Colonialism & Indigenous-Settler Relations

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada called upon the Government of Canada, on behalf of all Canadians to “repudiate concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples.” In this talk, we will briefly trace the histories of treaty-making in the dispossession and resettlement of Indigenous peoples in Canada, and consider the role of colonialism in the creation of settler society in British Columbia. Through an exploration of Indigenous-settler relations in the past, we will begin the conversation about how we might incorporate Indigenous history into narratives of contemporary Canadian society, and acknowledge the particular histories of the Indigenous peoples on whose traditional territory Christ Church Cathedral is located.

Biography
Dr. Gail Edwards teaches in the History Department at Douglas College in New Westminster. She has published on the history of Anglican and Methodist missionary activity in British Columbia. Her current research draws on the intersecting histories of social studies education, children’s book publishing, and public library services to explore the ways that Canadian children’s print culture in the postwar period reflected complex and conflicted ideas about the relationship between Indigenous peoples, nature, modernity and national identity.