Cuthand: Trump’s talk of ‘manifest destiny’ is history repeating

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Donald Trump’s vision of America goes back to the 19th century and includes the imperial policies of the time.

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He has touted the vision of manifest destiny for the expansion of the United States. This was the belief that the U.S. had a God-given and obvious destiny to expand westward and displace the Indigenous peoples by any means necessary.

Through manifest destiny, they conducted a war against Mexico and seized the land for the future states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. In the process, they laid the foundation for the racism that currently exists toward Mexicans and Indigenous people.

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To the north, they attacked Canada during the War of 1812 with the same Trumpian view that exists today — that Canada should be a part of the U.S.

When the Americans attacked the British Colonies to their north, the First Nations allied with the British and fought on the side of the Canadians. The British only had 1,600 troops in all of British North America. They relied on alliances with the Haudenosaunee (six nations) in the east and central area and Chief Tecumseh in the west. If the British had not formed alliances with the First Nations, we would all be speaking English with a drawl today.

Unfortunately, the British didn’t follow through and the First Nations lost land and their political influence. Within a generation, the First Nations contribution was forgotten.

Once again, the Americans are casting their covetous eyes north of the border. Trump has made baseless claims that drugs and illegal immigrants are pouring across the border. It’s the other way, with American guns and ammunition fuelling the drug wars in Canada.

While we are threatened with tariffs against our aluminum and steel manufacturing, Trump is killing the high-tech sector and cancelling research grants to universities. While he preserves the smokestack industries of the 1950s, he is killing the ability to meet the challenges of the future.

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Meanwhile he wants the Panama Canal back, treats Greenland like an acquisition and mocks Canada’s sovereign status by calling our prime minister a “governor” and referring to us as the 51st state. He also wants First World War-type reparations from Ukraine and sees the Gaza Strip as a piece of unused real estate.

The reaction in Indian country has been swift and unequivocal. There is no way that we will accept the proposition that we become the 51st state. In Canada, our treaty and Aboriginal rights are enshrined in the constitution and both the U.S. and Canada have signed the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Our rights and sovereignty must be taken into consideration.

We also have the Jay Treaty which allows us special access to the U.S. We are not illegal immigrants since we can live and work in the U.S. unimpeded.

We also have nations that exist on both sides of the border, indicating that we were here first and the border was placed on top of our nations, dividing us with separate colonizing nations. My family has relations on the Crow Reservation in Montana as well as Rocky Boy, a Cree reservation that’s also in Montana. The Anishinaabe Nation exists on both sides of the border, called Ojibway or Saulteaux in Canada and Chippewa in the U.S. Same people separated by settler nations.

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The purchase of Greenland and the annexation of Canada are rooted in the 19th century concept of manifest destiny. Trump believes the U.S. has a right to the entire northwest hemisphere, and he is willing to give the eastern part to Putin.

Trump is the complete antithesis of what a man should be. He is a racist without a moral compass, he is a crass materialist who sees the world as a bazaar of land, resources and people.

So, when Trump talks about manifest destiny, it’s not a shock for the First Nations. We have witnessed this scene played out before and someone needs to yell “cut.”

Doug Cuthand is the Indigenous affairs columnist for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix and the Regina Leader-Post. He is a member of the Little Pine First Nation.

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