It’s All about the Land

Illuminating the First Nations struggles against the Canadian state, It’s All about the Land exposes how racism underpins and shapes Indigenous-settler relationships. Renowned Kahnawà:ke Mohawk activist and scholar Taiaiake Alfred explains how the Canadian government’s reconciliation agenda is a new form of colonization that is guaranteed to fail.

Bringing together Alfred’s speeches and interviews from over the past two decades, the book shows that Indigenous peoples across the world face a stark choice: reconnect with their authentic cultures and values or continue following a slow road to annihilation.

Rooted in ancestral spirit, knowledge, and law, It’s All about the Land presents a passionate argument for Indigenous Resurgence as the pathway toward justice for Indigenous peoples.

Listen to Taiaiake’s August 24, 2023 interview about the book on K1037 Mohawk Radio:

Read an Excerpt and Order the Book from the University of Toronto Press

Heeding the Voices of Our Ancestors

The original 1995 book description:

This book is the first comprehensive study of the driving force behind Native political activism, and the only scholarly treatment of North American Indian politics which integrates an explicitly Native perspective. With a broad historical scope rich in detail, and drawing on the particular experience of the Mohawks of Kahnawake, it offers an explanation of Indian and Inuit political activism focusing on the importance of traditional values and institutions in shaping Native responses to the state.

The book explains the recent rise of a militant assertion of sovereignty on the part of Native people in terms of three major factors: the existence of alternative institutions in the body of the nation’s traditional culture; the self-conscious development of an alternative identity; and a persistent pattern of negative interaction with the state. It differs from other analyses focusing on similar factors in that it views nationalism not as a movement which activates in response to external factors, but as a persistent feature of political life which manifests itself in either a latent or active form in response to the interaction of the three factors discussed in the model.

Alfred – Heeding the VoicesDownload

Resurgence*: paths to decolonization in the thought of Taiaiake Alfred

To contribute to the debate on decolonization from the perspective of Indigenous Peoples, we present the notion of Resurgence elaborated by Taiaiake Alfred, one of Canada’s most important Indigenous thinkers. Alfred proposes his notion of Resurgence as a strategy for breaking away from colonial power relations that focus on Indigenous Peoples’ ability to live and develop according to their own thinking systems. We will see that, besides questioning colonial domination, the notion of Resurgence, anchored in the millenary experiences and wisdom of Indigenous Peoples, shows how to prepare the way and create the necessary conditions for a true decolonization.

[Paper written and published in Portuguese]

Link: http://portal.amelica.org/ameli/journal/815/8154373016/

Zema Drummond Pataxo – Resurgence PaperDownload

R. v White and Montour Decision

The Superior Court of Quebec announced its decision on November 1st, 2023 in the White & Montour tobacco trade case. It is a major legal victory for the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke, and the Haudenosaunee, recognizing The Covenant Chain as an unextinguished meta treaty and affirming our people’s right to conduct trade within and between our territories under the terms of ten treaties Kahnawà:ke entered into with the British Crown. The decision also re-defines Reconciliation, expanding it beyond enforcing tolerance or mandating consistency, and requiring the Crown to engage us as “peoples” to reconcile with our sovereignty, law and jurisdiction on a nation-to-nation basis.

The final judgement, in English:

R v White and Montour – jugement finalDownload

The notice of appeal by the Attorneys General of Canada and Quebec (unofficial English translation):

Notice of Appeal – Canada & Quebec – R. v Montour & White – Richards & Carney unofficial translation)Download

IONTKAHTHÓHTHA’

Iontkahthóhtha’ (A Place To Look) is an annual event put on by the Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language and Cultural Center in Kahnawà:ke showcasing contemporary and traditional artwork created by Onkwehón:we.

My photographs from the 2023 edition of the event…

My photographs from the 2022 edition of the event…

• All photographs are copyright Gerald Taiaiake Alfred and may not be reproduced without permission.

It’s All about the Land – Photography

Full colour versions of photographs in the book, It’s All about the Land, published in 2023 by the University of Toronto Press. All images are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without permission.

On Reconciliation and Resurgence

A Critical Reflection on “From Bad to Worse: Internal Politics in the 1990 Crisis at Kahnawake”

I was honoured to contribute to a special edition of Recherches amérindiennes au Québec by writing a critical reflection, three decades post-facto, on my first ever academic publication, which was an article about the political situation in Kahnawà:ke in the immediate aftermath of the 1990 Crisis. The new critical reflection as well as the original 1991 piece from Northeast Indian Quarterly/RAQ are provided below in both their French and English versions.

Alfred, Critical Reflection… RAQ 50(3) 2020-21 EnglishDownload

Alfred, Réflexion critique… RAQ 50(3) 2020-21 FrancaisDownload

Alfred, From Bad to Worse, NIQ Spring 1991Download

Alfred, De mal en pis, RAQ 21(3) 1991Download

Expert Report on the Sovereignty of the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke

This paper is a type corrected version of the report I submitted as an expert witness on the question of the sovereignty of the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke in the case of R. v DEREK WHITE AND HUNTER MONTOUR argued in 2021 before the Superior Court in Montrèal.

Expert Report of Taiaiake Alfred in R v White-MontourDownload

Report: Indigenous Collaboration in Impact Assessment

This report was produced in support of the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada’s Indigenous Advisory Committee in the development of advice for the Agency on collaboration agreements with Indigenous Peoples in Impact Assessment. Under the direction of the Indigenous Advisory Committee’s collaboration sub-committee, I conducted research on past agreements and arrangements with the intent of providing information and perspective to the Committee to inform their discussions at the big-picture level and provide a basis for the Committee’s advising the Agency on challenges and opportunities in this area. The report is the result of research and analysis conducted with the goal of providing an objective analysis of past and present examples of collaboration agreements and advice on designing agreements drawing on the experiences and perspectives of participants in various collaborations. 

Indigenous Collaboration in Impact AssessmentDownload