Controlling Land: Historical Representations of News Discourse in British Columbia

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-92
Author(s):  
Robert Harding

News discourse about treaty issues privileges postcolonial discourses about ownership and governance of land and excludes a wide range of indigenous voices. this paper explores how news items interweave the frame “indigenous peoples as a threat” into their coverage of two events, analyzed as separate case studies, that have significant implications for the control of land in British Columbia. The first case study event is the Nisga'a's 1998 referendum on the Nisga'a Treaty and the second is the 2002 British Columbia Treaty Referendum. Reportage of both events was highly racialized and organized around the presumed threat that indigenous peoples pose to settler values. Discourse orbits around several rhetorical arguments, including “‘our’ government is colluding with First Nations to impose race-based governments on British Columbians; and “the will of the majority must prevail over the political maneuverings of minorities and other ‘special interest groups.'” While news discourse focused on the potentially destructive impact of treaties on settler interests, any discussion of the enormous risks treaties represent for indigenous peoples was completely absent.

Author(s):  
Vanessa Sloan Morgan ◽  
Heather Castleden ◽  

AbstractCanada celebrated its 150th anniversary since Confederation in 2017. At the same time, Canada is also entering an era of reconciliation that emphasizes mutually respectful and just relationships between Indigenous Peoples and the Crown. British Columbia (BC) is uniquely situated socially, politically, and economically as compared to other Canadian provinces, with few historic treaties signed. As a result, provincial, federal, and Indigenous governments are attempting to define ‘new relationships’ through modern treaties. What new relationships look like under treaties remains unclear though. Drawing from a comprehensive case study, we explore Huu-ay-aht First Nations—a signatory of the Maa-nulth Treaty, implemented in 2011—BC and Canada’s new relationship by analysing 26 interviews with treaty negotiators and Indigenous leaders. A disconnect between obligations outlined in the treaty and how Indigenous signatories experience changing relations is revealed, pointing to an asymmetrical dynamic remaining in the first years of implementation despite new relationships of modern treaty.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cowichan Tribes

Cowichan Tribes’ territory, located in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, is experiencing an alarmingly high rate of preterm births compared to the national average of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. In response, and in partnership with the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), Cowichan Tribes is in the first year of a 3-year study to investigate causes. Cowichan Tribes’ Elders and community members are guiding the study to ensure it follows Cowichan Tribes’ research processes and to support self- determination in research. Furthermore, as a way to enhance reconciliation, Elders and community members guided an on-site ethics review on Cowichan Tribes territory. This article outlines the collaborative, in-person research ethics review process that Cowichan Tribes, Island Health, and FNHA completed on August 21, 2019. The purpose of this article is to provide suggestions other First Nations could use when conducting a research ethics review, and to explain how this process aligns with the principles of ownership, control, access, and possession (OCAP®), the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and above all, the Cowichan snuw’uy’ulh (teachings from Elders).


Author(s):  
Tish Scott

This qualitative case study focuses on community members’ observations and perceptions of student multimedia technology projects produced in a grade 6/7 class, particularly in relation to what they affirm is important for their children’s education. The projects are community-based and rooted in the First Nations culture of a remote village in northern British Columbia (Canada).


2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 251-271
Author(s):  
Salo de Carvalho ◽  
David R Goyes ◽  
Valeria Vegh Weis

Abstract There is a dearth of criminological scholarship on how the political persuasions of governments affect Indigenous people as it relates to human rights and environmental consequences, whether positive or negative, for Indigenous peoples. To address this gap, we develop a comparative instrumental case study of the policies concerning Indigenous peoples implemented during two political periods in Brazil: the administrations of presidents Silva (2003–2010) and Rousseff (2011–2016) and the administrations of Temer (2016–2018) and Bolsonaro (2019–). We explore the consequences for Indigenous peoples of these leftist and the right-wing governments. We argue that governments of both political leanings victimize Indigenous populations, with leftist governments using structural violence and right-wing governments engaging additionally in symbolic and direct violence.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordi Perez-Panades ◽  
Paloma Botella-Rocamora ◽  
Miguel Angel Martinez-Beneito

Abstract Background Most epidemiological risk indicators strongly depend on the age composition of populations, which makes the direct comparison of raw (unstandardized) indicators misleading because of the different age structures of the spatial units of study. Age-standardized rates (ASR) are a common solution for overcoming this confusing effect. The main drawback of ASRs is that they depend on age-specific rates which, when working with small areas, are often based on very few, or no, observed cases for most age groups. A similar effect occurs with life expectancy at birth and many more epidemiological indicators, which makes standardized mortality ratios (SMR) the omnipresent risk indicator for small areas epidemiologic studies. Methods To deal with this issue, a multivariate smoothing model, the M-model, is proposed in order to fit the age-specific probabilities of death (PoDs) for each spatial unit, which assumes dependence between closer age groups and spatial units. This age–space dependence structure enables information to be transferred between neighboring consecutive age groups and neighboring areas, at the same time, providing more reliable age-specific PoDs estimates. Results Three case studies are presented to illustrate the wide range of applications that smoothed age specific PoDs have in practice . The first case study shows the application of the model to a geographical study of lung cancer mortality in women. This study illustrates the convenience of considering age–space interactions in geographical studies and to explore the different spatial risk patterns shown by the different age groups. Second, the model is also applied to the study of ischaemic heart disease mortality in women in two cities at the census tract level. Smoothed age-standardized rates are derived and compared for the census tracts of both cities, illustrating some advantages of this mortality indicator over traditional SMRs. In the latest case study, the model is applied to estimate smoothed life expectancy (LE), which is the most widely used synthetic indicator for characterizing overall mortality differences when (not so small) spatial units are considered. Conclusion Our age–space model is an appropriate and flexible proposal that provides more reliable estimates of the probabilities of death, which allow the calculation of enhanced epidemiological indicators (smoothed ASR, smoothed LE), thus providing alternatives to traditional SMR-based studies of small areas.


2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali R. Abasi ◽  
Nahal Akbari

This qualitative case study investigates dissent in the news discourse of a major pro-reform newspaper covering the Iranian presidential election debates that took place in June 2009. Drawing on appraisal theory as its analytical lens, the article examines the evaluation of the three major candidates in the paper’s coverage of the debates. The article begins with the broader sociopolitical context situating the watershed debates and a description of the legal framework within which the Iranian press operate. The analysis next details the function of attitudinal resources in the discursive representation of the political actors. As central to an ideologically invested strategy, evaluative linguistic resources are found to sharply dichotomize the political actors along a range of positive and negative value positions that dissent from those advanced in the narratives of the dominant power.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Isaac-Mann ◽  
Evan Adams ◽  
Ted Mala

Welcome to this two-part guest edition of the International Journal of Indigenous Health (IJIH), produced by the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) in the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada. As guest co-editors, we are pleased to present to you this collection of research, promising and wise practices, innovations, and Indigenous Knowledge on health and wellness. These papers constitute a substantive contribution to, as our call for submissions framed it, “Health Systems Innovation: Privileging Indigenous Knowledge, Ensuring Respectful Care, and Ending Racism toward Indigenous Peoples in Service Delivery.”


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Isaac-Mann ◽  
Evan Adams ◽  
Ted Mala

Welcome to this two-part guest edition of the International Journal of Indigenous Health (IJIH), produced by the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) in the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada. As guest co-editors, we are pleased to present to you this collection of research, promising and wise practices, innovations, and Indigenous Knowledge on health and wellness. These papers constitute a substantive contribution to, as our call for submissions framed it, “Health Systems Innovation: Privileging Indigenous Knowledge, Ensuring Respectful Care, and Ending Racism toward Indigenous Peoples in Service Delivery.”


2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (7) ◽  
pp. 1935-1946 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Greskiw ◽  
J.L. Innes

The Northern Secwepemc First Nations of central British Columbia are facing serious communication challenges in relation to the comanagement of natural resources in their traditional territories. For First Nations’ managers, communication by speaking and listening and by sharing stories continues to be important for maintaining traditional ecological knowledge and culture. However, in the dominant discourse currently used by management authorities, emphasis is placed on communication products represented in reading and writing, often in electronic format. This dichotomy is leading to communication crises, with traditional ecological knowledge being required to fit within a rigid technology of literacy. The hypothesis that the Northern Secwepemc First Nations are leading transformation initiatives toward sustainable management in their territories and that shared knowledge and responsibility emerges from new growth opportunities in crisis situations has been tested using the case study survey method for inquiry. Results indicate there is potential for transformation towards forest comanagement in Northern Secwepemc territories in times of crises; however, certain conditions such as adequate staffing, funding, and training must first exist at the site level of management for both provincial and Aboriginal managers, to make the best use of emergent opportunities for collaboration.


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