Life Against States of Emergency: Revitalizing Treaty Relations from Attawapiskat

Responding to the activism of former Attawapiskat chief Theresa Spence, this book explores what it means to be in a treaty relationship today.

For six weeks in 2012 and 2013, Attawapiskat chief Theresa Spence undertook a high-profile ceremonial fast to advocate for improved Canadian-Indigenous relations. Framed by the media as a hunger strike, her fast was both a call to action and a gesture of corporeal sovereignty.

Life against States of Emergency responds to the central question she asked the Canadian public to consider: What does it mean to be in a treaty relationship today? Arguing that treaties are critical and vital matters of environmental justice, Sarah Marie Wiebe offers a nuanced discussion of the political environment that caused treaty relations in Attawapiskat to break down amid a history of repeated state-of-emergency declarations.

This incisive work draws on community-engaged research, lived experiences, critical discourse analysis, ecofeminist and Indigenous studies scholarship, art, activism, and storytelling to advance a transformative, future-oriented approach to treaty relationships. By centering community voices, Life against States of Emergency cultivates a more deliberative, democratic dialogue.