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Canadian Political Science Association2026 Annual Conference Programme
The Politics of Division: Conflict,
Community, Curriculum
Hosted at University of Ottawa, Ottawa, CANADA
June 2 to June 4, 2026
Race, Ethnicity, Indigenous Peoples and Politics
L13 - CPSA Reconciliation Committee Event - Événement du Comité sur la réconciliation de l’ACSP : Roundtable: Confronting settler colonial Canada: a critical dialogue
Date: Jun 3 | Time: 01:45pm to 03:15pm | Location: FSS 1006
Chair/Président/Présidente : Emily Grafton (University of Regina)
Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Nisha Nath (Athabasca University)
Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Daniel Sherwin (Mount Royal University)
Emily Grafton (University of Regina)Liam Midzain-Gobin (Brock University)
Nisha Nath (Athabasca University)
Daniel Sherwin (Mount Royal University )
Abstract: A reckoning is approaching for the settler colonial state of Canada. Two recent books illustrate this: Settler Colonial Sovereignty: Visions of Improvement and Indigenous Erasure by Liam Midzain-Gobin (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2025) and Divided Power: How Federalism Undermines Reconciliation by Emily Grafton (Fernwood Publishing, 2025). Each builds our understanding of how settler colonialism persists. Grafton argues that the inequities of settler colonial Canada are foundational through structures and systems of federalism, and if left unaddressed by the reconciliation movement, they will undermine related progress. Midzain-Gobin highlights settler colonial worldmaking and the historic and ongoing relevance of the logic of improvement through an international lens. Together, these books hold the Canadian state to account for its long record of domestication, dispossession, and assimilation tactics leveraged against Indigenous Peoples. Join the authors and interlocutors for a critical conversation about these two books and their relevance to Canada’s ongoing colonial injustices. Grafton and Midzain-Gobin will offer opening comments about what their books reveal, followed by reflections from Nisha Nath and Daniel Sherwin. The roundtable, sponsored by the CPSA's Reconciliation Committee, will address questions related to the settler order and the extent of the settler colonial operation, discussing what is needed for advancements in decolonization and reconciliation efforts.