Are we all settlers? How identity politics is reshaping law in Canada: Warren Mirko and Geoffrey Moyse for Inside Policy – MLI
March 2, 2026
When ancestry becomes a qualification, debate shifts from evidence to identity.
The growing use of political terms such as “Indigenous” and “settler” is dividing Canadians along lines the Constitution does not recognize. In British Columbia, the government has elevated these labels from legal descriptors to timeless moral identities, reshaping who holds authority and who it serves.
When identity becomes a source of moral authority, terms like “asserted territory” by First Nations begin to be treated as settled jurisdiction. Claims over public land acquire political force even where their legal foundation remains unresolved through title or treaty. Now consider what happens when the government itself describes much of British Columbia as “stolen land” and a “colonial mistake.” It casts existing law, private property, resource tenures, and public access as morally suspect by default. Decisions favour alignment with that narrative, not those grounded in statute or equal citizenship.
