Critical Perspectives and Reflections

Bill Lee February 18, 2020 The recent attacks by the RCMP on the members of the land protectors of the Wet'suwet'en Nation in British Columbia in aid of the building of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline have revived the discussion of the long history of colonial misappropriation of Indigenous resources and ill treatment of Indigenous people in Canada by the Canadian state. Of course the use of military and police force against Indigenous people was fundamental to the "clearing the plains"1 policy in the western expansion of Canada. It was a sordid story. We must be clear then that colonial outrages and thefts in Canada have a long and sordid history and that their effects have still not been adequately addressed (nor has there been serious recompense) by our society, except at the margins. But it is just as important to be clear that Indigenous people continue to live under a social, economic and political regimen that is profoundly oppressive and profound...