Reconciliation about righting past wrongs
Mindset of settler Canadians must change,
The Indigenous anger following the acquittal of Gerald Stanley in the Colten Boushie murder trial, and the indignation of many non-Indigenous people to that anger, must be seen within the larger context of Canadian settler colonialism — a system of ongoing colonial displacement of Indigenous people from their lands and resources. Until settler colonialism is meaningfully dismantled, reconciliation will be impossible.
When I talk with non-Indigenous people about the historical injustices that Indigenous people have endured, I am often greeted with the response, “Well, we can’t change the past.” As a historian, of course I agree. The point can never be to try to alter the past, but rather to develop a sophisticated understanding of our past so that we can create the circumstances that will enable us to change the future.
Settler colonialism empowers certain groups and disempowers others; it provides control of resources to some people and economically marginalizes others; it enables some to negotiate pathways to educational success and it discourages others from even participating.
In Canada there are range of privileges, and most of them derive from either race or gender. Canadian men of British descent still have racial privilege over males of Italian and African descent. They also have gender privilege over women. Canadian men of Swedish and German descent, for example, have generally found it easier to transcend the disadvantages associated with being born into the working class because we have enjoyed the racial privileges associated with being “white” along with being male.
But the one privilege all non-Indigenous Canadians continue to enjoy is their identity as settler colonists. This is a privilege we inherit through the systems and structures of the Canadian state which continue to displace Indigenous people from their lands and alienate them from control of natural resources. This means that Indigenous people are doubly disadvantaged. As people with darker skin colour they face all the racism and prejudice of other ethnic/racial minorities in Canada; and as Indigenous people they additionally carry the burden of settler colonialism on their shoulders.
Our common law tradition recognizes that Indigenous people have special collective rights based on their prior occupation of the land. Our Constitution says that the Crown has a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that Indigenous people’s rights are not violated, yet, these rights have been repeatedly violated.
This all creates a conundrum. Recently, we have expressed our commitment to building reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Indigenous people have cautiously accepted this gesture and are waiting to see what we will do to make reconciliation meaningful. Reconciliation between Indigenous people and settler Canadians can never be about merely “starting fresh” unless it also involves making right. It will be up to Indigenous people to determine when the Canadian state has made sufficient restitution.
Many settler Canadians tell me that they feel it is wrong that they should be held personally accountable for the wrongs of their ancestors. I agree. As individuals we are not responsible for the actions of our fathers, nor do we inherit their debts. But the Canadian state is both accountable for the actions of earlier governments, and responsible for previous debts. As such, reconciliation will not ever be achieved so long as the economic, legal, and social systems that cause the ongoing colonization are still largely in place. That is why we need to redesign and rebuild a new Canada in partnership with Indigenous people. The federal government’s announcement that it intends to breathe life into the section of the Constitution recognizing Indigenous rights opens that door to these possibilities.
The onus is on settler Canadians to embrace the discomfort that accompanies letting go of certain privileges, and then embrace the uncertainty, risks and potential associated with building a new and better society in partner with this continent’s original people. Keith Thor Carlson is professor of history and research chair in Indigenous and community-engaged history at the University of Saskatchewan.