An unprincipled relationship: Settler colonialism, recognition, and reconciliation in the principles respecting the government of Canada’s relationship with Indigenous peoples

The contemporary discourse of reconciliation in Canada is imbued with liberal conceptions recognition. A discourse analysis of the Principles respecting the government of Canada’s relationship with Indigenous peoples reveals the implicit values and ideologies within the document, shared with other contemporary federal policy changes, that privilege the Canadian constitutional framework and capital accumulation. This analysis applies a critical lens to the Principles, and compares the text with relevant documents, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and Supreme Court of Canada title cases, The Principles, as a key plank of the government of Canada’s project of reconciliation, appears to be yet another method of insidiously maintaining colonial relations, and reveals greater continuity with previous overtly assimilationist policies than any substantive change in relations.