Settler mythologies in action: Frederik Blank, ‘Settler Colonial Myths in the Coastal GasLink Conflict’ , 43rd Annual Conference of the Association for Canadian Studies in German-speaking Countries (GKS), 2022, pp. 5-15 | settler colonial studies blog

Settler mythologies in action: Frederik Blank, ‘Settler Colonial Myths in the Coastal GasLink Conflict’ , 43rd Annual Conference of the Association for Canadian Studies in German-speaking Countries (GKS), 2022, pp. 5-15

27Feb22

Excerpt: Canada is commonly portrayed as “the better America” and seen as a friendly and welcoming place. Many people regard Canada as a region for adventurous outdoor trips and the country advertises its seemingly “peaceful” and “untouched wilderness.” The country is promoting human rights and gender equality, and has a “cool” Prime Minister – could Canada be the most liberal country in the world? In fact, these attributions conceal a very dark side of Canada and need to be put aside. The country of Canada evolved from a settler colonial project which committed genocide and pursued brutal assimilation tactics against the Indigenous populations. While the state of Canada publicly announces the will for reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and appears to show contrition for the crimes committed against Natives, settler colonialism has not ended in Canada. To understand these realities the concept of settler colonialism will be applied. The focus of this research will lie particularly on one aspect of the concept of settler colonialism: settler colonial myths, or what Travis Wysote and Erin Morton call tautologies and pioneer lies. I argue that the Coastal GasLink (CGL) conflict between the Wet’suwet’en Nation and Canada exposes and reproduces settler colonial myths which are woven into the fabric of Canadian national identity.

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