Résumés
Abstract
While the written terms of the Columbia River Treaty appear to justify the often-heard claim that it is all about hydropower and flood control, a full account of its history reveals its critical importance to US agriculture and close relationship to early phases of colonization and development in the Upper Columbia River Basin. In this paper I argue that the Treaty is best understood as the third phase in the last large-scale government-sponsored settler colonialism project in North America, a project that began with the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam in the 1930s. I further argue that the dominant narrative that informs current efforts by Canada and the US to revise the treaty does not fully recognize the settler colonial structure of the original treaty or its critical impact on both Indigenous and settler food systems throughout the basin. I begin with a description of the history of the treaty, in order to demonstrate its continuity with earlier phases of settler colonialism, then focus on its impact on food systems. I conclude with an assessment of the ongoing Canada/US treaty review and renegotiation process that began in 2011 with suggestions for how the process could be brought into better alignment with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
Keywords:
- Columbia River Treaty,
- Columbia Basin Project,
- settler colonialism,
- irrigation,
- food systems,
- food sovereignty,
- decolonization,
- reconciliation
Résumé
Alors que les termes écrits du Traité du fleuve Columbia semblent justifier l’affirmation souvent entendue selon laquelle il ne s’agit que d’énergie hydroélectrique et de contrôle des inondations, un compte rendu complet de son histoire révèle son importance cruciale pour l’agriculture américaine et sa relation étroite avec les premières phases de colonisation et de développement dans le bassin supérieur du fleuve Columbia. Dans cet article, je soutiens que le traité est mieux compris comme la troisième phase du dernier projet de colonisation à grande échelle soutenu par le gouvernement en Amérique du Nord, un projet qui a commencé avec la construction du barrage de Grand Coulée dans les années 1930. Je soutiens, par ailleurs, que le récit dominant qui sous-tend les efforts actuels du Canada et des États-Unis pour réviser le traité ne reconnaît pas pleinement la structure coloniale du Traité original, ni son impact critique sur les systèmes alimentaires des autochtones et des colons dans l’ensemble du bassin. Je commence par décrire l’histoire du Traité, afin de démontrer sa continuité avec les phases antérieures du colonialisme de peuplement, puis je me concentre sur son impact sur les systèmes alimentaires. Je termine par une évaluation du processus de révision et de renégociation du traité entre le Canada et les États-Unis, qui a débuté en 2011, et par des suggestions sur la manière dont le processus pourrait être mieux aligné sur la Déclaration des Nations Unies sur les droits des Peuples autochtones et sur les appels à l’action de la Commission de Vérité et de Réconciliation du Canada.
Mots-clés :
- Traité du fleuve Columbia,
- projet du Bassin Columbia,
- colonie,
- irrigation,
- systèmes alimentaires,
- souveraineté alimentaire,
- décolonisation,
- réconciliation
Parties annexes
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