A game of ‘I’m less colonized than you’ between two friends from different First Nations communities has entered its eighth year.
The game involves each player finding ways to prove how decolonized they are—and perhaps most importantly, how colonized their opponent is—and then announcing it on social media so as many people as possible can read it.
James Monias, 33, from the Moose Cree First Nation in northern Saskatchewan and Elias Migwas, 27, from the Birch River First Nation in northwestern Ontario, have been playing the game almost continuously since July 30, 2014.
“It all started when I noticed that James was wearing cowboy hat, which is a pretty colonized thing to do so I commented on his Facebook photo,” said Migwas. “I mean, yeah, I wear New Balance runners but I can transcend that with my decolonized mindset.”
Witnesses said that Monias shot back with a quip about Migwas not being fully fluent in Anishinabemowiin and posting it on his own Facebook wall, to much acclaim.
“It just snowballed from there,” Monias told reporters outside his on-reserve house, which is okay to have because it’s still on his traditional territory and his people weren’t forced to be there like Migwas, whose people were relocated after signing treaties.
Other flame battles included one instance where Migwas’ INDIGENIZE ME teeshirt was called irrelevant because it’s written in English and printed in an American factory and another instance where Monias showed a photo of his new tattoo, inspired by a Norval Morrisseau painting—which Migwas said counted as colonized because it’s done in a non-Indigenous tattoo shop.
While most of the game sees both sides sling good-natured jabs, the game took a tense turn in 2015 when Migwas accused Monias of acting like he was “fresh out of residential school” and the two weren’t on speaking terms for a few weeks.