THE RECONCILIATION MANIFESTO:
Arthur Manuel

I’ve been meaning to read this book for quite a few years and finally sat down and did so. I may have been subconsciously avoiding it, as on some level I knew how densely political it was and that I would be forever changed by reading it.

Last year I was a part of a group who were following up with the Canadian government to ensure that the recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Report were being implemented and I had just come back from the Ada’itsx Fairy Creek blockade. When we were having discussions, I brought up what seemed to me like the futility of engaging with the government. One of the older women responded with, “Well we should be anyway so Indigenous people don’t have to as much, because they don’t have a choice.” True that.

Manuel manages to make the complexities of Indigenous sovereignty clearly laid out and palatable, and dissects the “black magic of White Supremacy”, as he put it. All of the fallacies we have about Canada as an accepting and diverse country that’s a haven for the dispossessed are turned upside down in facing the reality of how this nation was founded, and how Indigenous people on these lands don’t have basic human rights. The government has constantly given lip service to Indigenous rights while continuing to impoverish and devastate communities.

The main point that’s hammered in over and over in this book is that “land rights and self-determination” need to be acknowledged and implemented, and that the entire foundation of Canada is based on repressing these rights through genocidal policies that keep Indigenous people either in poverty or as well-paid puppets. Reservations are tightly controlled parcels of land where no expansion is possible - as opposed to every other type of community on these lands, which is supported in natural expansion.

Canadian colonial powers have control over 99.8 percent of the land, whereas Indigenous people only have control over 0.2 percent. In the international well being index, non-Indigenous Canadians are rated at nearly number one and Indigenous people are rated at around 80 (on the same level as third world countries). Indigenous people are disproportionately affected by poverty, homelessness, suicide, addiction, low life expectancy, health problems and incarceration. Though Manuel stresses, “We are still here. We are still fighting.”

The foundation of Treaty negotiations is to undermine the basic fundamental rights of Indigenous people and communities are left dispossessed. One disturbing example of the effects of that dispossession was seen in Val D’or, Quebec. For over 20 years Indigenous women were lured by police officers into the woods, often being offered alcohol in exchange for sexual favours. Some were beaten and sexually assaulted and many were abandoned with no way of returning to town. Despite all of the evidence and many victims that came forward (there were 37 allegations made), no charges were ever laid.

The solution presented to the injustices of the system is grassroots level resistance that includes all community members and refuses to bargain politically with any entity that won’t recognize true Indigenous sovereignty.

Manuel also talks about the hereditary governance systems, which were traditionally part of Indigenous cultures; and how these governance systems apply to unceded lands, whereas the colonial Band Council governance only applies to reservation lands. The lands within the boundaries of what’s now called British Columbia are mostly unceded (without Treaties) and this gives more legal power to Indigenous communities here. The band council system was imposed on to communities by the colonial governments, and those who are referred to as Indigenous “elites” are rewarded with money and social status for acquiescing to the demands of the Provincial and Federal governments.

A lot of court cases have been shot down on the provincial level, yet many landmark decisions have been made at the Supreme court level.  The main cases being Delgamuukw (Wet'suwet'en and Gitxsan), Tsilhqot'in and Haida - yet these legal rights haven’t been applied unilaterally.

In Section 35 of the Canadian constitution, Indigenous land and title is ostensibly recognized, yet in practice is worked around through sly political manoeuvres and reinterpretations.

The book goes into the legacy of Indigenous representatives engaging with international human rights organizations like The United Nations in order to have the human rights abuses of Canada recognized on a global scale. The struggles of Indigenous people in Canada are compared to that of African Americans fighting slavery and South Africans fighting apartheid.

The only way the Canadian government will concede any power is through lengthy legal battles (that are a huge strain on already struggling communities), by lack of financial feasibility (as in the case of resource extraction projects that will be hampered by blockades), or by involving international organizations (where the government will be shamed into acquiescence).

For non-Indigenous people living under the current political system on these lands, the Supreme Court is the final authority in legal matters. For Indigenous people, the International courts are the final authority. This is a key thing to note in moving forward and gaining leverage. Manuel proposes that forcing the Canadian government to uphold UNDRIP is “where we can make our biggest breakthrough.”

When the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) was first proposed, it was rejected by all four major colonial powers of the world (Canada, America, Australia and New Zealand). They all fought desperately to block it’s initial passing through the General Assembly and were the only nations globally to flat out reject the proposal.

“The right that UNDRIP confers on our peoples is a declaration of independence on our nations within the Canadian space, and that is the standard that the world is holding Canada to.”

Finally, in 2016, the Trudeau government adopted UNDRIP, though very soon afterwards statements were released where the government “used one of our own Judy Wilson Rayboud to tell us that UNDRIP would not be implemented except in some kind of toothless Canadian version they would cook up,” and that there would be no way that it could be adopted wholesale by the Canadian government.

There’s a huge gulf between the brutal reality of how Canada has exploited and abused Indigenous people and the delusions that many politicians and citizens have, to such a degree that former prime minister Stephen Harper proclaimed “Canada doesn’t have a colonial problem”.

Since the buzz word ‘reconciliation’ became widespread it's been used as a smokescreen for further denial of true recognition of Indigenous rights. The Canadian government engages in 'pseudo-reconciliation' and “If the prime minister and premiers actually respected Indigenous peoples, they would recognize that they must first respect and affirm our Indigenous rights to our lands before real reconciliation is even logically possible.”

The kind of 'fake reconciliation' that gets propagated also creates a smokescreen where an illusion of friendliness towards Indigenous people is presented and then the wealth of the resources on these lands continue to be entirely controlled by colonial entities. The 'settler economy' grows in wealth yet doesn’t provide much benefit to Indigenous people

“The province has become used to having 100 per cent power to issue hunting and fishing permits, forestry licenses, grazing permits, mining permits, water licenses, grant fee simple on Crown land and make rules over parks and the limited environmental protection regulations that remain. But because Aboriginal title and rights have been recognized on the ground by the Supreme Court of Canada they are searching for a mechanism to void our rights.”

Manuel calls revenue sharing agreements, “Modern-day versions of the beads and trinkets deals the Europeans first offered us. They are insulting.” The province wishes to “carry on with business-as-usual in the face of the economic uncertainty caused by the fact that Indigenous peoples do have proprietary and economic rights in their traditional territory.” It’s proposed that Indigenous people “need to build an Indigenous economy based on recognition and affirmation of our Aboriginal title and rights for sustainable development on our lands.”

At the core of the false claims to legitimacy of land ownership that the Crown purports is the concept of ‘terra nullius’ or the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’, which treats the lands that were taken over by Europeans as uninhabited and ripe for exploitation. The people of the lands are perceived as subhumans or as animals to be cleared away. The same justification was used to colonize Australia, and many other European colonies globally.

Injunctions are the "aces up the sleeve of the government and industry" when there are land disputes. They’re usually issued quickly and give instant legal clout to industry and government, side stepping more drawn out court cases, which would require addressing Indigenous sovereignty. Through court injunctions the police, paramilitary, and sometimes the army arrest and remove Indigenous people, often violently, who try to assert their sovereignty.

Conversely, “when the tables are turned and the courts actually support us, the government thinks nothing of ignoring them to the point of openly breaching court orders.”

Indigenous people put themselves on the frontlines because they don’t have any other options. “The rightful title holders have a legal obligation and human right to defend not only their Aboriginal title and rights but the Aboriginal title and rights of future generations, especially in view of mining operations where the damage can last many generations.”

Grassroots movements are growing, spearheaded by Idle No More and Defenders of the Land who have teamed up with “non-Indigenous allies in the environmental, trade union and related social movements.” Out of the grassroots is always the elevation of the issues into the international realm – the only arena where real justice has been enacted thus far. “If UNDRIP was respected by the Canadian government, we would have no need for barricades.”

“Violence is the game of our oppressor. Our response is non-violent resistance. Fierce resistance”

The RCMP quietly created project SITKA to monitor Indigenous activists as if they were terrorists, and Indigenous land defenders are often portrayed as violent and unreasonable, whereas most of the violence that does occur and the real power imbalance comes from the government and police forces.

Large scale industrial land extraction projects such as the Pacific Northwest LNG and the Transmountain pipeline expansion continue to be approved by the Canadian government making it impossible to meet carbon limits, and further undermine government relations with Indigenous peoples.

In 2014, one of the biggest environmental disasters in BC took place on Secwepemc territories. A large mining corporation, Imperial metals, was responsible for a tailings pond spill that poisoned waterways and will have long lasting effects on the surrounding eco-systems and beyond. Millions of litres of poisons ended up in local creeks, rivers and lakes.

Manuel shared a letter he wrote to Justin Trudeau in the early stages of the Transmountain / Kinder Morgan pipeline review process. It gives valuable insights into the so-called consultation processes that take place prior to the approval of such projects. The Secwepemc peoples have jurisdiction over the “largest Indigenous territory” on the proposed pipeline route. The Secwepemc Nation is a broad cultural group that encompasses 17 individual bands that have their own tribal councils. The federal government signed deals with 3 individual bands that only represented 1% of the total territory that the Secwepemc have rights and title to and considered their consultation complete.

“A lot of big investors have pumped billions and billions of dollars into the tar sands and they need to sell their dirty oil in Asia to recoup their investment and make a profit. So if they can work their neocolonial black magic behind closed doors with three chiefs who are on the payroll, they will.”

Manuel acknowledges the growing acceptance of his groundwork among non-Indigenous people on Northern Turtle Island, particularly from other marginalized groups, like Black, Chinese and South East Asian.

Indigenous land defenders aren’t only fighting for true sovereignty without coercion – they’re also fighting “to preserve the planet in a livable form.” There’s an “Indigenous concept of economy” that can replace “the Eurocentric form that is destroying our environment.” There have been a lot of fake solutions in the form of “greenwashing strategies that are not really green, but just another way big business makes money pretending to address this problem.” Governments “speak glowingly of clean energy while at the same time devoting all of their energies and energy policies to ensuring the continued dominance of dirty energy” and then they make “dark hints of using the army to quell resistance to the expansion of the country’s fossil fuel infrastructure.”

Over and over the importance is stressed that Bands only negotiate with government and industry with the understanding that UNDRIP* and Indigenous land and title will be recognized. Though Manuel says “We have been marginalized for so many decades that we do not really understand how governments and industry allocate and divide up the benefits from our land.”

There are more and more examples of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people coming together to do land activism. For instance, at Standing Rock US Veterans came to protect the water defenders after para-military forces became violent.

There are also greater and greater divisions within Indigenous communities over projects, as some members side with industry and government and others stand up to defend the land. Though Manuel stresses “Band Councils have jurisdiction on the postage stamp-sized lands set aside under the Indian Act, but it is the whole nation that holds the collective title to our vast national territories.”

No movement in history including Women’s Liberation and Black liberation has ever had unilateral support and “the fact that all Indigenous people do not stand together in no way diminishes the power of our movement.”

Manuel addresses the fear that the Canadian government and many Canadians might have that once Indigenous sovereignty is fully recognized that Indigenous people will try to separate from Canada (as Quebec has tried to do in the past). What Manuel stresses is that Indigenous people as a whole want their territories recognized and to be able to live as free citizens; and that they represent a sovereign collection of nations that equal in population to a province, and should have the same independence, standard of living and access to land and resources as any other province.

To heal the broken relationship between Canada and the hundreds of unique Indigenous Nations that existed for thousands of years prior to colonization, Indigenous people need to be given full self-determination - “To freely and independently determine our own political, legal, economic, social and cultural systems without external interference.”

Canada can use Bolivia as a model and refound itself as a “plurinational state”.. “A collection of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples that function with respect for one another and Mother Earth”

“It can lead to a better world for all.”

“I call on the Canadian people to walk this road with us.”

“It can be a liberation for you as well as us. These simple steps could transform Canada into one of the most politically and environmentally progressive countries in the world.”

Sadly, Manuel passed away in 2017. His daughter Kanahus and son Ska7cis have continued his legacy in the form of the Tiny House Warriors and other activism.


* Government and industry are now bound by International law to obtain “free, prior and informed consent” as per UNDRIP before going ahead with any industry projects that will impact Indigenous communities. For any activists reading this, I’ll let you know that when I’ve called and written governmental bodies on behalf of Indigenous people who are battling industry projects, I always ask the government representative I’m interacting with to treat consent on Indigenous lands as they would treat sexual consent with a partner. You don’t just start penetrating a persons orifices and then ask after you’ve ejaculated if it was okay. Or tell a person, well I asked your neighbour if it was cool that we have sex and they said it would be so I thought I could just come over, undress you and do what I want with your body. Would you do that? Also, consent implies the ability to say NO. When engaging with a sexual partner you don’t ask Can I have sex with you? - then get angry if the person says no and then find some way to manipulate them into it. Consent isn’t consent unless there is veto power. Without proper consent you are physically raping the land and spiritually raping the people of the land.

AND IN GENERAL: It’s important to be very careful to treat all of the complex dynamics within Indigenous communities with a lot of sensitivity. It can be frustrating trying to navigate this when doing grassroots work and it’s important to work through one’s feelings and vent, though I don’t think it’s appropriate to make comments publicly or on the internet about Band politics or to pass judgments. It just isn’t our place as non-Indigenous people. The best way to counter corruption is to align oneself firmly with grassroots movements and support and uplift those who are fighting for true sovereignty.

It’s also important for us non-Indigenous people (especially us Whiteys) to reflect upon the corruption within our own society and the incredible privileges that we enjoy at the expense of others, and work towards dismantling that rather than further scapegoating our problems onto Indigenous people who are largely reflecting our own society that we imposed upon them back at us.

I know I always have a lot to learn myself and it’s ongoing.


*** I also want to make a note about buying books. I’m a big reader and I love books yet I stopped buying new books a few years ago unless they're made from recycled paper (which very few are). I borrowed this book from a friend and gave a donation to the Tiny House Warriors (Kanahus Manuel) in lieu of purchase.


Tiny House Warriors