Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8. That’s a pretty major world event, and her passing has ripple effects across the ocean here in Canada — after all, the British monarch is still Canada’s head of state.
Here in Abbotsford, the University of the Fraser Valley addressed the loss: UFV president Joanne MacLean issued a statement several hours after news of the Queen’s death broke, calling Elizabeth II “a steadfast symbol of diplomacy, calm strength, and reassurance during turbulent times.” The university lowered its flags to half-mast in mourning. On September 19, K-12 schools and public universities were closed across B.C. for her funeral.
Reflecting on the public and institutional response to the death of the Queen, though, it is striking how different that response is compared with responses to other recent national and international tragedies. Tragedies that are far more devastating than the peaceful passing of a 96-year old woman.
Four days before the Queen died, ten people were killed and 18 were injured in a mass stabbing in the James Smith Cree Nation and the town of Weldon, Saskatchewan. UFV acknowledged these killings with a post from MacLean’s social media pages: a sentence to say that their “hearts and thoughts are with all those affected,” and links to counselling and Indigenous crisis support. The flags remained at full-mast, and only a few days later the death of Queen Elizabeth drew attention away from the unimaginable pain these attacks caused, particularly to those in the Indigenous community.
The death of Queen Elizabeth is of course a major news story. But the Queen herself — a woman who MacLean described in her statement as “a reassuring presence” — is a figurehead of an ancient power structure, built on colonialism and a belief in divinely-bestowed superiority. As recently as May, Assembly of First Nations Chief Roseanne Archibald asked the crown for an apology for their role in Canada’s residential school system, both as the rulers of Canada and as the head of the Anglican Church, which operated around two dozen residential schools. As Maggi Davis points out in a statement from UFV’s Faculty and Staff Association about UFV’s response to the Queen’s death: “It took over forty years of her being in power before the residential school system was shut down in Canada.”
Elsewhere in the world, devastating flooding has torn through Pakistan since June, in what their Prime Minister calls “the worst [flooding] in the history of Pakistan.” As of September 10, Al Jazeera reports nearly 1,400 people have died.
The British Empire, under the rule of Queen Elizabeth II and those who previously shared her throne, controlled India and what would become Pakistan for nearly 200 years, building much of their wealth off the exploitation of colonized people around the globe. The ramifications of that occupation are still felt in those lands today.
At the time of writing, The Cascade could find no statements from UFV or MacLean on Pakistan’s floods.
All of these events are tragic, but it is striking that from these three major news stories at the start of September, it is the death of the Queen that warrants a full, heartfelt statement and flags at half-mast. UFV has chosen to mourn the figurehead of a system built on white supremacy and colonial entitlement to the lands, labor, and lives of others much more than the deaths of numerous people in the very same communities that her empire harmed. Is that what Indigenization and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion look like at UFV?
Jeff was The Cascade's Editor in Chief for the latter half of 2022, having previously served as Digital Media Manager, Culture & Events Editor, and Opinion Editor. One time he held all three of those positions for a month, and he's not sure how he survived that. He started at The Cascade in 2016.
