11. The Treatment of Aboriginal People in Canada during the 20th Century: Assimilation, Genocide and the Question of Intent

Abstract

The United Nations definition for the term genocide requires that the accused party acts with “intent to destroy” another group. The question of intent provides the foundation for examining how assimilation and genocide are two possible difference elimination strategies that were employed by the Canadian government during the 20th Century against Native Canadians. Comparing the colonial setting that defines the Canadian case with the civil war setting that preoccupied the 1992 Bosnia genocide effectively highlights similarities between the two case studies. The similarities provide the opportunity to explore whether the condition of intent can be proven in such intricate environments, and whether or not the international community should give such heavy consideration to intent during the classification process for genocide.