Opinion: Reparation, land and justice for Indigenous Peoples is long overdue

Opinion: Reparation, land and justice for Indigenous Peoples is long overdue

‘Canada was built on resource extraction, and its foundations are shaky on many fronts, including dispossession of Indigenous Peoples and wilful blindness to natural limits—the surpassing of which has led to the climate and biodiversity crises’

Canada as a nation was founded by “hewers of wood and drawers of water,” as late Canadian economist Harold Innis wrote in his 1930 book, The Fur Trade in Canada—using a biblical phrase to describe the country’s long-standing reliance on resource exploitation.

When the Hudson’s Bay Company started buying and exporting fur pelts, it created such a demand in Europe that the most commonly trapped creature, the beaver, was almost wiped out. Once settlers got settled, resource extraction expanded to logging and later oil and gas extraction.

Both have shown the same lack of appreciation for moderation as the fur trade. For example, less than three per cent of original old-growth forests that once graced British Columbia still stand, and the fossil fuel industry’s greenhouse gas emissions make an outsized contribution to climate change.

Indigenous Peoples were integral to the fur trade, but settlers eventually saw their presence on the land, and their sense of responsibility to it, as impediments to their ability to exploit and profit from its “resources.” And so colonial-settler governments moved Indigenous Peoples to reservations, while the newcomers reaped the benefits of their “property”—a concept unfamiliar to people who believe in shared responsibility to and reciprocity with land rather than “ownership.”

According to the 2021 Yellowhead Institute report Cash Back, “Hard work is not what made Canadians richer than First Nations … The difference was that their labour was paid off in free land stolen from Indigenous peoples. First Nations were left stranded on a vast archipelago of reserves and settlements, denied access to their wealth in territory.”

But Canada is changing. Growing recognition of the devastating harms our colonial past and still-existing systemic racism and oppression have perpetrated on Indigenous people has been met with increasing calls to redefine how we see our country, to give land back and to advance systems of economic reparation.

One recent initiative on southern Vancouver Island aims to start decolonizing by creating a forum for businesses and homeowners to make voluntary payments, equal to one per cent of private property taxes a month, to the First Nations whose traditional territories they’re in. The Reciprocity initiative is about creating a way to connect people, return wealth and make territorial recognition tangible. It aims to change the culture of private property and the way people think about home, in Canada and beyond.

The idea of redirecting taxes is not new. In a short video on the future of land governance in Canada, Plenty Canada senior adviser Tim Johnson says that, as Canada’s Parliament buildings stand on unceded Algonquin lands, “I’d rather see the government just say, ‘Yes, we do not legally possess this land; let’s work out a lease arrangement for it.’ There should be an annual payment that allows First Nations to develop their societies, develop their governments and develop the institutions they need to also help manage those lands.”

Another possible change concerns royalties—fees companies pay to provinces in exchange for rights to extract trees, minerals and oil and gas. The system badly needs transforming. B.C. just called for a royalty review for petroleum and gas extraction. Throughout Canada, royalty fees should be increased to reflect externalities—costs not accounted for, such as negative impacts to nature and climate—and should go to First Nations and provincial governments, not to the province alone.

Canada was built on resource extraction, and its foundations are shaky on many fronts, including dispossession of Indigenous Peoples and wilful blindness to natural limits—the surpassing of which has led to the climate and biodiversity crises.

As “Cash Back” says, “It is important that we do not talk about a single ‘economy’ in this country. Because the ‘Canadian economy’ is not the same thing as the many other types of economies that organize Indigenous lives … Restoring Indigenous economies requires focusing on the perspectives of those most impacted by colonization and the attacks on Indigenous livelihoods. It means reclaiming the language for ‘sharing’ in dozens of Indigenous tongues. It means recognizing that Indigenous inherent rights do not stop at the boundaries of the reserve.”

The sun has set on limitless extraction. Let’s work together to ensure the future is built on economies that sustain and repair, rather than degrade, life.

David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Boreal Project Manager Rachel Plotkin.

New national chief calls for reparations for Indigenous people

The newly-elected leader of the largest advocacy organization for First Nations in Canada has thrown her support behind the idea of reparations for Indigenous people.

Speaking at a virtual press conference one day after being elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, RoseAnne Archibald said settler colonialism has had dire effects on Indigenous people in Canada — effects that continue to this day and demand redress.

“Reparations are an essential part of the journey on reconciliation,” Archibald said. “Our communities have had longstanding negative impacts as a result of colonization.”

Archibald was responding to a media question about an report released last week by Sen. Patrick Brazeau, a member of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation in Quebec, that examined the history of the relationship between the federal government and Indigenous people.

In a subsequent interview with online news site iPolitics, Brazeau said his report highlighted a history of “broken promises” and “Band-Aid solutions” to First Nations issues, and that reconciliation must include a “process of reparations.”

WATCH: New national chief RoseAnne Archibald speaks to CBC’s Power & Politics about her plans for change at the Assembly of First Nations

New National Chief hopes to evolve Assembly of First Nations Power and Politics 14:03 “My goal and my drive is to actually evolve this organization and make it responsive to First Nations, so that First Nations people everywhere can look at the AFN and see themselves represented,” says newly elected National Chief RoseAnne Archibald. 14:03

Reparations should go beyond existing settlements: Archibald

The federal government has set up a number of mechanisms to compensate Indigenous people who experienced specific forms of discrimination or abuse.

The 2007 Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement set up a “common experience payment” for all students who attended the government-sanctioned institutions, along with an “independent assessment process” for people who experienced sexual and physical abuse.

So far, those funds have paid out over $4.8 billion to residential school survivors.

A separate nationwide class action lawsuit brought to compensate survivors of federally-operated Indian Day Schools resulted in a settlement with the federal government. That settlement offers former students a range of compensation between $10,000 and $200,000, based on abuse suffered while attending the schools.

WATCH: New national chief calls for reparations for Indigenous people

New national chief calls for reparations for Indigenous people Politics News 0:56 National chief of the Assembly of First Nations, RoseAnne Archibald, says settler colonialism has had such negative historical effects on Indigenous people in Canada — effects that continue to this day — that they deserve redress. 0:56

And a class action settlement agreement with Sixties Scoop survivors, signed in November 2017, set aside $750 million to compensate First Nations and Inuit children who were removed from their homes and placed with non-Indigenous foster or adoptive parents between 1951 and 1991, and lost their cultural identities as a result.

Archibald said reparations for Indigenous people must go beyond these existing settlements.

“That’s only one piece of reparations,” said Archibald. “We need those reparations to happen not only with individuals, but communities and nations.”

While Archibald didn’t specify the exact form such reparations should take, Indigenous people often argue it should go beyond money and include returning control over land that was taken from them.

CBC requested comment from the federal government but has not received a response.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party is open to the idea of reparations.

“We know that the Government of Canada has stolen the lives, the culture, the identity, and the future of Indigenous people across Canada,” Singh said in a media statement. “We must listen to those hurt the most by colonization and take action to build a new pathway towards reconciliation.”

Jamie Schmale, Conservative critic for Crown-Indigenous relations, said his party recognizes that more work needs to be done to address the harmful effects residential schools have had on survivors.

“We also know that the path to reconciliation must be walked in partnership with Indigenous peoples,” Schmale said in a media statement. “Trudeau has demonstrated time after time that he has no plans and only hollow words for Canada’s Indigenous peoples.”

Schmale said Conservatives have called on the Liberal government to take immediate action to address the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions' calls to action that deal with missing children and those who died at residential schools.

Browns Mailbag: How can Donovan Peoples-Jones, other young WRs make a big impact in 2021?

Should the Browns keep a few extra players from defense on the 53-man roster and have a few extra from offense on the practice squad? Defense seems to sustain more injuries during the year. — Kenneth P., Dorset

That’s certainly how it worked out last year, but the constraints of the 53-man roster make it pretty difficult to stack one side of the ball over the other. You’ll see a give/take of maybe two to three players but nothing more than that. Of note, though, is the expected flexibility the Browns and the rest of the NFL will continue to have with their practice squads. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported in May the NFL would likely keep the 16-man practice squads they greenlit for the 2020 season. And with the enhanced ability to have as many as 55 players on the gameday roster, there’s plenty of ways to have depth reserved for certain positions that are hit hard by injuries.

I cannot remember Baker Mayfield hardly ever calling a timeout pre-snap last season. If pre-snap timeouts are as rare as I think, is that due to Baker learning a new offense last season, the effective play-calling of Kevin Stefanski or Baker’s ability to read defenses? — David M., Lawrenceville, Georgia

I don’t have the specific numbers on this, but your suspicions definitely seem to match what I observed throughout the 2020 season. The Browns' timeout usage, in general, was as responsible as it gets, and the team often had its full allotment for two-minute drill scenarios at the end of the first half and fourth quarter.

When it comes to Mayfield not calling many timeouts before the snap, there’s something else to consider: the relative lack of crowd noise the Browns — and every other road team — encountered on a weekly basis throughout the 2020 season. Stefanski has said the Browns never had to use a silent count throughout his first season as head coach. That’s expected to change in a big way this season, and the Browns are preparing for it. It was a variable they simply didn’t have to account for.