From Stonechild to Social Cohesion: Anti-Racist Challenges for Saskatchewan

In this article, I study the conclusions of Mr. Justice David Wright's, report oil the inquiry into the death of Neil Stonechild, and discuss the incident in the context of Aboriginal-settler relations in Saskatchewan. I view these exemplars of the racism in Saskatchewan's, and Canada's, political culture. I argue that the processes of colonialism are the impulse for the racist ideology that is now encoded in social, political, economic, academic and cultural institutions and practices, and which functions to maintain the status quo of white dominance. Confronting systemic and institutional racism, and de- and re-constructing political culture, arc essential for social health and for the possibility of post-colonial future, Given Saskatchewan's demographic trajectory, which indicates a majority Aboriginal population in the near future, failure to deal with white racism will guarantee social stresses between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations, damaging the province's economic and social viability into the future. Therefore, a proactive, self-reflective, anti-racist policy and a strategy for building public support should be a priority for any Saskatchewan government. Social cohesion, a necessary condition for a healthy citizenship regime and a notion of considerable interest to provincial and federal politicians and to academics, cannot be constructed without tackling racism. I Conclude by suggesting that decolonization is the necessary political project to eradicate the kinds of systemic practices that arguably killed Neil Stonechild and others.