On April 1, 2011, the Maa-nulth Treaty went into effect. Negotiated between five First Nations, the province of British Columbia and Canada, the Treaty concerned territories never before ceded on the west coast of Vancouver Island. This study utilizes the Treaty as a point of departure to explore contemporary Indigenous-Settler relations. Using digital storytelling, youth from one of the five signatory First Nations identified their priorities for their Nation in a post-Treaty era. These stories are contrasted with a discourse analysis of mainstream media coverage surrounding the Treaty and a survey of local (mainly Settler) residents’ perceptions to explore dominant perspectives pertaining to this comprehensive land claims agreement. While youths’ ideas for the future were anchored to their Indigenous cultural identity, albeit integrating technology and novel art forms, Settlers’ perspectives remained statically centered upon ill-informed strains of colonial thought premised upon socio-political and economic stereotypes. Colonialism continues to be (re)produced structurally and individually; these findings point to the need for Settlers to engage in their own processes of decolonization.

abstract: What are possibilities for transforming the structural relationship between Indigenous peoples and settlers? Research conversations among a set of project partners (Indigenous and settler pairs)—who reside in the Phoenix metro area, Arizona or on O’ahu, Hawai’i—addressed what good relationships look like and how to move the structural relationship towards those characteristics. Participants agreed that developing shared understandings is foundational to transforming the structural relationship between Indigenous peoples and settlers; that Indigenous values systems should guide a process of transforming relationships; and that settlers must consider their position in relation to Indigenous peoples because position informs responsibility. The proposed framework for settler responsibility is based on the research design and findings, and addresses structural and individual level transformation. The framework suggests that structural-level settler responsibility entails helping to transform the structural relationship and that the settler role involves a settler transformation process parallel to Indigenous resurgence. On an individual level, personal relationships determine appropriate responsibilities, and the framework includes a suggested process between Indigenous persons and settlers for uncovering what these responsibilities are. The study included a trial of the suggested process, which includes four methods: (1) developing shared understandings of terms/concepts through discussion, (2) gathering stories about who participants are in relationship to each other, (3) examining existing daily practices that gesture to a different structural relationship, and (4) using creative processes to imagine structural relationships in a shared world beyond settler colonialism. These methods explore what possibilities unfold when settlers center their relationship with Indigenous peoples. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Social and Cultural Pedagogy 2020

John A. Macdonald was not only Canada’s first Prime Minister; he played a significant role in framing much of Canada’s early “Indian policy” including legislation that was incorporated into the Indian Act (1876) which is still in effect today. Despite his central role, in all the voluminous analyses of Macdonald’s life and career, there is no in-depth scholarly study of Macdonald’s Indian policies or how his ideas about Indigenous people or race were formed. In this thesis, I examine Macdonald’s early personal context, how he may have developed his ideas about Indigenous people, the development of his Indigenous policies, and the local contingencies that shaped the rolling out of this legislative framework including the Gradual Civilization Act (1857) and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act (1869). / Graduate

This dissertation is an exploration of the ways in which contemporary practices of pluralism are challenging, and being shaped by, concepts of state sovereignty. I explore two very different contexts; the relationship between First Nations and Settlers on that part of Turtle Island sometimes called Canada, and the relationship between the European Union and its Member-States. In both contexts, I explore how political, legal, and economic practices are generating forms of social order that depart to varying degrees from the total, exclusive authority associated with sovereignty. In particular, I show that actors in both settings have actually developed two remarkably similar practices – interpenetrating institutions or co-decision mechanisms, and conditional authority claims. Together, these practices enable actors to contest and coordinate their respective authority claims in ways that do not rely on an overarching sovereign or even a shared understanding of their relationship. Instead, practices of interpenetration and conditional authority make all parties responsive to multiple standards of conduct, allowing diverse actors to seek justice over time in conditions of persistent difference and conflict. / Graduate