Although the literature on settler colonialism intends to identify what is specific about the settler colonial experience, it can also homogenize diverse settler colonial narratives and contexts. In particular, in Canada, discussion of the ‘logic of elimination’ must contend with the discrete experiences of multiple Indigenous groups, including the Métis.
"Indian policy making in Canada is examined, with a focus on CCF rule in Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1964. On examination, the Saskatchewan policy shows a remarkable congruity with the basic principles of the "Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy, 1969," which is now seen as a symbol of the government's insensitivity and ineptitude in the field of Indian policy." (21).
"If winter and summer in southern Saskatchewan are known for snow and dust respectively, in the north ice and fire are the harbingers of these very separate seasons. In fact, often shortly after the spring ice breakup, fires ravage a significant portion of northern Saskatchewan every summer. But even if so immediately destructive, at least outwardly, fire has always had a significant and meaningful place in the northern ecosystem.
"The records of the Hudson's Bay Company are examined and the patterns of diffusion of a series of epidemics that occurred in the Western Interior of Canada between 1830 and 1850 are outlined. The patterns of diffusion clearly show that fur company supply brigades were the primary carriers of disease. The extent to which a given epidemic spread was largely determined by the contagiousness of the disease and the timing of transmission.
"The Manitoba Act or 1870 provided substantial land grants to the Métis at Red River. Section 31 set aside 1.4 million acres of land for distribution among the children of Métis heads of families residing in the province, while section 32 guaranteed all old settlers, Métis or white, “peaceable possession” of the lots they occupied in the Red River settlement prior to 15 July, 1870.
"This paper suggests that Canada is an evolving colonial entity created by imperial and colonial interests for the express purpose of extending and consolidating those interests at the expense of the indigenous peoples and their contemporary descendants. The state has established colonial relationships of a racist, exploitative and coercive nature, which are interpreted by the dominant settler population who styles the dominated as Other.
"Agriculture was not well-established on western Indian reserves by the turn of the century. It has generally been argued that Indians, because they were hunters and warriors, were unable to adapt to farming, and that they could not be transformed into sedentary farmers. The story is far more complex, however. There was an initial positive response to agriculture on the part of many reserve residents which has been overlooked in the literature to date. There were also many difficulties.
"The Manitoba Act provided for substantial grants of land to the Metis inhabitants of the new province. Until recently, most historians viewed the intentions of the federal government in relation to these land grants in a favourable Light, blaming overwhelming numbers of Ontario immigrants and the character of the Metis themselves for the rapid transfer of the lands out of Metis hands.
“From the earliest years that people were settled on reserves in western Canada, Canadian government administrators and statesmen, as well as the national press, promoted a cluster of negative images of Aboriginal women. Those in power used these images to explain conditions of poverty and ill-health on reserves. The failure of agriculture on reserves was attributed to the incapacity of Aboriginal men to become other than hunters, warriors, and nomads.
