The Indian Act and Racialized Indigenous Rights.: the Wet’suwet’en pipeline protest.

This article explores the relations between the Government of Canada and the Indigenous people in a capitalist context. By applying the expropriation-exploitation model proposed by Nancy Fraser (2016), the article shows how the government uses legislation as a capitalist management tool from colonial times to the present day. Specifically, the article focuses on a 2020 protest against a natural gas pipeline project on Wet'suwet'en territories in British Columbia and the controversial role of the Indian Act (1985) plays in a capitalist economy. The article begins with a review of the Act and its implications in the context of the pipeline protest. By drawing from Coulthard's interpretation of Hegelian "recognition" (2017) and "racialized capitalism" by Fraser (2016), the article reveals that by establishing an Indigenous status, the Act ensures Indigenous people’s participation in a capitalist economy. Finally, the essay highlights a core value of Indigenous culture overlooked by the Marxism model revealed by Peter Kulchyski (2019). While Marxists believe workers' time is exploited, the Indigenous struggles are around their land. Thus the government's proposals violate core values of Indigenous culture by proposing to compensate the people with cultural recognition and economic development plans in exchange for their land and natural resources.&nbsp