First nations sovereignty, environmental justice, and degrowth in Northwest BC, Canada

• Published in: Ecological Economics
• Main Author: Frost, K.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: British Columbia; Canada; First Nations
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0004-3B09-1

Environmental Injustice has been intrinsic to Canadian extractivism, with First Nations displaced from their traditional territories and their cultural identity suppressed through an explicit policy of cultural genocide to make way for colonial extractivist practices. Likewise, this extractivism has long been legitimized in Canada through a rhetoric of economic growth. This paper presents an overview of Northwest Coast and Interior First Nations peoples anti-colonial struggles in British Columbia, Canada and demonstrates how First Nations struggles in BC for environmental defense, sovereignty, and traditional culture and governance deeply interweave shared objectives with both Environmental Justice and Degrowth.