Military wealth: How money shapes Indigenous-state relations among Canadian rangers

Abstract

Presented as the eyes, ears, and voice for the Canadian Armed Forces in the Canadian Arctic, Canadian Rangers within the first Canadian Ranger Patrol Group (1CRPG) are applauded as being positive and progressive examples of state-Indigenous relations. Located in almost 70 communities across the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, the Yukon and Atlin, British Columbia (BC), Canadian Rangers in 1CRPG are viewed as a critical part of the arctic defense strategy and a cheap and easy way to maintain arctic sovereignty, especially in predominately Indigenous communities in the high arctic. Focusing on how Rangers and Ranger Instructors talk and think about the pay system, this article examines how value is ascribed to Rangers depending on their ability and desire to financially invest in the organization. Studying the polarity, this article analyzes how the military—which prides itself on employing Indigenous people as part of arctic defense—reinforces colonial ideologies and relational structures of Indigenous communities' dependence on state aid. However, this, I argue, further entrenches dangerous colonial stereotypes that (Indigenous) members make poor economic choices and are thus responsible for continuing their ongoing poverty and inferiority.