How Ottawapiskat turns the tables on aboriginal discourse

If you were scrolling through your Twitter feed today, you may have come across comments like this one:

 

Residents of #Ottawapiskat sit in cubicles in their band offices all day playing Solitaire. They should get real jobs!

 

Yes, you read that correctly -- it's OTTawapiskat. The hashtag of tweets... some of them very funny... takes aim at non-Aboriginal government, wondering how we would talk about the federal government and the rest of Canada's society, if we used the language and tone that are often applied to discussions of Aboriginal government.

 

Here are a few more examples:

 

Why does the leader live in a mansion while members of the community are homeless? #Ottawapiskat #idlenomore

 

#Ottawapiskat is so bitterly & irreconcilably divided that Parliament is split into 5 competing factions.

 

In #Ottawapiskat unelected elders make huge salaries for no useful work. They call it the Senate.

 

One of those tweeting, is Ottawa grad student and musician Melody McKiver. She joined us to talk about the hashtag.