Here’s A Good One

Three aboriginal people walk into a continent. Then, about ten thousand years later, some white dudes show up. And the bartender says…

White, mainstream society goes through three phases of permissibility when it comes to laughing at what it considers to be a fringe or lesser culture or group, like, say, “women” or “gays and lesbians” or “the Chinese.” First, it’s ok (racist, sexist or just plain insensitive jokes, but it’s not like anyone is going to complain), then it’s not ok (well, the jokes are still told, but not in polite company), then it’s ok again (“no, no—we’re laughing with you”), but with the temperature, tone and insincerity changed.

But how does it work when the culture that has been laughed at is one that, in the Canadian context, many have no direct experience of? You know that Cree guy in your office … oh, there isn’t one. What about the Innu woman at the bank, she … right. Well, there’s the Haida family who run the spa across...