Canada As Colonial Power

We also have no history of colonialism. So we have all of the things that many people admire about the great powers but none of the things that threaten or bother them.— Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Pittsburgh, September 2009

After Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper made this off-the-cuff remark at a news conference in Pittsburgh in 2009, he was given a quick history lesson by Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. Not only does Canada have a history of colonialism in its dealings with the original inhabitants of what is now Canadian territory, said Atleo in a public statement, but its effects are still being felt today. He had a point. How else could you describe the theft of Indian lands and forced relocations, the suppression of language and cultural practices, the chronic underfunding of communities and the denial of treaty and aboriginal rights even though they are recognized...