WLU professor creates digital archive of Afro-Indigenous histories

Wilfrid Laurier University professor Ciann Wilson has created a digital archive of Afro-Indigenous histories called Proclaiming Our Roots. Wilson’s project included filming the stories of communities through videos and vlogs to document stories of Black and Indigenous solidarity and the contributions the Afro-Indigenous community makes to Canadian society. Wilson says that Afro-Indigenous mixed ancestry is not often discussed, and that many remain unaware of the way that the two communities collaborated to navigate and resist colonial systems. “The current existence of the way that Canada exists only exists because of the ways in which certain groups of people were exploited for labour on stolen land from another group of people,” said Wilson. “And so our struggles are deeply intertwined, both historically and contemporarily.”