Dismantle! Dismantle! Dismantle!

If you wonder why progress on Indigenous reconciliation seems slow, Olthuis’ new book provides an explanation. If you think reconciliation has to mean more than land acknowledgements, it adds substance. If you wonder what you can do to advance reconciliation, it offers an ambitious yet achievable action plan. And, if you enjoy reading behind-the-scenes accounts of historical moments, you will enjoy this book.

John Olthuis shares what he learned during 50 years of working with several different Indigenous groups in this memoir/treatise/call to action. He brings a unique perspective as someone present at negotiation tables and in courtrooms, as legal counsel or advisor to Indigenous leaders – when major decisions on their land claims were made. His study complements Indigenous writers by specifically addressing the role of non-Indigenous actors and how non-Indigenous Canadians can live out treaty obligations. In addition to highlighting unfinished business, he provides a timely, principled framework for current issues, such as what Indigenous title to land means in reality, how it relates to individual ownership of land, and what role Indigenous people should have in proposed national projects.

Fascinating real-life stories

The main substance of this book is fascinating stories behind seven major Indigenous cases in Canada, from the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Moratorium in the 1990s to the long struggle for the 2024 modern treaty with the Innu People in Newfoundland and Labrador. Olthuis starts by learning the Indigenous story and then strategically uses his lawyer skills to create space for Indigenous voices to be heard in hostile spaces, such as National Energy Board hearings or meetings with hardened federal and provincial officials. Sometimes progress is surprising, and other times it is painstakingly slow. Each story illustrates what reconciliation could mean for both Indigenous people and non-Indigenous communities if barriers rooted in 19th-century colonialism were removed.

While each story is unique, there are some common threads – such as appreciation for the persistence of Indigenous leaders, grounded in love of this land, which breaks through obstacles that seem insurmountable. Progress is often made when Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices pursue complementary goals, such as the Dene land claims and the Just Energy Policy campaign in the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline story, and the preservation of old-growth forest and Teme-Augama Anishnabi land claims in northern Ontario.

These stories reveal that the major obstacles to settling land claims are not unreasonable Indigenous requests; it is often the rigid unwillingness of government officials to consider reasonable options that leads to decades of delay and obstruction. For example, after 50 frustrating years, the Ontario government is finally starting to clean up the mercury deposited in the English-Wabigoon River that runs through the lands of the Grassy Narrows community, instead of protecting the polluter, the Reed Paper Company. But Ontario still refuses to budge on the Grassy Narrows land claim, limiting progress – one example of the high cost of delays and obstruction for Indigenous peoples and for Canada.

The reality of reconciliation

Many stories highlight how provincial governments are blocking progress toward genuine reconciliation, which could be unknown to many Canadians. While advocacy often focuses on the federal government, more attention is needed to change provincial postures and positions.
On a more positive note, Olthuis spotlights how private companies are finding new approaches to co-management of land and resources through Impact Benefit Agreements. Canada has more than 600 plans that give Indigenous people some control over land and more ability to determine their own futures. Research shows that the conditions of Indigenous people are improving in these areas, in stark contrast to the general lack of progress in the living conditions of most Indigenous people more than a decade after governments promised reconciliation. Olthuis regularly reassures readers that non-Indigenous people do not need to fear Indigenous control of land and self-determination.

Reconciliation needs to go far beyond the rhetorical land acknowledgements that have become common in Canada. Olthuis builds on the cumulative developments of the last four decades to propose a path for closing the gap between the promise of reconciliation and the reality of continuing settler colonialism and assimilation.

Central to this is recognizing the difference between reconciliation with Indigenous people and reconciliation of Indigenous people to the dominant society. As Olthuis points out, much that is called reconciliation is really assimilation. Genuine reconciliation means change for non-Indigenous people, as well as Indigenous people, to find new ways to co-exist and co-manage the land and resources for future and present generations. Olthuis’ positive examples show the benefits of genuine reconciliation for both sides.

According to Olthuis, non-Indigenous people need to clean up their own act and dismantle the barriers put in the way of Indigenous people – people who want justice, not charity. While listening to Indigenous people is essential, it should not be up to Indigenous people to change harm they did not create. The plea to non-Indigenous people is to correct wrongs committed –wrongs that Olthuis shows readers with painful clarity, so they cannot be dismissed.

John Olthuis reveals why now is the time for the non-Indigenous community to step up and play an active role. There has been a major shift in public attitudes between the explicit assimilation in the 1969 White Paper and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The recommendations in the many well-documented reports in the last decade give clear action steps. The challenge is to mobilize non-Indigenous supporters to insist that governments who represent them remove the barriers to reconciliation – to be as persistent as Indigenous people have been and continue to be, on both federal and provincial levels.

Steps for lasting progress

Olthuis proposes four big but achievable steps for genuine reconciliation. First is settling land claims and giving land back to Indigenous people so they can pursue their own development, in keeping with the original treaties. The book provides evidence to show that there is enough Crown land to honour existing land claims without expropriating property owned by individuals. Shortage of land is not the problem. The barriers are the insistence on control by federal and provincial governments.

The second step is dismantling the federal government departments that trap Indigenous people in costly, wasteful, micro-managed programs with poor outcomes. Conditions are not improving, in spite of large budgets, writes Olthuis, because paternalistic attitudes don’t give people agency in their own development. More benevolent colonialism after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is still colonialism. Dismantling current bureaucracies and transferring services and control to local communities, along with dismantling the Indian Act, has been logical for some time; getting it done remains a challenge.

The third step is full implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. A serious implementation plan will need the creation of new mechanisms to work across federal and provincial jurisdictions.

Fourth is revising the mandates of regulatory bodies to give as much priority to impacts for Indigenous people and the environment as to economic and fiduciary concerns. This step is essential for the fast-tracking of national projects proposed by Prime Minister Carney. Non-Indigenous support of Indigenous calls for this will be critical to making progress, as it was with the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline.

This action plan is not easy to achieve, but Olthuis’ stories can inspire readers with examples of working together to achieve progress. True, lasting change will take persistence – the kind that many Indigenous leaders have shown. If every person who has made a land acknowledgement takes another step to insist on settling land claims, that part of the plan could move forward and start a shift that replaces assimilation disguised as reconciliation with genuine reconciliation. That would be a good end to the Olthuis story.