In her 2022 book Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire, historian Caroline Elkins explains in grim detail how British colonizers around the world employed state-sanctioned violence to oppress local populations. She shows how they changed and manipulated their own laws to justify their violence and to dispossess Indigenous people. The term she coins to describe this policy is ‘legalized lawlessness’.
We're seeing a similar policy of legalized lawlessness today in BC and Ontario with proposed legislation to reduce regulatory oversight, side-step environmental assessments, undermine the duty to consult and favour governments' friends in industry (Bills 14 and 15 in BC and Bill 5 in Ontario).
BC and Ontario are creating the conditions to employ state-sanctioned violence against Indigenous land defenders. Once these new provincial laws are in place, BC and Ontario will expect Canadian courts and militarized police to enforce them based on the principle of ‘the rule of law’. This is modern-day colonization in action.
Canadians need to recognize what the proposed legislation in BC and Ontario can lead to--heavily armed provincial police and RCMP with attack dogs threatening, abusing and jailing Indigenous land defenders.
BC and Ontario residents are responsible for denouncing this manipulation of provincial laws to undermine Indigenous rights and criminalize Indigenous people. Bill 15 in BC goes to final vote May 28. In Ontario, a vote on Bill 5 is likely to take place next week. Contact your provincial politicians and let them know in no uncertain terms that they weren't elected to pursue a policy of legalized lawlessness.
 | Dr. Bruce McIvor, lawyer and historian, is senior partner at First Peoples Law LLP. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Allard School of Law where he teaches the constitutional law of Aboriginal and Treaty rights. He is the author of two books on Indigenous rights: Indigenous Rights in One Minute: What You Need to Know to Talk Reconciliation (2025) and Standoff: Why Reconciliation Fails Indigenous People and How to Fix It (2021). He is a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation. |
First Peoples Law is a law firm dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. We work closely with First Nations to defend their Aboriginal title, rights and Treaty rights, uphold their Indigenous laws and governance and ensure economic prosperity for their members.
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