Colonial Extractions: Race and Canadian Mining in Contemporary Africa, by Paula Butler
| Published date | 01 June 2017 |
| Date | 01 June 2017 |
| Author | Nathan Andrews |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020702017707500 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
importance of a coherent, consistent, and coordinated approach across the many
components of an engagement with fragile and conflict-affected states if Canada is
to make a meaningful contribution to stability and security in those countries.
The examination by Gabriel Goyette in chapter 14, ‘‘Charity begins at home:
The extractive sector as an illustration of the Harper government’s de facto aid
policy,’’ and Stephen Brown in chapter 15, ‘‘Undermining foreign aid: The extract-
ive sector and the recommercialization of Canadian development assistance,’’ pro-
vides additional evidence, if it were needed, of how Canada’s aid was distorted to
support a narrow, selfish, and short-sighted political objective—giving advantage
to Canadian private sector interests. These chapters also illustrate how develop-
ment assistance programmed and disbursed in an ad hoc fashion, in the absence of
any global policy statement and strategic framework, does not lead to sustainable
and systemic progress and in fact may contribute to the Canadian public’s skep-
ticism about the value of foreign aid. There are other more appropriate instruments
at the government’s disposal to support Canadian companies’ efforts to pursue
business internationally. A new aid policy framework should explicitly exclude
this use of development assistance funds in order to be consistent with the
Official Development Assistance Accountability Act of 2008.
There is much stimulating, pertinent material in this book. One could wish for
more coverage of Canada’s retreat from supportive multilateral engagement over
the 2005–2015 period, and recognition of the important, distinctive role Canadian
civil society organizations have played, and could play in future, in a whole-of-
Canada approach to development cooperation, as partners with—not contractors
to—the government. On the other hand, that would have made it a rather intimi-
dating read. In chapter 2, ‘‘Refashioning humane internationalism in twenty-first
century Canada,’’ Adam Chapnick calls for development cooperation education in
Canada (48), a call that political leadership at the highest level ought to heed.
As noted in the introduction to this review, the current government has pro-
claimed that ‘‘Canada is back’’ on the world stage. Let us hope that in demonstrat-
ing how Canada is back, the government gets past the narrow statement of purpose
set out in the mandate letter of the minister for international cooperation, Marie-
Claude Bibeau, and develops and implements development cooperation policies
and strategies drawing from the thoughtful, useful perspectives set out in
Rethinking Canadian Aid.
Paula Butler
Colonial Extractions: Race and Canadian Mining in Contemporary Africa Toronto, Buffalo,
London: University of Toronto Press, 2015. 384pp. $70.00 (cloth)
ISBN: 978–1–44264–932–3
Reviewed by: Nathan Andrews, Queen’s University, nathan.andrews@queensu.ca
There is no dearth of books on Canadian foreign policy toward Africa.
Some recent examples include David Black’s Canada and Africa in the New
282 International Journal 72(2)
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