Ep.2: Turtle Island Before Columbus

Before Columbus, there were vast cities, roads, trade networks, and sovereign nations across Turtle Island. This episode of No Kanada exposes how the Catholic Church erased these realities to justify conquest.

The Doctrine of Discovery was not just a papal decree—it was a blueprint for genocide, enslavement, and dispossession. Issued decades before Columbus’ voyage, these Vatican documents declared non-Christian lands empty, unowned, and ripe for taking—even when they were home to millions.

This episode confronts the colonial logic that still defines Canadian law: the myth that there was “nothing” here before Europeans arrived. In reality, Turtle Island was full—of life, order, trade, memory, and meaning.

Canada didn’t begin with peace or progress. It began with a lie.

nokanada.ca

No Kanada is a podcast that critically examines Canada’s history as a settler-colonial state, tracing its formation through rebellion, power consolidation, and the ongoing erasure of Indigenous sovereignty. From Confederation to today, we confront the cultural and systemic violence embedded in Canada’s foundation, centring Indigenous resistance and struggle against a nation built on stolen land—a necessary reckoning with a complicated past of Canada's dark history and current existence.

For all sourced and researched information from this episode, please visit ⁠decolonize.ca⁠. For updates on this and other stories discussed in this podcast, visit our website at ⁠nokanada.ca⁠, and follow us on social media at ⁠@decolonizedotca⁠ and ⁠@SparkSolidarity⁠.

Theme music "No Kanada" is performed by Lee Reed. You can find more of his work at leereed.bandcamp.com.

This episode features music and audio sources used under the Fair Use Act and under the Creative Commons International Public Use License, including works by John Tavener - The Protecting Veil for Cello and Orchestra Tio'tiake - Montreal National Indigenous Peoples Day Concerts at Cabot Square, Montréal, Tuesday, June 21, 2022 Miserere Mei (Drill Remix) Free Track Helium Choir Miserere Mei but It's Drill Beat I Never Knew, from Savage, by Doug Brandt Tsilhqot'in - The River Song The Rebel Spell - The Tsilhqot'in War #Mashups Return to Burn Your Village to the Ground The Halluci Nation - Burn Your Village to the Ground Native Flute Type Beat - Spirit Dance Prod. OvenBakedBeatz & Yung Wunda Karkwa - Coup Lee Reed - No Kanada (Instrumental) Native American Type Beat - Calm Hard Trap Freestyle Type Beat Type Beat Dynamit3 Nadav Cohen - Tales from Babylon [Middle Eastern Lofi Hip Hop/Relaxing Beats] Ice Age Ancestors - Snow Fall, Windy Winter - Tribal Ambient Music - Shamanic Pulse Listening to Lofi Music with Man in the Stone Age Chill Lo-fi Hip-Hop (44100 Hz) Ancient Aztec and Mayan Traditional Music by Ricardo Lozano featuring Jorge Ramos Columbus Day Lyric Video - The Kiboomers Preschool Songs & Nursery Rhymes for Holidays Juan de Triana - Dinos Madre del Donçel - Hespèrion XX Cortez the Killer (2016 Remaster) (Instrumental) DaniSogen - Forgotten Rite L 18 Haida Song Haida Gwaii August 20th, 2022 Potlatch Tongva Song #LACMA Haida - Cousin Tyler Crosby Singing My Drum Binaural Hand Drumming for Sleep, Study, and Meditation Tonal ASMR Frisson Binaural Hand Drumming ASMR, Tapping Tingly Satisfying Drum Music for Work/Sleep/Study TonalASMR Native American Lofi Hip Hop & Chillstep Music Relaxing Vibes Cherokee Drums Native American Drums Only, Shamanic Drumming, Rhythmic Drumming Meditation, Tribal Drums Brian Eno - By This River (Lofi Reimagined, BGM) Brian Eno - Just Another Day HD Stream Snow Chant Hypnotic Shamanic Drum Journey w/ Throat Singing Forest Ambience De Tantoc a Cahokia 06 - Entering the City with a Future Foretold - James Horner - Apocalypto Arkandji's Doomonica II - FatBoySlim - Right Here, Right Now [Slow Version].