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Andrew Woolford is a sociology professor at the University of Manitoba and a former president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. [1] His research focuses on genocide studies, particularly cultural destruction of Indigenous Peoples. [2] He has held various academic positions and received numerous awards for his contributions to genocide scholarship. [3]
Woolford has made contributions in various domains related to human rights and restorative justice. His research studies settler colonialism and critical indigenous genocide issues, and connections between ecocidal and genocidal harm. [4] He has been a vocal critic of genocide denialism, highlighting the dangers of denying genocides, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging and confronting these atrocities in order to prevent them from happening again. [5]
He authored "The Idea of a Human Rights Museum," the first book that delves into the development of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. [6] This book places the museum within the context of other institutions globally that focus on human rights and social justice. It features essays from various scholars across disciplines such as law, cultural studies, and sociology, discussing the educational potential and challenges of human rights museums. [6] The book is part of the University of Manitoba Press's Human Rights and Social Justice Series, which examines fundamental rights and freedoms owed to all individuals. [7]
Another major work by Woolford is "The Politics of Restorative Justice: A Critical Introduction," where he, alongside Amanda Nelund, revisits restorative justice and its political implications. The second edition expands on the intersections of various injustices with restorative practices, emphasizing the legislative failure to address injustices adequately. [8]
In "Canada and Colonial Genocide," Woolford critiques the narrative that portrays Canadian settler colonialism as compared to other forms globally. This work challenges the historical myth and engages with recent discussions spurred by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's findings. It examines multiple acts of Canadian genocide of indigenous peoples, such as residential schools and ecological destruction, while also comparing them to other colonial contexts. [9]
Woolford's work on "Symbiotic Victimization and Destruction" proposes legal recognition of non-human entities, specifically evidencing how natural and cultural entities are interconnected. This highlights a gap in genocide studies that has largely focused on human experiences while overlooking the intertwined relationship between humans and their environments. Woolford introduces concepts like "symbiotic destruction" to understand these interconnections better. [10]
In examining Indigenous boarding schools in "This Benevolent Experiment: Indigenous Boarding Schools, Genocide, and Redress in Canada and the United States," he critiques the historical notion of these schools as a solution to the "Indian problem. " His comparison between the U. S. and Canada reveals varying responses to the harms inflicted by such institutions. [11]
Another important contribution is "Colonial Genocide in Indigenous North America," a compilation of essays that broaden the understanding of genocide to reflect on colonial efforts against Indigenous peoples. It discusses the impacts of various forms of violence, such as forced assimilation and systematic destruction of communities. [12]
Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people.
Cultural genocide or culturicide is a concept first described by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944, in the same book that coined the term genocide. The destruction of culture was a central component in Lemkin's formulation of genocide. Though the precise definition of cultural genocide remains contested, the United Nations does not include it in the definition of genocide used in the 1948 Genocide Convention. The Armenian Genocide Museum defines culturicide as "acts and measures undertaken to destroy nations' or ethnic groups' culture through spiritual, national, and cultural destruction", which appears to be essentially the same as ethnocide. Some ethnologists, such as Robert Jaulin, use the term ethnocide as a substitute for cultural genocide, although this usage has been criticized as risking the confusion between ethnicity and culture. Cultural genocide and ethnocide have in the past been utilized in distinct contexts. Cultural genocide without ethnocide is conceivable when a distinct ethnic identity is kept, but distinct cultural elements are eliminated.
Genocide denial is the attempt to deny or minimize the scale and severity of an instance of genocide. Denial is an integral part of genocide and includes the secret planning of genocide, propaganda while the genocide is going on, and destruction of evidence of mass killings. According to genocide researcher Gregory Stanton, denial "is among the surest indicators of further genocidal massacres".
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition. It was the first legal instrument to codify genocide as a crime, and the first human rights treaty unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, on 9 December 1948, during the third session of the United Nations General Assembly. The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951 and has 153 state parties as of June 2024.
Indigenous peoples in Canada are the Indigenous peoples within the boundaries of Canada. They comprise the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, representing roughly 5.0% of the total Canadian population. There are over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands with distinctive cultures, languages, art, and music.
A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government, in the hope of resolving conflict left over from the past. Truth commissions are, under various names, occasionally set up by states emerging from periods of internal unrest, civil war, or dictatorship marked by human rights abuses. In both their truth-seeking and reconciling functions, truth commissions have political implications: they "constantly make choices when they define such basic objectives as truth, reconciliation, justice, memory, reparation, and recognition, and decide how these objectives should be met and whose needs should be served".
Western European colonialism and colonization was the Western European policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over other societies and territories, founding a colony, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. For example, colonial policies, such as the type of rule implemented, the nature of investments, and identity of the colonizers, are cited as impacting postcolonial states. Examination of the state-building process, economic development, and cultural norms and mores shows the direct and indirect consequences of colonialism on the postcolonial states. It has been estimated that Britain and France traced almost 50% of the entire length of today's international boundaries as a result of British and French imperialism.
Human rights in Canada have come under increasing public attention and legal protection since World War II. Inspired by Canada's involvement in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the current legal framework for human rights in Canada consists of constitutional entitlements, and statutory human rights codes, both federal and provincial.
The genocide of indigenous peoples, colonial genocide, or settler genocide is the elimination of indigenous peoples as a part of the process of colonialism.
Settler colonialism is a logic and structure of displacement by settlers, using colonial rule, over an environment for replacing it and its indigenous peoples with settlements and the society of the settlers.
Norma Bailey is a Canadian film writer, producer, and director whose work is rooted in feminist and intersectional film theory. Bailey has directed several films, both in English and French and in various different genres, including fiction and non-fiction films. Her prolific career within the film industry has awarded her various awards and professional accolades including being named to the Order of Manitoba in 2010.
Anthony Dirk Moses is an Australian scholar who researches various aspects of genocide. In 2022 he became the Anne and Bernard Spitzer Professor of Political Science at the City College of New York, after having been the Frank Porter Graham Distinguished Professor of Global Human Rights History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a leading scholar of genocide, especially in colonial contexts, as well as of the political development of the concept itself. He is known for coining the term racial century in reference to the period 1850–1950. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Genocide Research.
Gwendolyn Lucy O'SoupCrane (1930–2005) was Canada's first female First Nations Chief, and first elected.
Settler colonialism in Canada refers to the process and effects of colonization on the Indigenous peoples of Canada. As colonization progressed, Indigenous peoples were subject to policies of forced assimilation and cultural genocide. Governments in Canada in many cases ignored or chose to deny the aboriginal title of First Nations. The traditional governance of many of the First Nations was replaced with government-imposed structures. Many Indigenous cultural practices were banned.
The connection between colonialism and genocide has been explored in academic research. According to historian Patrick Wolfe, "[t]he question of genocide is never far from discussions of settler colonialism." Historians have commented that although colonialism does not necessarily directly involve genocide, research suggests that the two share a connection.
Denial of genocides of Indigenous peoples consists of a claim that has denied any of the multiple genocides and atrocity crimes, which have been committed against Indigenous peoples. The denialism claim contradicts the academic consensus, which acknowledges that genocide was committed. The claim is a form of denialism, genocide denial, historical negationism and historical revisionism. The atrocity crimes include genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing.
Indigenous response to colonialism has varied depending on the Indigenous group, historical period, territory, and colonial state(s) they have interacted with. Indigenous peoples have had agency in their response to colonialism. They have employed armed resistance, diplomacy, and legal procedures. Others have fled to inhospitable, undesirable or remote territories to avoid conflict. Nevertheless, some Indigenous peoples were forced to move to reservations or reductions, and work in mines, plantations, construction, and domestic tasks. They have detribalized and culturally assimilated into colonial societies. On occasion, Indigenous peoples have formed alliances with one or more Indigenous or non-Indigenous nations. Overall, the response of Indigenous peoples to colonialism during this period has been diverse and varied in its effectiveness. Indigenous resistance has a centuries-long history that is complex and carries on into contemporary times.
Apologies to Indigenous peoples refer to apologies extended by political leaders or representatives, acting on behalf of a political entity or nation, to acknowledge and express remorse for some historical wrong.
The historiography of Indigenous genocide is the study of how these type of genocides have been documented and interpreted by historians throughout the colonial age up to today.
Throughout the history of Canada, the Canadian government have been accused of many atrocities variously described as ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, ethnocide and genocide, against the Indigenous peoples in Canada. The term cultural genocide began to be utilized in the 1990s when researchers and Indigenous leaders started to declare the actions of churches and the government regarding residential schools were genocidal. There is debate among scholars about the designation used and if the term genocide even applies to Canada's experience.
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