Settlers, migrant settlers, and their separate reconciliations? Jason Chalmers, ‘Settler Colonialism, Reconciliation, and Indigenous–Jewish Relations in Canada’, Contemporary Jewry, 2024 | settler colonial studies blog

Settlers, migrant settlers, and their separate reconciliations? Jason Chalmers, ‘Settler Colonialism, Reconciliation, and Indigenous–Jewish Relations in Canada’, Contemporary Jewry, 2024

18Aug24

Abstract: This article examines the sociopolitical frameworks that Jewish organizations use to navigate settler colonialism, Indigenous-settler relations, and especially reconciliation in Canada. Reconciliation is a controversial process that purports to restore or establish respectful relations between Indigenous peoples and settler society. While often implemented at the federal and provincial levels, reconciliation may also facilitate social and political change when practiced at the community or grassroots level, and especially when rooted in the histories and traditions of particular migrant groups. My analysis explores how Canadian Jewish organizations are engaging with reconciliation and the ways that these initiatives respond to the settler state. I examine three frameworks that mediate this engagement: Holocaust commemoration and the comparative study of genocide; diversity paradigms, which are often expressed as multiculturalism or anti-racism; and nation-to-nation paradigms based on mutual respect between distinct peoples. I contend that these frameworks, which often overlap and intersect with other public and political discourses, reflect the multifaceted and shifting position of Jews within Canadian society. The tension between national, local, and group identity creates a space where migrant or minority groups and Indigenous peoples can build relationships while avoiding the limits of state-centered reconciliation.

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