By: Nercya Kalino, Staff Writer
Joe Sacco’s new book Paying The Land illustrates and unfolds the stories of the Dane peoples that have lived in the Mackenzie River. Their land in the Northwest Territories has valuable resources and is a central part of the Dene’s livelihood.
Sacco is a Maltese-American cartoonist and journalist. His work focuses on “fieldwork in conflict zones and places where people are facing displacement and dispossession.” His other books include The Fixer, Notes from a Defeatist, Footnotes in Gaza, and more.
In the book, Sacco travels to Canada to learn about “people in conflict over the costs and benefits of development.” There is a recitation of the mining history and its negative impact on the Indigenous culture, focused on the long-term effects of residential schools.
The conversation about the book was moderated by Glen Coulthard, an associate professor in the First Nations and Indigenous studies at UBC.
Coulthard asked Sacco to explain the inspiration for writing the book, and how it relates to Sacco’s other journalistic and artistic practices.
“I think I wanted to do a book that was about climate change. As broad a topic as that is, like everyone, I am interested in the topic. And I thought it would be interesting to do a book about where things in regards to resource extraction happened and they happened on the peripheries. “It’s often Indigenous people who suffer from resource extraction, or have to deal with it.”
He elaborated his initial thought on the approach to writing his book. “I wanted to get away from violence, I wanted to get away from drawing conflict.” After his first visit to Canada, he left not understanding the full impact of the residential school system. “I’d known about the residential schools but I didn’t understand what it meant to the people and I didn’t understand the sort of violence it meant for the people.” As much as he wanted to get away from this violence, Sacco said, “What I found out is you cannot get away from violence.”
Sacco explained in some instances, white people who know a lot about Indigenous studies will sometimes prevent Indigneous people from learning about their own history. “What I was told was, don’t ask about residential schools. And I sort of listened to some of that advice. Especially on the first trip, I was careful not to bring up the subject. But what I realized was that it was there in the room anyway,” said Sacco.
The inspiration for Paying the Land came from his first conversation with Paul Andrew who knew that Sacco wanted to know more about the residential schools. In their conversation, “He, in a very gracious way, just explained what it was like to grow up as a young boy in the bush, how communities developed around this sort of family units. He understood his place, he learned by watching [ . . . ] and it was such a beautiful story.”
To listen to Sacco and Coulthard’s conversation, visit Below the Radar by Vancity Office of Community Engagement SFU. Sacco’s book Paying the Land is available at Massy Books.
