Cultural Genocide of Indigenous Peoples in Canada: A Legal and Socio-Political Analysis of the Limits of Reconciliation

Residential Schools constituted one of the most emblematic examples of the discrimination suffered by Indigenous Peoples in Canada. From the 1880s until the late 20th century, Residential Schools aimed to assimilate Indigenous children into the dominant Western culture, dismantling diverse indigenous cultures and traditional livelihoods. As a response to the increasing number of testimonies about the horrific nature of the Residential School System in Canada, in 2004, the Assembly of First Nations confronted the Federal government and issued a report in which it called for the payment of reparations and a truth and reconciliation process. In 2007, the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement provided for the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which published its Final Report in 2015, after the election of Justin Trudeau’s government. Since then, reconciliation in Canada has entered a new phase, which mainly revolves around an official admission of indigenous cultural genocide and the so-called 94 "Calls to Action." This paper adopts legal and socio-political perspectives to explain why the recent Canadian admission of cultural genocide cannot be considered a model in the acknowledgment and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. This is because the Canadian admission of genocide is unable to produce significant legal effects. However, although the resonance of this admission can be better described as political, even from the socio-political perspective, the Canadian process toward reconciliation presents many flaws. Indeed, the 94 Calls do not currently meet indigenous structural needs, fueling dissatisfaction, and non-indigenous acknowledgment of indigenous discrimination remains underdeveloped.

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https://works.eurac.edu/DiGoP-03-2023-chiara-serioli-cultural-genocide.pdf