After Redress : Japanese Canadian and Indigenous Struggles for Justice

Indigenous peoples and Japanese Canadians have demanded justice from the Canadian state for its discriminatory systems of colonialism and racial management. Critics have argued that state apologies co-opt those demands. Meanwhile, many Canadian institutions still attempt to control narratives about residential schools and other violence committed against Indigenous peoples, as well as the internment of Japanese Canadians. After Redress examines how struggles for justice continue long after truth and reconciliation commissions conclude and state redress is supposedly made. Contributors to this trenchant volume analyze the complex, often paradoxical redress process from the perspectives of the communities involved. In a context where mechanisms for reconciliation and redress have been defined by the settler state, this book reveals how Indigenous peoples and Japanese Canadians have responded to Western liberal notions of justice, whether by challenging or conforming to them or pursuing their own approaches.

An innovative examination of continuing calls for justice in the wake of state redress and reconciliation agreements in Canada.

Indigenous peoples and Japanese Canadians have demanded justice from the Canadian state for its discriminatory systems of colonization and racial management. Critics have argued that state apologies co-opt those demands. In addition, many Canadian institutions still attempt to control narratives about residential schools and other violence committed against Indigenous peoples, and about the internment of Japanese Canadians.

After Redress examines how struggles for justice continue long after truth and reconciliation commissions conclude and state redress is made. Contributors to this trenchant volume analyze the complex, often paradoxical redress process from the perspectives of the communities involved. Mechanisms for reconciliation are defined by the settler state, but how do Indigenous peoples and Japanese Canadians reject or conform to Western liberal notions of social justice?