Divided Power: How Federalism Undermines Reconciliation

Reconciliation, as set out by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, is a process of understanding the Canadian state’s genocide against Indigenous Peoples and creating a new relationship between Indigenous Peoples and settlers based on mutual respect and dignity. Given the racism and paternalism embedded in the Canadian state and related institutions, building such a relationship is a monumental task, but in addition, there is a major structural roadblock in the way: federalism, the political system that organizes Canadian governance.

Divided Power argues that Canada’s system of federalism, rooted in settler colonialism, has dispossessed Indigenous Peoples for settler benefit. Far from being a neutral, balanced way to distribute responsibilities and powers, the division between the state and provinces and territories obstructs Indigenous Peoples’ agency and governance. Under such coercive political exclusion, how can truth and reconciliation be fully achieved? Emily Grafton meticulously traces the ways that federalism limits the potential for reconciliation and proposes alternative power-sharing models.

Guiding readers through the terrain of debate, Grafton deftly and accessibly merges a political analysis of federalism with a clear assessment of settler colonialism to argue that reconciliation will be incomplete for as long as the current division of powers persists. Divided Power points to a promising approach to holding the Canadian state responsible for integrating the principles of truth and reconciliation into its very foundation.

Emily Grafton grew up primarily in Winnipeg’s inner city. While studying political science and women’s studies at the University of Winnipeg, she became politicized and volunteered for various inner-city organizations. Grafton received a masters in public administration (University of Manitoba) and subsequently worked in provincial politics at the Manitoba Legislative Assembly. While pursuing a PhD in Native Studies (University of Manitoba), she worked for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, the Newberry Consortium of American Indian Studies and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. In these roles, Grafton was trained in decolonial politics and Indigenous-centred research. As a citizen of the Métis Nation, these politics of settler-based dispossession shaped her family life as well as her scholarship. With her husband, also a citizen of the Métis Nation, she is raising two children. As an associate professor of politics and international studies at the University of Regina, Grafton teaches courses on Indigenous rights, reconciliation, feminism and gender politics, international relations, and Canadian government. Her research program is community-driven, and she works with local non-profits in Regina. She is the faculty lead for the Saskatchewan Electoral Parity Project and is a member of the Canadian Political Science Association’s Board and Reconciliation Committee.