TRC57 Speaker Series

an Indigenous learning series

Éléna Choquette

Topic:Beneath the Veneer of Peace: Liberal Ideals and the Violent Reality of Canada's Expansion

with Éléna Choquette
Webinar Date: April 3, 2025 / 12-1pm PT
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This talk will explore how Canada's rapid expansion across Indigenous lands in the 19th century was driven by political and legal tactics that masked a more violent reality. We'll delve into the contrast between the government's promises of peaceful absorption of Indigenous lands and the use of military force against Indigenous resistance, examining how liberal ideals of 'improvement' were used to justify colonization. This topic offers a fresh perspective on Canada's nation-building efforts and challenges dominant narratives about its history.
Land and the Liberal Project Canada’s Violent Expansion
Éléna Choquette
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About Éléna Choquette

Éléna Choquette is an associate professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the Université du Québec en Outaouais. She earned her PhD in Political Science from the University of British Columbia, where her research focused on the liberal tradition's relationship with territorial expansion, immigration, and settlement in British Dominions, including Canada, from the 19th century to the present. Following her doctoral studies, she held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge.

Her scholarly work examines the interplay between territoriality and exclusion in the history of political ideas, with a particular interest in the territorial claims of states and societies stemming from colonization, such as Quebec, Canada, and the United States. Adopting a historical, comparative, and critical approach, she evaluates the legacy of ideas that have legitimized these territorial claims, addressing contemporary issues of land sharing and exploitation. Her research has been published in journals including the Canadian Journal of Political Science, Settler Colonial Studies, and the Journal of Political Ideologies. In 2024, she authored Land and the Liberal Project: Canada's Violent Expansion, which explores the "improving" ideas that informed Canada's expansion from coast to coast, challenging assumptions about Canadian sovereignty.