By Tammy Desjardins, Indigenous Program Coordinator and Counsellor
When many people speak of the “First Thanksgiving,” they picture a peaceful meal — settlers and Indigenous peoples sharing food in friendship. But as a Wendat woman, I know that story was never ours. The true story is one of survival, betrayal, and the ongoing strength of our peoples.
The first gathering that would later be called “Thanksgiving” took place in 1621, on Wampanoag territory — long before the idea of Canada or the United States existed. The Wampanoag, led by Ousamequin (Massasoit), saw strangers arrive from across the ocean, sick, starving, and lost. In their generosity, they offered teachings of the land — how to plant, fish, and live in balance. That autumn, when the settlers harvested their first crops, they held a feast. Ninety Wampanoag men came, bringing venison and food from their own stores. It was a moment of diplomacy, not celebration — an act of keeping peace in uncertain times.
But the peace was not to last. Only sixteen years later, in 1637, after English settlers massacred over 700 Pequot men, women, and children, they held a “Day of Thanksgiving” to give thanks for victory — a celebration of genocide. That is the true beginning of the colonial Thanksgiving. What began as survival and hospitality became a story of blood, loss, and erasure.
As settlers spread across Turtle Island, they carried their version of Thanksgiving with them. When Loyalists fled north after the American Revolution, they brought the holiday into what would become Canada. In 1879, the Canadian government — the same government enforcing the Indian Act, stealing children into residential schools, and pushing our people from our lands — declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. They said it was to give thanks for “harvest and blessings.” But for Indigenous peoples, there was no blessing in our stolen lands, broken families, and silenced languages.
For many of us, this day is not about gratitude for conquest. It is a time of remembering — a day to honor the ancestors who endured, the women who carried the stories, the men who hunted for our survival, the children who dreamed us into the future. It is a day to speak truth to the lies told in classrooms and churches.
To decolonize Thanksgiving is to bring the spirit of balance back. We can return to our own ways of giving thanks — for the harvest, the waters, the wind, the four-legged and winged beings, and for each other. Gratitude is sacred when it comes from reciprocity. We give thanks by giving back — to the land, to our Elders, to our communities.
Instead of feasts that erase, we can gather to remember. We can cook traditional foods, offer tobacco, and share stories of our nations’ survival. We can speak the names of our Ancestors and lift our voices for those still fighting for justice.
True thanksgiving is not colonial. It is Wendat — it is Indigenous. It lives in the circle, the fire, the breath of the land. It is not a day — it is a way of being.
Wendat Teaching: The Circle of Gratitude
In Wendat teachings, everything moves in a circle — the people, the seasons, the waters, the breath of life. When we take, we must give. When we receive, we must honor. Gratitude is not words; it is action, offering, and relationship. To give thanks is to live in right relation — with the land, with one another, and with Spirit. Our Ancestors say that when we forget to give thanks, we lose our connection to life itself. But when we give thanks with humility and truth, the world becomes balanced again.
Reflection Questions:
- How can you honor the land you live on — not just with words, but through action, offering, or relationship?
- Who are the Ancestors you want to thank this season?
- What does true thanksgiving look like when it comes from your heart, your spirit, and your lineage — not from a colonial calendar?
Thank you for taking the time to read and reflect.