Anti-Indigenous policy formation : Settler colonialism and neoliberal political advocacy

Abstract

Political advocacy groups have a quiet role in much of the analysis of Indigenous-settler relations, reconciliation, and ongoing settler colonialism. Using a data set of 407 texts covering a range of 21 years (1998-2019), we conducted a content analysis on the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), a well-known ‘taxpayer’ group that has long engaged in hostile analysis of First Nations. We describe the various themes that the CTF writes about in relation to Indigenous peoples, discuss the temporal changes in how the CTF discusses policy, and offer theoretical analysis that demonstrates how neoliberal political advocacy groups have looked to weaken and attack the position of Indigenous nations in relation to settler colonial Canada.