Reconciliation in Antropocene Times

Text & Photos : Ninka North

Reconciliation with two faces…

According to the Larousse dictionary, reconciliation literally means “the action of reconciling adversaries, people who are angry with each other”…

Reconciliation, a process between government and aboriginal peoples, aims at cooperation and partnership based on respect and recognition of their rights.

This process led to the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2008, in order to gather testimonies from survivors of residential schools and measure the integral impact within families.

This initiative has generated profound changes in mentalities. Many actions of redress and consultation have indeed been launched at the social and cultural level, including a Commission of Inquiry into relations between Aboriginals in 2016 and certain public services in Quebec.

In addition, on June 21, 2021, the “United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act”¹ was passed, and an action plan² implemented in collaboration with Canada’s First Nations, Inuit and Métis.

Other actions were carried out, including Orange Sweater Day³ and the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation⁴, created in memory of the victims and survivors

of residential schools after the macabre Kamloops discoveries.

Then, came the destruction of colonialist books, the Pope’s grand pardon, and Bill C15 passed in June 2021, which puts an end to the notion of “Terra nullius” claimed by explorers and to all forms of discrimination.

Many points were positive, although systemic racism has still not been recognized by the Quebec government, despite its massive denunciation after the tragic death of young Atikamekw Joyce Echaquan in 2020.

It’s also astonishing that the Indian Act⁵, passed in 1876, is still being applied, as it was the driving force behind the assimilation of indigenous peoples by granting them the status of “minors”; a particularly discriminatory fact in a parliamentary democracy that promulgates equal rights for all citizens.

There has certainly been a real evolution and recognition of Indigenous Peoples, but what are the motivations behind this process? The question that immediately springs to mind is the idea of “partnership”, because partnership means economic interests.

When Greenwashing becomes Redwashing…

Ethical though it may be, this process has emerged at the precise moment in history, when the pages of the Plan Nord’s economic development are being written. Revealing its mercantile strategy, this program has no other objective than to mortgage the future of the northern territories through massive exploitation, in spite of any informed consultation of the peoples involved. In the context of the climate and environmental crisis raging on the planet, we are naturally entitled to be concerned about the fragility of these territories, given that Quebec holds 3% of the world’s freshwater reserves…

This development program, cited as “sustainable”, has been the subject of highly sophisticated greenwashing⁶ communication strategies, as well as being highly visible in the media horizon spanning two decades (starting in 1998). Driven by the “reconciliation” process, it used the recognition of colonization as an instrument before revealing its purely mercantile purpose.

Conceived by economists over many years, it was methodically organized with a multitude of communication resources, consultations and large-scale projects, including a social and cultural development plan devised by its main players, think tanks and economic decision-makers; with huge subsidies and sponsorships in many fields…

“//… a company can make highly visible philanthropic gestures in order to project an image of legitimacy and divert attention or mitigate the impact of illegitimate behavior”, quotes Karen Hamilton, in her thesis⁷

A hydra with a thousand heads…

But where do these valuable think tanks come from? Among them is the American and libertarian non-profit organization, Atlas Economic Research Foundation.

This foundation, with its colossal power, has set up a worldwide program to protect fossil fuel and mining companies. According to author Dr Jeremy Walker⁸, this network of influence operates through think tanks based in Canada and Australia, supported by oil, gas and coal companies in nearly 100 countries. Linked to the politically rampant climate denial agenda, it tends to limit the rights of indigenous nations.

The “new saviors” invest…
Multinationals are using their communications departments to enhance their image by abusively exploiting philanthropic actions with indigenous populations. Subsidizing at every turn, they play on social issues, education and job insecurity, extolling a new world without fossil fuels, with “clean” energies described as “sustainable”.

Promoting a technological world with silent but “explosive” electric cars, and connected beings, omitting to mention the impact of intensive mining and logging on the environment, or the health of Indigenous Peoples…

“In the dark years to come…”

It goes without saying that aboriginal communities will feel the impact of this development. Most reserves are located close to these open-pit mines and claims⁹, which are flourishing in the region like a plague comparable to the gold rush of 1848.

As you’d expect, the health and environmental consequences of open-pit mining are dramatic. Perfectly predictable, they are underestimated, even ignored : carcinogenic emissions, damage to water tables, contamination of flora and fauna… while

Quebec’s wealth lies precisely in its pristine territories and the phenomenal quantity of water it possesses¹⁰.

Are we part of the Sixth Extinction?

In the eyes of the new generations, these acts will not result in unpaid fines, as is still the case, but will be seen as genuine criminal offences…