top of page
Search
Writer's pictureThe Eyes Journal
Jul 28, 20204 min read

‘Nobody’s Land’; The Fight for Indigenous Rights in Canada

By Beth Holloway

 

‘Terra Nullius’, a term meaning ‘nobody’s land’, was used by European colonisers to identify so-called empty land to settle. But the land was far from empty. At the time of Columbus’ Doctrine of Discovery 1493 (which enabled European acquisition of indigenous territory), an estimated 50-100 million indigenous people occupied North America and Canada. Now, there are as little as 6 million, a legacy of centuries-long invasion of indigenous land, marginalisation, cultural erosion and violence.

Whilst Canada’s legal and political frameworks are designed to uphold indigenous rights to their land and culture, these same rights are persistently being challenged by external forces.


The 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People requires informed consent from indigenous communities before their territory can be developed by an external organisation. This international agreement, which Canada has signed, is designed to protect indigenous land rights.


However, in 2014, Canada’s National Energy Board approved a Seismic Blasting project in the Northern Canadian indigenous Inuit community of Clyde River, without their consent – disregarding the government’s constitutional obligation.


Seismic Blasting is the process of scanning the ocean floor for oil and gas fields by firing blasts of compressed air into the water every 10 seconds, for several months. The sound produced is 200 decibels at the source which, to put into perspective, is 8 times louder than a jet engine. It hinders the ability of marine animals to communicate, feed and mate. As well as forcing shifts in underwater animal migratory patterns, the blasts can cause them blindness, deafness and ultimately be fatal. As a result, fish catch rates have been known to decrease between 40-80% for thousands of miles around Seismic Blasting zones.

Seismic blasting & Oil exploration in Arctic
Christian Aslund, Dead End – Oil Exploration in the Arctic www.christian.se/dead-end-oil-exploration-in-the-arctic

Initially, Clyde River’s request to ban Seismic Blasting in their area was denied by the Canadian Court of Appeal. Supported by a Greenpeace petition gaining 130,000 signatures, the appeal case argued that the plans were in breach of indigenous rights enshrined within the Canadian constitution. It was taken to the Supreme Court in 2017, which ruled in favour of Clyde River.


Without the 3-year court process, oil companies could have exploited indigenous territory without their permission. The failure to consult with owners of the land prior to project approval is symptomatic of a dismissal of indigenous sovereignty which mirrors the colonial perception of indigenous land as ‘nobody’s land’.


The case of Clyde River is bittersweet. In this instance, the appeal was successful. But many other indigenous people are facing the same problem and lack the resources or public activism to bring the case to a higher court level.


And as climate change is causing the ice to melt, previously inaccessible underground deposits are becoming available and indigenous groups are likely to face increased exploitation of their land.


Unfortunately, that’s not the only problem caused by melting ice.


The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the earth, despite its occupants having contributed minimally to global emissions. For the Inuit, whose livelihoods depend on the ice, the consequences are life threatening. Hunters harvesting sea animals from the edge of the ice are increasingly facing intense storms (that arrive without any of the usual warnings) which cause ice to detach from the mainland, stranding hunters in the dangerous open water.

Arctic oceans heavily polluted with plastic as the Atlantic Ocean current brings it from polluting countries. (Extreme-Photographer / Istock.com) www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/plastic-pollution-builds-up-in-arctic-waters-study-1.3376722

Food is therefore scarce, as a result of oil exploration, and unsafe to hunt, due to the melting ice, and even successful catches pose new threats. When microfibres are released into water currents through our washing machines, or lightweight plastic is blown away by the wind, or litter is dropped on the street, chemicals, pollutants and waste are carried into bodies of water. They circulate through ocean currents and are ingested by sea animals that drink and feed in the water.


Toxins persist for longer in colder environments as their natural decomposition rate is slowed. As such, the Arctic has the most abundant toxic chemicals globally, save for those involved in industrial accidents. There have been 140,000 instances of Inuit testing positive for toxins in their bloodstream. These cause cancers, birth defects and damage to the central nervous system.


Due to the scarce food sources and risk of contamination, 17.6% of Inuit adults have faced days without eating any food.


This constitutes a form of environmental racism, where structural inequality meets environmental risk to disproportionately burden minorities. Oil exploration, pollution and climate change culminate to cause generational indigenous health problems and destruction of the environment.


As the climate begins to rapidly change, the current constitutional commitments protecting indigenous territorial rights will become ever harder to fulfil. Responsibility for warming temperatures lies in many different places and people, creating complex, international accountability.

Protests anticolonialism canada
Protest in Toronto. Image from Beth Baisch

As protests around the world are drawing attention to structural racism, it is important to recognise our role as consumers in exacerbating inequality. Whilst state and private businesses should be the primary force of change, in the absence of such action we can make changes at an individual scale. In 2018, 80% of UK energy consumption was produced from fossil fuels, legitimising the oil exploration that destroys Inuit livelihoods. As oil companies race to meet demand, we can actively choose to forgo our support and funding of it, reducing the market that causes exploitation.


The fight for indigenous rights takes numerous forms, from environmental injustice to violence in law enforcement. Whilst much of the needed change lies in institutional reform, we can act on the former injustice by reducing our ecological footprints to minimise the secondary impacts of our actions for indigenous people.


 

Further Reading:


In-text sources



95 views0 comments

Comments

bottom of page