers of this vision in Canada.
Baerg highlights Saskatchewan's treaty education mandate from kindergarten to Grade 12 as an example. But they also express frustration at the pace of progress, particularly when funding is often the first thing to go.
'The government has taken so much away ... And I don't want to entertain that anymore. I want us to envision something better and then go build it.'
Despite all this, Baerg remains optimistic. Their hope doesn't come from institutions, but from community. 'I see us moving forward in good ways, with or without institutional support,' they say. 'We train our own, we respond to our own needs, and we move.'
What they want most — for Canada, for Canadians — is a shift toward meaningful collaboration. At the heart of that is a simple but powerful wish: respect.
'I'd love to see more harmony and more collaboration,' Baerg says. 'Genuine respect. If we looked at each other as kin, we'd be in a much better place.'