I have to admit I never looked at it this way. Now I am going to have a major guilt trip every time I go for a paddle. Regarding the statement "canoe can be a symbol of colonialism, imperialism and genocide" I can honestly say I never looked at it that way, maybe that is because I am one of those person she classifies as white, of a certain age whatever that is, and privileged. As far as the quote "Certainly the majority of wilderness canoers are people who have a very privileged place in society. " I would say this is true of almost all outdoor pursuits a canoe being one that is more available to the less advantaged than most and they in general are clearly less privileged than the average academic. I am not as smart as an academic so I guess I will have to use the words of another academic to reply to this. "Frank Furedi, a well-known anti-PC professor at the University of Kent in Britain, called it “epidemic of idiocy” for thinking the canoe is cultural appropriation and evil." I do have a hypothesis is it possible that she tried canoeing at one time and do to a more rigid and stiff nature could not balance and managed to capsize in front of a crowd and could not accept that someone of her stature could make a mistake so she blamed the canoe? One reason I paddle is to escape stuff like this. I do think the history of first nations groups and individuals is a sad, complex, and challenging history to come to terms with. I think it is something that is accomplished in a life time not a year. I think positions like this do not add to the dialogue that is necessary to work through the reality of the history.

http://heatst.com/culture-wars/white-people-in-canoes-yes-canoes-reek-of-cultural-appropriation-says-canadian-professor/