ABSTRACT
Over the last decade, debates over Indigenous self-governance and hydrocarbon pipeline permitting have punctuated the politics of Northwestern British Columbia, Canada. Following these political struggles, this chapter examines how the emergence of COVID-19 has impacted relations between Indigenous Peoples and provincial authorities in Northwest British Columbia. We highlight how settler authorities have recognized Indigenous jurisdiction to institute emergency public health measures while declaring exceptions to emergency lockdowns for resource extractive industries. The effect has been to recognize Indigenous autonomy to lockdown their communities but not control the flow of hydrocarbons across their territories. Thus, the pandemic created the context for expanded Indigenous control of non-essential movements on their lands, while essential services designations simultaneously define an exception that enables the expansion of colonial extractive regimes. To understand these developments, we argue that it is necessary to comprehend how Indigenous-settler relations entwine with the biopolitics of security, where authorities establish limits to movement and declare exceptions to restrictions in the name of protecting the health and well-being of society and the economy.
