"Canada under Attack from Within": Problematizing "the Natives," Governing Borders, and the Social Injustice of the Akwesasne Dispute

Abstract

When protests arose from a new Canadian federal policy requiring border officers to carry handguns in 2009, authorities shut down the border to Akwesasne Territory. An initial Canada Broadcasting Corporation news article on this highly publicized event caused an influx of people to post opinions to the online article's message board. Examining 657 of these comments, we analyze the embeddedness of discourses relating to securitization, sovereignty, and citizenship. Highlighting the contentious dichotomy that defines the problematic as either "the Natives" or "the State," this article reveals how many perceptions are filtered through a colonialist lens—a mentality that considers Native peoples a threat and assumes that Canada is "under attack from within."