Reconciliation and Trust in Settler States

• In Event: Indigenous and Northern Politics in Canada

Abstract

In this paper I examine the phenomenon of reconciliation in the context of settler states, like Canada. My main motivation is to argue that trust is an important element of future and ongoing processes of reconciliation in these states. I see a number of challenges resulting from the desire to link together trust and reconciliation.
First, there is the question of how these two phenomena are link. Second, there is the issue of the how to build trust when it is in short supply. And third, there is an incompatibility between the way we think and talk about justice and the phenomenon of trust. The dominant framework for justice, which can be characterized as rights-centric, is ill equipped to deal with the issue of trust.
The paper addresses each of these challenges in the following fashion. In terms of the first challenge, I make the case that reconciliation and trust are linked via the important role played by social cooperation.
In terms of the second challenge, I illustrate that the recognition and fulfilment of two duties could make a dent in the trust deficit. The first duty is a duty to reform institutions in a manner that increases Rational Trust and the second duty is the duty of non-Indigenous persons to work on their trustworthiness.
In terms of the third challenge, I claim that when our concern is reconciliation, it would be more productive to employ a duty-centric discourse instead of the rights-centric alternative, because the former discourse is more compatible with the phenomenon of trust, which is integral to reconciliation in settler states.

Author

• Dimitrios Panagos, Memorial University of Newfoundland