This ongoing project examines current land claims agreements and processes of reconciliation in BC in order to analyze the relationship between reconciliation, delegated autonomy to First Nations under the auspices of the Indian Act, and hegemonic settler-capitalism. The goal is to understand how First Nation's claims to autonomy and sovereignty within the structure of Canadian federalism is shaped and mediated by the hegemonic economic relations of Canadian capitalism.
Within this project, there are two papers currently under way. The first looks at the account of sovereignty in the 2024 Rising Tide and subsequent 2025 Big Tide agreements between the Haida Nation and the BC and Canadian governments respectively. The second examines and contextualizes Squamish-led development in the Vancouver Metro Area within histories of colonial dispossession and violence.
