Emily Grafton – författare

Reconciliation, as set out by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, is a process of understanding the Canadian state's genocide against Indigenous Peoples and creating a new relationship between Indigenous Peoples and settlers based on mutual respect and dignity. Given the racism and paternalism embedded in the Canadian state and related institutions, building such a relationship is a monumental task, but in addition, there is a major structural roadblock in the way: federalism, the political system that organizes Canadian governance. Divided Power argues that Canada’s system of federalism, rooted in settler colonialism, has dispossessed Indigenous Peoples for settler benefit. Far from being a neutral, balanced way to distribute responsibilities and powers, the division between the state and provinces and territories obstructs Indigenous Peoples’ agency and governance. Under such coercive political exclusion, how can truth and reconciliation be fully achieved? Emily Grafton meticulously traces the ways that federalism limits the potential for reconciliation and proposes alternative power-sharing models.Guiding readers through the terrain of debate, Grafton deftly and accessibly merges a political analysis of federalism with a clear assessment of settler colonialism to argue that reconciliation will be incomplete for as long as the current division of powers persists. Divided Power points to a promising approach to holding the Canadian state responsible for integrating the principles of truth and reconciliation into its very foundation.

An unflinching examination of the impacts of settler colonialism from first contact to the contemporary nation state. On Settler Colonialism in Canada: Lands and Peoples is the first installment in a comprehensive collection investigating settler colonialism as a state mandate, a structuring logic of institutions, and an alibi for violence and death. The book examines how settler identities are fashioned in opposition to nature and how eras of settler colonialism have come to be defined. Scholars and thinkers explore how settlers understood themselves as servants of empire, how settler identities came to be predicated on racialization and white supremacy, and more recently, how they have been constructed in relation to multiculturalism.  Featuring perspectives from Indigenous, Black, mixed-race, and other racialized, queer, and white European-descended thinkers from across a range of disciplines, On Settler Colonialism in Canada: Lands and Peoples addresses the fundamental truths of this country. Essays engage contemporary questions on the legacy of displacement that settler colonialism has wrought for Indigenous people and racialized settlers caught up in the global implications of empire.  Asserting that reconciliation is a shared endeavor, the collection’s final section exposes the myth at the heart of Canada’s constitutional legitimacy and describes the importance of affirming Indigenous rights, protecting Indigenous people (especially women) from systemic violence, and holding the Canadian settler nation state—which has benefited from the creation and maintenance of genocidal institutions for generations—accountable.

A bold, forward-thinking collection exposing the colonialist ideology embedded within the Canadian settler state—and building strategies to dismantle itOn Settler Colonialism in Canada: Relations & Resistances presents strategies for carving pathways to decolonial futures. It builds on the landmark work On Settler Colonialism in Canada: Lands & Peoples, which reckons with the legacy of the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report and lays a foundation for understanding the settler state and society.Bringing together Indigenous, racialized settler, immigrant settler, and white settler perspectives, the book cultivates a dialogue on how reconciliation can become a lived and shared reality. Contributors offer approaches on seeking solutions outside of the settler state, honouring Treaty responsibilities, centering Indigenous knowledge systems, and making space for Indigenous self-determination.On Settler Colonialism in Canada: Relations and Resistances poses essential questions: what do decolonial efforts look like on the ground today? How do we meaningfully support Indigenous resurgence movements? And what are the responsibilities of the settler in the ongoing work of decolonization?