Historical justice and reparation for Indigenous Peoples in Brazil and Canada

Abstract

The struggle of Indigenous Peoples for historical justice and reparation has gained visibility with the truth commissions’ work in Brazil and Canada. Their final reports confirmed the Canadian and Brazilian states’ responsibility for the genocide of thousands of Indians. To start a reconciliation process, several redress recommendations were made, but never fully accomplished. We observed repeated violence acts against Indigenous Peoples in both countries more than five years after these recommendations were published. The purpose of this article is to evaluate, from the Critical Studies of Transitions’ perspective, the reconciling and reparative scope of the Truth Commissions of Brazil and Canada and to analyze the difficulties of implementing their recommendations. We show that despite promises to transform colonial relations, these Truth Commissions have been unable to address the past and the continuity of structural violence affecting Indigenous Peoples.