From Indigenous Nationhood to Neoliberal Aboriginal Economic Development: Charting the Evolution of Indigenous-Settler Relations in Canada

A working paper by Cliff Atleo, Jr.
With Editing and Foreword by Janel Smith

Abstract
While Indigenous people have struggled to overcome the legacy of colonialism in Canada, Settler governments have struggled with their own past, and ongoing role in the colonial project. What to do about the “Indian Problem” is a persistent question that remains unsatisfactorily answered. Early treaties between Indigenous peoples and Settlers invoked the spirit of the Two Row Wampum, and a respect for peaceful co-existence through noninterference. This spirit of noninterference remained constant in Indigenous rhetoric through till the latter half of the twentieth century. Since 1991, however, the discourse of Indigenous-Settler Relations has taken a dramatic shift away from respect for distinctiveness towards the language of neoliberalism. Evidence of this shift in discourse can be found in the reports of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, and the Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. Recurring crises in Indigenous-Settler relations have often been followed by years of co-opting processes to the extent that certain Indigenous leaders are now increasingly acting upon and advocating for the neoliberal discourse. This paper is a warning to those who would wittingly or unwittingly choose the path of neoliberalism, forsaking their own unique Indigenous worldviews and values.

Cliff Atleo, Jr. is a Master’s student in the Indigenous Governance program at the University of Victoria, and was employed as a researcher at the Canadian Social Economy Hub during the Summer of 2008