Decolonizing sustainability: lessons from the Fairy Creek conflict
“Decolonization is not a metaphor. It is not a synonym for social justice, diversity, or inclusion. It is the repatriation of Indigenous land and life.” (Tuck & Yang, 2012)
Abstract
The fight for sustainability often masks deeper struggles over land, power, and sovereignty – especially in settler-colonial states like Canada, where conservation efforts can perpetuate the very colonial structures they claim to resist. The Fairy Creek conflict, one of Canada’s largest acts of civil disobedience, exposes these contradictions, revealing how state-led conservation and settler-led activism can undermine Indigenous sovereignty. This paper uses a Decolonial Political Ecology (DPE) approach to examine the conflict and argues that achieving true sustainability requires the material return of land and the recognition of Indigenous governance as the rightful authority over environmental stewardship.
This paper explores the following research question:
“How does the Fairy Creek conflict reveal the limits of state-led conservation and settler-led environmental activism, and what does this indicate about the need for a decolonial political ecology approach to sustainability struggles in Canada?”
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