“Settler colonialism is an ongoing system of power that perpetuates the genocide and repression of Indigenous peoples and cultures. Essentially hegemonic in scope, settler colonialism normalizes the continuous settler occupation, exploiting lands and resources to which Indigenous peoples have genealogical relationships. Settler colonialism includes interlocking forms of oppression, including racism, white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, and capitalism. This is because settler colonizers are Eurocentric and assume that European values with respect to ethnic, and therefore moral, superiority are inevitable and natural… these intersecting dimensions of settler colonialism coalesce around the dispossession of Indigenous peoples’ lands, resources, and cultures.” – Alicia Cox
What is Genocide?
The United Nations defines genocide as engaging in any one of the following criteria:
a) Killing members of the group;
b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Examples of Settler Colonialism in Canada
Click on the images below to find examples of how settler colonialism is a foundational and ongoing element of Canadian society. Be sure to click on each underlined link in the image description for background information.
