2022 Year in Review

With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8, 2022, there has
been a reignition of the debate surrounding her family’s imperial legacy.
At the centre of this debate is the question of how Commonwealth
countries can meaningfully reconcile the impacts of past colonial
atrocities with the shared aspirations of their populations moving into
the future.
This has been an extreme point of contention for indigenous
communities in countries that are still part of the British Commonwealth.
In Canada, for example, University of Toronto Assistant Professor
Michelle Daigle has argued that reconciliation efforts have failed to
address the enduring structures of colonialism, having been focussed
instead on “hollow performances of recognition and remorse” that seek
to excise past wrong-doings from Canada’s colonial history rather than
account for them.
This article offers a brief exploration of the history of colonial oppression
in Canada, the complexity of conceptualising and delivering programs of
reconciliation, and what challenges lie ahead on the road into the future.
BRIEF HISTORY OF COLONIAL OPPRESSION IN
CANADA
Indigenous communities in Canada
fall under three main titles: First
Nation peoples, those native to
sub-Arctic Canada; the Inuit
communities, who are native to the
Arctic territories; and the Metis, a
multi-ethnic community descended
from First Nation peoples who
married French settlers. The
impact of British colonisation on
these communities may be
analysed in two primary periods of
Canadian history. The first
concerns Great Britain’s territorial
acquisitions between 1600 and
1867, and the second from 1867
onwards when the British colonies
of Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova
Scotia
P A G E 1 0 1
P H O T O : T A N D E M V I S U A L S / U N S P L A S H