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Jim Reynolds was born in England and emigrated to Canada where he re-qualified as a lawyer and acted primarily for First Nations, especially the Musqueam of Vancouver whom he represented for over 40 years until his retirement in 2020. In his retirement, he has continued to write on Aboriginal law and colonialism in Canada based on an interest prompted by his background and legal practice where he observed the on-going impacts of colonialism in action.
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Canada and Colonialism:
An Unfinished History by Jim Reynolds
(UBC Press $32.95)
Review by Gene Homel (BCBW 2025)
When King Charles III delivered the Speech from the Throne to Canada’s Parliament on May 27, 2025 he highlighted two key aspects of Canadian life: the historic connection with the Crown and the role of the Indigenous peoples of Canada. He hoped “that a path is found toward truth and reconciliation, in both word and deed” and he announced the new government’s approach to nation-building projects as always being “firmly guided by the principle of free, prior and informed consent.”
Jim Reynolds’ Canada and Colonialism: An Unfinished History is both timely and grounded in history. This well-researched and incisive book tells two different stories: Canada’s role in the British Empire and the fate of Canada’s First Nations people. The two parts are tied together by Reynolds’ assertion that the oppression of Indigenous people was the outcome of colonialism in Canada, a product of the colonial rule of the British Empire.
Reynolds worked locally as a lawyer for First Nations for over 40 years, including as general counsel for Vancouver’s Musqueam Band. A Musqueam case obtained a legal remedy for breach of duty by the Feds in managing reserve lands, one of many legal cases Reynolds details that enlarged the “significant gains for Indigenous peoples,” but still left intact “the fundamental colonial relationship” between First Nations and governments. He is the author of Aboriginal Peoples and the Law (UBC Press, 2018) and holds a PhD from the London School of Economics.
Canada’s growth “from colony to nation” was a traditional cliché of teaching and writing about Canadian history—something that has changed the last several decades—and Reynolds briefly tells this story. He takes a more global view of “empire”, and considers dependent colonialism in India and Africa as despotism. But the “white” settler colonies of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa were different. These settlers arrived to stay and build new societies that evolved into independent states with a majority “white” population.
Reynolds’ Indigenous focus is on how the securing of rule over Canada’s First Nations occurred and the legal and political consequences of that rule. White settlement, treaty making and occasional brute force (such as during the prairies’ Northwest Resistance of 1885) were underscored by attitudes of cultural and technical superiority, a “civilising” mission and outright racism. The book surveys the ideas of British Imperialism in Canada—not what we today think of as imperialism, but instead a specific belief from the early 1800s until the mid 1900s in the virtues of the British Empire.
“For the bulk of its history, and to an extent that is difficult to imagine today, Canada considered itself ‘British’ and a part of the ‘British World,’ consisting of the ‘mother country’ in Europe and other ‘British’ settler colonies,” writes Reynolds.
The internal colonialism that Reynolds says led to so much harm to First Nations rested primarily on the Indian Act of 1876 and its evolving amendments, a system of Indian agents and the residential schools system. While formerly dependent colonies in Asia and Africa achieved independence from Britain after World War Two, Canada’s Indigenous peoples remained highly disadvantaged wards of the state. Reynolds’ strongest content is his detailing of the legal cases and decisions and government policies that have granted what he says are significant gains, though he claims that “the shadow of the Empire remains.”
Reynolds’ account is open to some criticisms. It’s curious that he does not mention the United States in the context of colonialism, given Canada’s evolution “from colony to nation to colony.” Canadian history is partly a tale of achieving some degree of freedom from American influence and dominance from the 1770s to the present, a story that ranges from outright American invasion to cultural, economic and resource ownership or control. Reynolds misses that Canadians’ British Imperial pride, among other positive aspects for Canadians of the Imperial tie, served as a counterweight to American imperial expansion.
Attributing oppression of First Nations to the “empire” is questionable. For example, the United States’ treatment of “Indians” did not have the “benefit” of the British tie, yet was much more murderous than in Canada.
As for Indigenous relations, Reynolds does not fully admit the active agency and power of native peoples (who desired technology in the form of trade goods), especially until the decline of the fur trade and the rise of western settlement in the 1870s and 1880s when Canada needed to extend its infrastructure to hold off annexationist pressures from the US. Marriage and kinship ties with “whites” and the presence of the Métis played a mitigating role in this earlier period.
Finally, Reynolds asks what should be done about the “profound impact” of colonialism. Aside from removing statues of John A. Macdonald, renaming Tweedsmuir Park and discussing an end to the Crown as head of the Canadian state, he asserts the need for “decolonization,” coupled with the “right to self-determination” and “Indigenous nation-building in Canada” for people with no “recognized” sovereignty. “Self-government for Indigenous peoples in Canada has still not been fully recognized,” he writes. Like the newly minted cliché of “settler colonialism,” these points are problematic. What exactly would self-determination, sovereignty and nation-building look like? The courts have placed hedges on Indigenous self-government, as Reynolds mentions. Is he opposed to those limits?
Reynolds has done readers a fine service by offering a recommendable, clear, readable survey of the background to the truth and reconciliation mandate. King Charles would probably enjoy the book’s Indigenous content; the rest much less so. 9780774880947
Gene Homel has been a faculty member at universities, colleges and institutes since 1974 teaching Canadian history and politics.
BOOKS:
A Breach of Duty: Fiduciary Obligations and Aboriginal Peoples (Purich, 2005) $37.77 9781895830255
Aboriginal Peoples and the Law: A Critical Introduction (UBC Press/Purich, 2018) $29.95 9780774880213
From Wardship To Rights: The Guerin Case and Aboriginal Law (UBC Press, 2020) $27.95 9780774864572
Canada and Colonialism: An Unfinished History (UBC Press/Purich, 2024) $32.95 9780774880947
[BCBW 2024]
***
Canada and Colonialism:
An Unfinished History by Jim Reynolds
(UBC Press $32.95)
Review by Gene Homel (BCBW 2025)
When King Charles III delivered the Speech from the Throne to Canada’s Parliament on May 27, 2025 he highlighted two key aspects of Canadian life: the historic connection with the Crown and the role of the Indigenous peoples of Canada. He hoped “that a path is found toward truth and reconciliation, in both word and deed” and he announced the new government’s approach to nation-building projects as always being “firmly guided by the principle of free, prior and informed consent.”
Jim Reynolds’ Canada and Colonialism: An Unfinished History is both timely and grounded in history. This well-researched and incisive book tells two different stories: Canada’s role in the British Empire and the fate of Canada’s First Nations people. The two parts are tied together by Reynolds’ assertion that the oppression of Indigenous people was the outcome of colonialism in Canada, a product of the colonial rule of the British Empire.
Reynolds worked locally as a lawyer for First Nations for over 40 years, including as general counsel for Vancouver’s Musqueam Band. A Musqueam case obtained a legal remedy for breach of duty by the Feds in managing reserve lands, one of many legal cases Reynolds details that enlarged the “significant gains for Indigenous peoples,” but still left intact “the fundamental colonial relationship” between First Nations and governments. He is the author of Aboriginal Peoples and the Law (UBC Press, 2018) and holds a PhD from the London School of Economics.
Canada’s growth “from colony to nation” was a traditional cliché of teaching and writing about Canadian history—something that has changed the last several decades—and Reynolds briefly tells this story. He takes a more global view of “empire”, and considers dependent colonialism in India and Africa as despotism. But the “white” settler colonies of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa were different. These settlers arrived to stay and build new societies that evolved into independent states with a majority “white” population.
Reynolds’ Indigenous focus is on how the securing of rule over Canada’s First Nations occurred and the legal and political consequences of that rule. White settlement, treaty making and occasional brute force (such as during the prairies’ Northwest Resistance of 1885) were underscored by attitudes of cultural and technical superiority, a “civilising” mission and outright racism. The book surveys the ideas of British Imperialism in Canada—not what we today think of as imperialism, but instead a specific belief from the early 1800s until the mid 1900s in the virtues of the British Empire.
“For the bulk of its history, and to an extent that is difficult to imagine today, Canada considered itself ‘British’ and a part of the ‘British World,’ consisting of the ‘mother country’ in Europe and other ‘British’ settler colonies,” writes Reynolds.
The internal colonialism that Reynolds says led to so much harm to First Nations rested primarily on the Indian Act of 1876 and its evolving amendments, a system of Indian agents and the residential schools system. While formerly dependent colonies in Asia and Africa achieved independence from Britain after World War Two, Canada’s Indigenous peoples remained highly disadvantaged wards of the state. Reynolds’ strongest content is his detailing of the legal cases and decisions and government policies that have granted what he says are significant gains, though he claims that “the shadow of the Empire remains.”
Reynolds’ account is open to some criticisms. It’s curious that he does not mention the United States in the context of colonialism, given Canada’s evolution “from colony to nation to colony.” Canadian history is partly a tale of achieving some degree of freedom from American influence and dominance from the 1770s to the present, a story that ranges from outright American invasion to cultural, economic and resource ownership or control. Reynolds misses that Canadians’ British Imperial pride, among other positive aspects for Canadians of the Imperial tie, served as a counterweight to American imperial expansion.
Attributing oppression of First Nations to the “empire” is questionable. For example, the United States’ treatment of “Indians” did not have the “benefit” of the British tie, yet was much more murderous than in Canada.
As for Indigenous relations, Reynolds does not fully admit the active agency and power of native peoples (who desired technology in the form of trade goods), especially until the decline of the fur trade and the rise of western settlement in the 1870s and 1880s when Canada needed to extend its infrastructure to hold off annexationist pressures from the US. Marriage and kinship ties with “whites” and the presence of the Métis played a mitigating role in this earlier period.
Finally, Reynolds asks what should be done about the “profound impact” of colonialism. Aside from removing statues of John A. Macdonald, renaming Tweedsmuir Park and discussing an end to the Crown as head of the Canadian state, he asserts the need for “decolonization,” coupled with the “right to self-determination” and “Indigenous nation-building in Canada” for people with no “recognized” sovereignty. “Self-government for Indigenous peoples in Canada has still not been fully recognized,” he writes. Like the newly minted cliché of “settler colonialism,” these points are problematic. What exactly would self-determination, sovereignty and nation-building look like? The courts have placed hedges on Indigenous self-government, as Reynolds mentions. Is he opposed to those limits?
Reynolds has done readers a fine service by offering a recommendable, clear, readable survey of the background to the truth and reconciliation mandate. King Charles would probably enjoy the book’s Indigenous content; the rest much less so. 9780774880947
Gene Homel has been a faculty member at universities, colleges and institutes since 1974 teaching Canadian history and politics.
BOOKS:
A Breach of Duty: Fiduciary Obligations and Aboriginal Peoples (Purich, 2005) $37.77 9781895830255
Aboriginal Peoples and the Law: A Critical Introduction (UBC Press/Purich, 2018) $29.95 9780774880213
From Wardship To Rights: The Guerin Case and Aboriginal Law (UBC Press, 2020) $27.95 9780774864572
Canada and Colonialism: An Unfinished History (UBC Press/Purich, 2024) $32.95 9780774880947
[BCBW 2024]
