Section and Paper
Section 1: Paper 4
Description
When colonialism is invisible to the colonizer/settler, that one inevitably misdiagnoses the so-called “Aboriginal problem”. So, unsurprisingly, any proposed solution fails. Problems resulting from colonialism, including the health crisis in Indigenous communities, are so visible Canada cannot deny seeing them. Yet, the voices of Indigenous leaders, community workers, and scholars insisting Canada address colonialism to solve the problems fall on deaf ears. This paper argues that the justice requirement to address colonialism is not simply based in an Indigenous moral and legal perspective. Canada’s justice foundation is provided by liberal theory, and liberalism supports Indigenous solutions. Colonialism has made Indigenous communities unwell. Past assimilation and present reconciliation approaches to “curing” Indigenous communities fail because they ignore colonialism. Arthur Manuel and I demonstrate that only decolonization can heal Indigenous communities. Since the unjust relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canada’s has always been the source of the problems, a just relationship alone can fix them.
First Page
60
Last Page
89
Included in
Decolonization: Resolving the Crisis in Indigenous Peoples’ Health Care
When colonialism is invisible to the colonizer/settler, that one inevitably misdiagnoses the so-called “Aboriginal problem”. So, unsurprisingly, any proposed solution fails. Problems resulting from colonialism, including the health crisis in Indigenous communities, are so visible Canada cannot deny seeing them. Yet, the voices of Indigenous leaders, community workers, and scholars insisting Canada address colonialism to solve the problems fall on deaf ears. This paper argues that the justice requirement to address colonialism is not simply based in an Indigenous moral and legal perspective. Canada’s justice foundation is provided by liberal theory, and liberalism supports Indigenous solutions. Colonialism has made Indigenous communities unwell. Past assimilation and present reconciliation approaches to “curing” Indigenous communities fail because they ignore colonialism. Arthur Manuel and I demonstrate that only decolonization can heal Indigenous communities. Since the unjust relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canada’s has always been the source of the problems, a just relationship alone can fix them.
Comments
Sandra Tomsons, Ph.D., is a Full Professor and Senior Scholar in the Department of Philosophy, University of Winnipeg. Her research focus is ethical relationships. The three unethical relationships she is currently studying are humanity’s relationship with nature, The Western world’s past and present imperial and colonial relationships, and Canada’s relationship with Indigenous peoples.