User:Nättipoika/Settler Colonialism in Canada

Doctrine of Discovery
The Christian Doctrine of Discovery is a legal doctrine upon which settler colonialism is justified in Canada. The doctrine allowed Christian European explorers to claim non-Christian lands for their monarch based on papal bulls. The doctrine was applied to the Americas when Pope Alexander VI issued Inter caetera (1493), giving Spain title to "discoveries" in the New World. This was in reaction to Pope Nicholas V's Dum diversas (1452) and Roman Pontifex (1455), which sanctioned Portugal' s conquests in North Africa, starting the transatlantic slave trade. England and France's subsequent land claims and disputes in the Americas were settled by British triumph in the Seven Years War and the following Royal Proclamation (1763). British and French colonial settlement contributes to Canada's origin myth of "two founding races," completely erasing Indigenous peoples.

This fundamental misunderstanding regarding underlying title forms the basis of the "land question" in Canada. In the landmark Tsilhqot'in Nation v. British Columbia in 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected all Crown arguments for Aboriginal title extinguishment, acknowledging the Doctrine of Discovery is racist. While this calls into question the legitimacy of the Canadian settler colonial state to exist on Indigenous territories, what this Supreme Court decision means on the ground remains to be seen.

Indigenous mobilization against the 1969 White Paper
Main articles: White Paper and Red Paper In 1969, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Minister of Indian Affairs Jean Chrétien proposed the White Paper, which recommended abolishing the Indian Act to extend full citizenship to Indigenous peoples after the Hawthorn report concluded Indigenous peoples were "citizens minus." If entered into force, Indigenous peoples would become an ethnic group 'equal' to others in Canada, therefore rendering Aboriginal title and rights 'unequal.' This policy espoused a liberal definition of equality in which legislated differences between Indigenous peoples and Canadians created inequities, rather than attributing inequities to the ongoing violence of settler colonialism. The White Paper indicated how colonial understandings of treaties as contracts differed from Indigenous understandings of covenants, as it would eliminate federal fiduciary responsibilities established by treaties and the Indian Act. Indigenous mobilization against the White Paper culminated in Harold Cardinal's Red Paper (also known as "Citizens Plus"). While the White Paper was not enacted, it was preceded and succeeded by further assimilation strategies.

Tk'emlupsemc, French-Canadian, and Ukrainian historian Sarah Nickel argued scholars marking the White Paper as a turning point in pan-Indigenous political mobilization obfuscates both local responses and longer histories of Indigenous struggles by unfairly centering one settler policy. Further, Indigenous women's organizations were marginalized despite claims of pan-Indigenous mobilization against the White Paper. This diminished the continuous presence of Indigenous women undertaking political struggles, especially on intersectional issues of Indigeneity and gender, such as marrying-out policies.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) is an ongoing issue that gained awareness through the efforts of the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) when it called for a national inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada. A 2014 report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, suggests that between 1980-2012, 1,017 Indigenous women were victims of homicide with 164 Indigenous women still considered missing. Statistics show that Indigenous women of at least 15 years of age or older are three times more likely than non-indigenous women to be victims of a violent crime. The homicide rates of Indigenous women between 1997 and 2000 were seven times higher than non-Indigenous women. Indigenous women were first sexualized and racialized by the European settlers who came to colonize Canada, and these stereotypes have continued to affect Indigenous women today. Canadian author Janice Accose's book Iskwewak--kah' ki yaw ni wahkomakanak draws the connection of how racist and sexist depictions of Indigenous women in popular literature have contributed to violence against Indigenous women which has lead to the issue of MMIWG. Notable to MMIWG is the Highway of Tears, a 725-kilometre stretch of highway 16 in British Columbia, that has been the location of many murders and disappearances beginning in 1970, disproportionately of which have been indigenous women.

On December 8th, 2015, the Liberal government announced a national independent inquiry on missing and murdered Indigenous women. The mandate of the inquiry was to examine and report on the systemic causes behind the violence that Indigenous women and girls experience. This would be done through an investigation of the social, economic, institutional, and cultural factors that contribute to the violence. The final report was released on June 3rd, 2019 and states that the high level of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBGQQIA people is a result of human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses within Canada. The final report includes testimony from more than 2,380 family members, survivors of violence, experts and knowledge keepers. From these testimonies, the report has produced 231 individual calls for justices including calls to action related to social work, cultural reformation, children and youth, Canadian citizens and industries.

The Indian Act of 1876
In 1876, The Indian Act, passed by the Canadian government allowed the administration of Indian Status, reserve lands and local Indigenous governance. This Act gave the Canadian Government control over Indigenous identity, political practices, governance, cultural practices and education. One of the underlying motivations in this Act was to enforce a policy of assimilation and Cultural genocide, to prohibit Indigenous peoples from practicing their own cultural, political and spiritual beliefs. The Act defined Indian Status and the entitlement and legal conditions that accompanied it, established land management regimes on reserves, managed the sales of natural resources, and defined band council powers and electoral systems.

Gender discrimination within the Act enforced gender bias as another means of extinguishing Indian Status, thereby excluding women from their rights. Under this legislation, an Indian woman who married a non-Indian man would no longer be Indian. She would lose her Status, treaty benefits, health benefits, the right to live on reserve, the right to inherit property, and even the right to be buried with ancestors. However, when an Indian man married a woman without Status, he retained all his rights.

In 1951, after World War 2, the Act was amended, to lift the various restrictions on Indigenous culture, religion and politics. This included the removing bans on Potlatch and Sun Dance ceremonies. Additionally, these amendments allowed women to vote in band council elections and Elsie Marie Knott was the first woman to be elected Chief in Canada. However, these actions didn't eliminate gender disparity in Status requirements. Instead of having "Indian blood" Status was assigned through the Indian Register, where male lines of descent were still privileged.

In 1985, the Act was amended again, through Bill C-31, in order to reflect the newly enacted Canadian Charter on Rights and Freedoms. The amendment allows women who “married out” of Indian Status,  to apply for their rights and Status to be restored.

Mass Incarceration
Mass incarceration is an ongoing issue between Indigenous people and Canada's legal system in which Indigenous people are overrepresented within the Canadian prison population. Mass incarceration of Indigenous people results from a variety of problems that Indigenous people face daily such as, poverty, substance abuse, lack of education and lack of employment opportunities. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada decided in R v Gladue that courts must consider the "circumstances of Aboriginal offenders." This decision lead to the creation of Gladue reports which allow Indigenous people to go through pre-sentencing and bail hearings that consider the way colonialism has harmed the Indigenous offender including considering cultural oppression, abuse suffered in residential schools and poverty. Thirteen years after the Gladue decision, the Supreme Court of Canada reaffirmed the Gladue decision in R v Ipeelee extending the decision to require courts to consider the impact of colonialism on every Indigenous person being sentenced. These decisions were made to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the prison population, however, the population has only been steadily increasing. Indigenous peoples in Canada only make up about 5% of the total population yet, in 2020 Indigenous people surpassed 30% of people behind bars. Further, in 2020 Indigenous women accounted for 42% of the female inmate population in Canada. Compared to non-Indigenous people, Indigenous people are less likely to be released on parole, are disproportionately placed in maximum security facilities, are more likely to be involved in use of force or self-injury incidents, and are more often placed in segregation.

Wet'suwet'en Resistance
main article: 2020 Canadian pipeline and railway protests The Wet'suwet'en First Nation, located in the northeast of colonial British Columbia's central interior region, has long been engaged in an ongoing struggle against the Canadian state to protect its rights and land. A crucial victory came in 1997, with the legal case Delgamuukw v British Columbia, which expanded on the earlier Calder v British Columbia (AG) and helped codify the ideas that Aboriginal title existed prior to and could exist outside of Canadian sovereignty and that infringements against Aboriginal title by the Canadian state were possible.

While several Indigenous groups negotiated terms of treaty with the Canadian state, the Wet’suwet’en reaffirmed their right to sovereignty, and in 2008 removed themselves from the treaty process with British Columbia altogether. In 2009, the first checkpoint established on the Wedzin Kwa entrance to the territory was built, and in subsequent years the Unist’ot’en camp was born as an Indigenous re-occupation of traditional Wet’suwet’en land. Buildings and cabins, along with a healing centre, were erected directly on proposed pipeline routes as a way to block both potential construction and to facilitate Indigenous connection with the land. More recently, in September 2015, the Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en, in support of Unist’ot’en, unanimously voted against all pipeline projects. Although there have been previous attempts to construct pipelines, namely the Northern Gateway and Pacific Trails pipelines, most recent attention has been focused on TC Energy’s CGL pipeline. In January of 2020, the situation came to a boiling point wherein the RCMP enforced an injunction placed on the camp, which sparked international attention. Youth for Wet'suwet'en, a collective of Indigenous youth engaged in occupying the steps of the BC Legislature. Marches and solidarity actions were seen across Canada, and internationally in support of Wet'suwet'en solidarity.