Capital, control, and colonial continuities: a Marxist analysis on the passing of Bill C-5 and its implications for Indigenous rights on the Canadian Prairies

The Canadian government has recently introduced Bill C-5, which grants federal ministers the authority to accelerate infrastructure projects deemed to be in the national interest . This legislation illustrates how settler colonial and capitalist logics continue to shape Canadian law and policy, while framing it as a vehicle for economic growth and Indigenous partnership. In the present commentary, we argue that Bill C-5 advances the commodification of Indigenous lands and labour and prioritizes capital accumulation over Indigenous sovereignty, human rights, and environmental protection. We demonstrate this through Indigenous retheorizing, centring Indigenous theories developed by Indigenous scholars, and drawing on Marxist concepts as a supporting lens to clarify the political and economic dynamics of dispossession. We argue that Bill C-5 reproduces dispossession through state-backed development pathways that can undermine consultation and consent, alongside the criminalization of resistance, with a focus on the Prairie provinces where resource extraction and infrastructure development are dominant.