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Canadian genocide of Indigenous peoples
Throughout the history of Canada, the Canadian government, its colonial predecessors, and European settlers perpetrated systematic violence against Indigenous peoples that increasingly has been described as genocide. These actions included forced displacement, land dispossession, deliberate starvation policies, physical violence, and compulsory assimilation programs. These atrocities have also been described as ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
Canada is a settler-colonial nation whose initial economy relied on farming and exporting natural resources like fur, fish, and lumber. The Canadian government implemented policies such as the Indian Act, health-care segregation, residential schools and displacement that attempted forced assimilation of Indigenous peoples into Euro-Canadian culture while asserting control over the land and its resources. Despite current views that might define these actions as racist or genocidal, they were seen as progressive at the time. In response, Indigenous communities mobilized to resist colonial policies and assert their rights to self-determination and sovereignty.
Although Canadian historians contend that the treatment of Indigenous peoples constitutes genocide, Indigenous genocide denialism is still a component of Canadian society. A period of redress began with the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada by the Government of Canada in 2008. This included recognition of cultural genocide, settlement agreements, and betterment of racial discrimination issues, such as addressing the plight of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
The debate over Indigenous genocide in Canada is complicated and contentious. According to certain genocide scholars, including Raphael Lemkin – the individual who coined the term genocide – colonialism was intimately connected with genocide. Other genocide experts, such as Steven Katz, narrowly define genocide in the context of the Holocaust, arguing it requires the complete physical eradication of a group. The overlap of law and history leads to different views on genocide. The law focuses on serious acts, limiting it to physical and biological aspects, and requiring intent to destroy a group. Historians investigate the broader complexities of genocides, including long-term processes and various motives, without strict legal definitions. The main debate centers around the definitions of genocide, as outlined in the United Nations Genocide Convention, and within the Canadian context, the Rome Statute of which is defined in Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
The majority of Canadian historians contend that the treatment of Indigenous peoples by European settlers and subsequent Canadian governments constitutes genocide. Some scholars have questioned whether genocide legally applies to Canada's history, with some scholars argue that the broader term "crimes against humanity" may be more fitting and legally defining. Scholars, Including William Schabas, Ian Gentles, Robert Bothwell and Payam Akhavan, suggest that the legal challenges of determining genocide make it difficult to apply the term to Canada, as genocidal intent is very difficult to establish as outlined by the Genocide Convention. Scholars like David MacDonald and Graham Hudson argue that Article 2 (e) would include residential schools in the Genocide Convention as currently worded. Scholars, namely, Pamela Palmater and James Daschuk, have used the term ethnic cleansing to describe the displacement and removal of Indigenous peoples from the Canadian prairies.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) in its final report in 2015 use the specific term cultural genocide, when it addressed the history of the Indigenous residential school system. The TRC’s final report stated "cultural genocide is the destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group".
In 2019 the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) concluded that the crisis constituted an ongoing "race, identity and gender-based genocide." The MMIWG inquiry used the definition of genocide as outlined in the Canadian Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, instead of the Genocide Convention, that the inquiry saw as "narrow" and based on the Holocaust.
In 2021, the Canadian Historical Association (CHA), which includes 650 professional historians, stated that the history of violence against Indigenous peoples in Canada warrants the use of the term genocide. They asserted that there is broad agreement among historians about the negative effects of institutionalized genocide on Indigenous peoples over the past 150 years.
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Canadian genocide of Indigenous peoples
Throughout the history of Canada, the Canadian government, its colonial predecessors, and European settlers perpetrated systematic violence against Indigenous peoples that increasingly has been described as genocide. These actions included forced displacement, land dispossession, deliberate starvation policies, physical violence, and compulsory assimilation programs. These atrocities have also been described as ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
Canada is a settler-colonial nation whose initial economy relied on farming and exporting natural resources like fur, fish, and lumber. The Canadian government implemented policies such as the Indian Act, health-care segregation, residential schools and displacement that attempted forced assimilation of Indigenous peoples into Euro-Canadian culture while asserting control over the land and its resources. Despite current views that might define these actions as racist or genocidal, they were seen as progressive at the time. In response, Indigenous communities mobilized to resist colonial policies and assert their rights to self-determination and sovereignty.
Although Canadian historians contend that the treatment of Indigenous peoples constitutes genocide, Indigenous genocide denialism is still a component of Canadian society. A period of redress began with the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada by the Government of Canada in 2008. This included recognition of cultural genocide, settlement agreements, and betterment of racial discrimination issues, such as addressing the plight of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
The debate over Indigenous genocide in Canada is complicated and contentious. According to certain genocide scholars, including Raphael Lemkin – the individual who coined the term genocide – colonialism was intimately connected with genocide. Other genocide experts, such as Steven Katz, narrowly define genocide in the context of the Holocaust, arguing it requires the complete physical eradication of a group. The overlap of law and history leads to different views on genocide. The law focuses on serious acts, limiting it to physical and biological aspects, and requiring intent to destroy a group. Historians investigate the broader complexities of genocides, including long-term processes and various motives, without strict legal definitions. The main debate centers around the definitions of genocide, as outlined in the United Nations Genocide Convention, and within the Canadian context, the Rome Statute of which is defined in Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
The majority of Canadian historians contend that the treatment of Indigenous peoples by European settlers and subsequent Canadian governments constitutes genocide. Some scholars have questioned whether genocide legally applies to Canada's history, with some scholars argue that the broader term "crimes against humanity" may be more fitting and legally defining. Scholars, Including William Schabas, Ian Gentles, Robert Bothwell and Payam Akhavan, suggest that the legal challenges of determining genocide make it difficult to apply the term to Canada, as genocidal intent is very difficult to establish as outlined by the Genocide Convention. Scholars like David MacDonald and Graham Hudson argue that Article 2 (e) would include residential schools in the Genocide Convention as currently worded. Scholars, namely, Pamela Palmater and James Daschuk, have used the term ethnic cleansing to describe the displacement and removal of Indigenous peoples from the Canadian prairies.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) in its final report in 2015 use the specific term cultural genocide, when it addressed the history of the Indigenous residential school system. The TRC’s final report stated "cultural genocide is the destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group".
In 2019 the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) concluded that the crisis constituted an ongoing "race, identity and gender-based genocide." The MMIWG inquiry used the definition of genocide as outlined in the Canadian Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, instead of the Genocide Convention, that the inquiry saw as "narrow" and based on the Holocaust.
In 2021, the Canadian Historical Association (CHA), which includes 650 professional historians, stated that the history of violence against Indigenous peoples in Canada warrants the use of the term genocide. They asserted that there is broad agreement among historians about the negative effects of institutionalized genocide on Indigenous peoples over the past 150 years.