Abstract
The Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission (MWTRC) is one of the more recent examples of the truth and reconciliation model being used in a settler colonial context. This article argues that the MWTRC highlighted a historical and continued refusal by Wabanaki people to ongoing systems of white settler violence especially in the form of Native child welfare. Examining the MWTRC through the lens of refusal allows for a critical analysis of the ways in which the MWTRC subverts neoliberal reconciliation models that leave colonial structures unchallenged and unchanged. The MWTRC, as a process founded and led by Wabanaki and settler social workers and Wabanaki survivors of the child welfare system, actively refused reconciliation with settler colonialism. Instead it sought a process predicated on a relationship that accepted the realities of historical and continued oppression of Wabanaki people and sought long-term transformative change for Wabanaki people. Relying on two years of conversations between the authors and the community of Wabanaki and settler individuals who initiated and partook in this process, this article offers an analysis of the MWTRC and how its strategy of refusal denied settler colonial co-option of a Wabanaki-centred process.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 380-402 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | International Journal of Human Rights |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 14 Oct 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 7 Feb 2023 |
Bibliographical note
The authors would like to thank the late Prof Nick Rengger for supporting this project and its team throughout its duration; Will Moore, Sandra Norrenbreck and Kerryn Probert from the University of St Andrews for transcribing a number of the interviews used in this article; Prof. Siobhan McEvoy Levy and a team of students from Butler University – Kelly Hamman, Rachel Bergsieker, Steven Tyler, Dean Jay Howard – for their assistance at the outset of this project and their assistance in transcription; Dr Damian Short and anonymous reviews for their feedback through the editing process; Dr Adam Bower, Dr Gurchathen Sanghera, Q Manivannan, Donna Loring, Esther Anne and Lisa Panepinto for their comments on a number of drafts of this article; Donna Loring and Dr Deborah Bouchard for their kindness, hospitality, and support during the course of the project; and Esther Anne, Penthea Burns, and Wabanaki REACH for opening up minds and hearts through their work of truth, healing, and change, and whose work has had lasting impact on so many, including the authors of this article. All errors remain the authors own.
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