Papers by Emma Feltes
Canadian Journal of Law and Society / Revue Canadienne Droit et Société
The Tŝilhqot’in Nation has had ample experience exercising its laws and jurisdiction to manage em... more The Tŝilhqot’in Nation has had ample experience exercising its laws and jurisdiction to manage emergencies during record-breaking wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the Nation’s unique opportunity to formally describe and advance its jurisdiction through its landmark Aboriginal title declaration and beyond, in these crises, Crown actors have defaulted to well-worn patterns of colonialism. Through a detailed analysis of recent Tŝilhqot’in experiences of emergency, we argue that provincial and federal responses to these extreme events reveal constitutional habits: patterns of decision-making that emerge in the immediate response to an emergency, so as to appear automatic. Crown emergency responses assume exhaustive Crown jurisdiction and its corollary erasure and dispossession of Tŝilhqot’in jurisdiction. Fortunately, however, habits can change. We show how Tŝilhqot’in responses to emergency reveal alternate constitutional possibilities: habits of coordination, which, throug...
University of Toronto Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2022
In November 1980, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) chartered two trains from Vancouver to Ot... more In November 1980, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) chartered two trains from Vancouver to Ottawa, launching a movement dubbed the "Constitution Express." At the time, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau promised to "patriate" the Constitution from the UK. It was a move touted as decolonial, yet it excluded any mention of Indigenous Peoples, their rights, or self-determination. So, they set out to thwart him. Over two years, the movement made many more journeys: to the United Nations; through Europe; and ultimately, to London. Each carried the same message: no patriation. At least not without the consent of the Indigenous nations on top of whose territories and terms the Canadian state tenuously sits. By the time of the Constitution Act, 1982, what they got was section 35, which "recognized and affirmed" existing Aboriginal and treaty rights, yet to be defined. For a movement so significant in breath, scale, and consequence, it has received stunningly lit...
Anthropologica, 2015
What happens when the subject of anthropological study intervenes in the research process itself?... more What happens when the subject of anthropological study intervenes in the research process itself? This paper explores a 1910 letter—dubbed the Laurier Memorial, written by the Secwépemc, Syilx and Nlaka’pamux First Nations in interior BC—which puts forward a robust vision for just political relations between Indigenous peoples and settlers, based in Indigenous law, mutual obligation, reciprocal sovereignty and shared jurisdiction. However, it turns out that the Laurier Memorial has implications for anthropological practice as well. As the Laurier Memorial helps anthropology to “find a place to stand,” the resulting research relationship becomes an extension of the research content itself.Que se passe-t-il lorsque le sujet de l’étude anthropologique intervient dans le processus même de la recherche? Cet article se penche sur une lettre de 1910 – surnommée le « Monument à Laurier », et rédigée par les Premières Nations Secwépemc, Syilx et Nlaka’pamux du centre de la Colombie-Britanniq...
Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, 2013
Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, 2013
Book Reviews by Emma Feltes
Public Presentations by Emma Feltes
Video is a valuable tool for creative documentation and it can be used to facilitate information ... more Video is a valuable tool for creative documentation and it can be used to facilitate information gathering, reporting, dissemination and networking. Video makes it easy to share cultural material with larger audiences. At the same time, it is important to be aware of considerations regarding the sharing of knowledge and intellectual property represented in video & film. This fact sheet offers suggestions, guidelines, and resources for using video in research and documentation. &nbsp
Emma Feltes (Anthropology) works in partnership with Indigenous activists to delve into the histo... more Emma Feltes (Anthropology) works in partnership with Indigenous activists to delve into the history of the "Constitution Express"—a movement in the 1980s to assert Indigenous rights, nationhood, and self-determination during the patriation of Canada's Constitution— with a view to inform our relations today. Jocelyn Fraser (Mining Engineering) focuses on social risk and social responsibility in the international mining sector with a particular focus in Arequipa, Peru, where she investigates ways how mining companies can collaborate with communities to deliver tangible social benefits. Maggie Low (IRES) collaborates with the Heiltsuk Nation in Bella Bella, BC, to investigate the implementation of a large scale land use agreement between Coastal First Nations and the BC government, as well the implications of the agreement for Indigenous well-being and governance. Kyle Loewen (Geography) partners with labour communities in the US who are employed in "last-mile" delivery—the distance between retailer warehouses and a consumer's home—to address labour-related issues and improve working conditions in this sector. Jeremy Stone (Planning) collaborates with urban community organisations in Vancouver and New Orleans to explore gentrification practices in these cities from a multidisciplinary perspective, and seeks to increase the resilience of neighborhoods in the face of catastrophic change. Yemi Adeyeye (Forestry) collaborates with Natura Foundation Bolivia to explore the issues of participation, knowledge production and roles of different actors in the development of an indigenous-driven environmental intervention in Bolivia. Alicia Luedke (Political Science) investigates the impact of global policies seeking to prevent and prohibit the use of sexual violence in war on armed group practices of rape and other-related offenses in conflict situations. Sarah Fessenden (Anthropology) teams up with "Food Not Bombs" activists to understand and address commercial food-waste in the face of hunger; she wo [...]
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Papers by Emma Feltes
Book Reviews by Emma Feltes
Public Presentations by Emma Feltes