Indigenous Environmental Justice and Sustainability: What Is Environmental Assimilation?

Stephen R. J. Tsuji
Additional contact information
Stephen R. J. Tsuji: School of Environmental Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 15, 1-30

Abstract: Canada has a long history of assimilative efforts with respect to Indigenous peoples. Legal assimilation efforts occurred on two fronts: the voluntary and involuntary enfranchisement of First Nations people, and the dissolution of First Nations reserve lands. Cultural assimilation occurred through the residential school system, and the removal of Indigenous children from their homes by Canadian child welfare agencies in the “sixties scoop”. Another form of assimilation is through environmental assimilation. I define environmental assimilation as changes to the environment through development, to the extent whereby the environment can no longer support Indigenous cultural activities. Herein, I examine environmental assimilation in northern Ontario, Canada. The “taken-up” clause in Treaty No. 9, the “Exemption Orders” in the Far North Act , the “Except” stipulation in the Mining Amendment Act , and the unilateral streamlining of projects in the Green Energy Act and the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act —these pieces of legislation pose threats to the environment and serve to facilitate the reality of contemporary environmental assimilation of First Nations.

Keywords: indigenous; environmental justice; sustainability; legal assimilation; cultural assimilation; environmental assimilation; first nations; subarctic; Canada (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/15/8382/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/15/8382/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:15:p:8382-:d:602585

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().