Legacies Of Colonialism

The doctrine of discovery and terra nullius narratives are at the forefront of legitimizing sole sovereign control over the land. Europeans initially used the treaty negotiations as documents that “proved” the Indigenous people ceded right and title of the land to the Crown and documented an alternate history in ways that benefited the colonial project. Terra nullius was used to prove that the land was barren and empty and that there were no civilizations that existed upon the land and the doctrine of discovery in lieu was invoked to legitimize claims land claims and underlying title of the crown (Borrows 2002, 117).

Upon the establishment of the Canadian state, the assumptions of underlying Crown title and the rule of law became the unquestioned
The White Paper reinforced the ideals the Indigenous people need to adopt liberal values to become civilized and integrated into society, the document state “ To be an Indian must be to be free- free to develop in Indian culture in an environment of legal, social and economic equality with other Canadians” (Turner 2006, 19), which in essence means for Indigenous people to express their freedoms, they must do so under the colonial and liberal understandings of freedom, their traditional world view and histories are invalid to the Canadian
The patriarchal view that Indigenous people need the state to intervene and take care of them is highly problematic and perpetuates colonial norms that subjugate Indigenous people. Glen Coulthard’s essay “For the Land: The Dene Nation’s Struggle for Self-Determination” and Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox’s work “Délînê Child and Family Services” exemplify this concept. Coulthard discusses the problems of the politics of recognition, more specifically the liberal construction of identity. In the case of the Dene Nation, Coulthard argues that applying cultural recognition through a settler colonial context is problematic because it depoliticizes the land claims, political power, and the power over resources that the Dene seek. (Source) Liberalism also defines the terms of usage when discussing groups, which in itself is a reductionist form of power. Coulthard compiles the experience of the Dene people as well as their critiques of capitalism, search for cultural recognition, and formal land claim proposals. Each of these instances seek to affirm self-determination an push back against colonial frameworks that seek dominate relations overland instead of sharing in a reciprocal relationship