Episode 14: RUSSELL DIABO: TRUTH BEFORE RECONCILIATION

On 10 February 2026 • Duration 1:06:45

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Peter P. d’Errico and Steven Newcomb and their guest, Russell Diabo, a Mohawk policy analyst and advocate.

Introduction

Today Russell Diabo (Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake) joins us for a conversation about Canada’s efforts to extinguish the existence of First Nations Peoples, historically and in the present. Russell is a First Nations policy analyst, working with strategic issues that are especially highlighted now with what the Canadian government is trying to do to essentially get rid of the last vestiges of independent existence of Native peoples. Russell has been active for decades now in First Nations and Indigenous peoples' issues internationally.

Russell talks about his background—experiences at Wounded Knee and other sites where Native Peoples confronted government claims of a right of domination; learning from Vine Deloria, Jr., and in academic programs at several colleges and universities—and how this educational trajectory led to his engagement with the Assembly of First Nations and the development of his “First Nations Strategic Bulletin”.

The conversation digs into the deceptive words and practices of so-called “reconciliation”, especially its latest incarnation as “economic reconciliation” for “Indigenous self-government”. Russell explains how the Canadian government operates a public relations “SWAT” team—“Special Words and Tactics”—to obscure the actual operations of its claim to a right of domination.

Russell Diabo’s Background

Diaboshares his lifelong involvement in Indigenous activism, which beganin his teens:

• Early Activism: He participated in the 1972 BIA building takeover in Washington D.C. and the 1973 occupationof Wounded Knee, where he witnessed firefights involving federal marshals.
• Education: A former high school dropout inspired by Vine Deloria Jr., he eventually earned a degree in Native Studies and attended graduate school under Deloria.
• Professional Focus: He has spent decades analyzing Canadian policy,specifically how the "rights recognition framework" oftenserves to limit rather than empower Indigenous peoples.

Key Themes: Domination and Policy

The conversation highlights several mechanisms of "legal and political war" used by the Canadian state:

The Indian Act and "Self-Government"

• Persistent Control: The 150-year-old Indian Act remains the primary tool for managing "status Indians" and reserves.

• A"Sideways Move": Diabo argues that current"self-government" agreements merely transition FirstNations from "decrepit jail cells" to "modern jailcells". These new governing bodies often have the statusof municipalities or corporations rather than sovereign nations.

• Fiscal Dependency: Under the Trudeau and Carney governments,"self-government" includes "own-source revenue" policies, where the government reduces federal funding as acommunity earns its own money, shifting program risks to the Indigenous groups.

The Manipulation of Language

The participants discuss "Special Words and Tactics" (SWAT)used by the government to control public perception:

• Reconciliation:Diabo critiques this as a rush to avoid addressing broken treaties and the "truth" of the past.

• Consentvs. Consultation: While the UN Declaration (UNDRIP) emphasizes "consent," the Canadian government defines it as "meaningful participation" without the right of Indigenousgroups to say "no" (a veto) to major projects.

Economic Reconciliation as a Front

• Major Projects: The government uses loan guarantees to encourage First Nations to buy equity in pipelines or mines.

• The Limits of Support: Diabo cites a paper by Susan Collis, notingthat while the state supports "equity ownership" instate-sanctioned projects, it criminalizes independent Indigenouseconomies, such as the Mohawk tobacco trade.

Transcript

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Resources:

• Truth Before Reconciliation: https://www.russdiabo.com/

• Trail of Broken Treaties: https://muscarelle.wm.edu/rising/broken-treaties/

• Vine Deloria, Jr., Custer Died for Your Sins: https://archive.org/details/custerdiedfory00delo

• Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868): https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/fort-laramie-treaty

• Section 35, Canada Constitution: https://www.constitutionalstudies.ca/2021/09/section-35-aboriginal-and-treaty-rights/

• 1876 “Indian Act”: https://www.caid.ca/IndAct1876.pdf

• Sparrow v. Queen (1990): https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/609/index.do

• Bill C-15, “An Act respecting the United Nations Declaration on theRights of Indigenous Peoples” (2021): https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2021/parl/XB432-15-3.pdf

• “Bill C-5: An Act to enact the Free Trade and Labour Mobility inCanada Act and the Building Canada Act”: https://lop.parl.ca/sites/PublicWebsite/default/en_CA/ResearchPublications/LegislativeSummaries/451C5E

• L.C. Green and Olive P. Dickason, The Law of Nations and the NewWorld: https://archive.org/details/lawofnationsneww0000lcgr

• Two Row Wampum – Gaswéñdah: https://www.onondaganation.org/culture/wampum/two-row-wampum-belt-guswenta/

• Susan Collis, “From Reconciliation to Economic Reconciliation: TheRise of a State Project and Its Limits” (2025) [highlighted copy]: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HtX0PR1hinX7-_ghFfIDi8bN_ece1FIu/view?usp=sharing

Citation

Steve Newcomb and Peter d’Errico, "Episode 14: RUSSELL DIABO: TRUTH BEFORE RECONCILIATION," Domination Chronicles (Podcast), 2026-02-04, https://dominationchronicles.com/e014-domination-chronicles-guest-russel-diabo.

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