The recycling of people from nowhere, from nothing, for justice: The paradox of policing truth and reconciliation in Western Canada through a clash of state-mandated systemic injustice and hegemony of Indigenous knowledge

The researcher observed a city bus painted with Indigenous artwork. They then saw two Indigenous people experiencing social challenges get off the bus, and everyone backed away. It personified justice system approaches to Truth and Reconciliation (TAR) through paternalistic performative measures, such as the bus painting, which resembles TAR but does not provide meaningful change to the complex social issues and inequities experienced by the two Indigenous Peoples that TAR is meant to address. In contrast, calls for equality or colourblind approaches coupled with no legal mandates to include Indigenous knowledge that honours reciprocal relational approaches, Numbered Treaty Obligations, or numerous inquiries that have produced the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action (TRC), National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls for Justice (NIMMIWG), and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) stop the justice system, including police, from supporting the people getting off the bus.

Author dc:creator

• Thomson, Justin

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Nestor, Robert

• School of humanitarian studies

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.25316/IR-20481

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:null:10613/28917