The Politics of White Identity and Settlers' Indigenous Resentment in Canada

This article introduces White identity as an understudied concept in Canadian politics and compares how White settlers' ingroup attachments and their outgroup attitudes-specifically, White settlers' anti-Indigenous attitudes-shape Canadian politics. We find that White identity is associated with greater support for government spending on policies that disproportionately benefit White Canadians, such as pensions, whereas Indigenous resentment is associated with greater opposition toward government spending on policies that are often perceived as disproportionately benefiting Indigenous peoples, such as welfare. In Canada outside Quebec, both White identity and anti-Indigenous attitudes are associated with voting Conservative. In Quebec, White identity mobilizes support for the Bloc Quebecois, while White settlers' negative attitudes toward Indigenous peoples are not associated with vote choice.

Automated summary

This article explores the impact of White identity and White settlers' attitudes towards Indigenous peoples on Canadian politics. The study found that White identity is associated with support for policies that disproportionately benefit White Canadians, while Indigenous resentment is associated with opposition to policies perceived as benefiting Indigenous peoples. Additionally, the study found that both White identity and anti-Indigenous attitudes are related to voting behavior, except in Quebec where White identity is more likely to support the Bloc Quebecois.