Emma Feltes

Emma Feltes’ research examines the structure and operation of Canadian colonialism, with a focus on critical constitutionalism, international law and transnational decolonization, environmental crisis, and climate justice. A settler scholar, writer, and anticolonial activist, she draws on more than a decade working in alliance with Secwépemc and Tŝilhqot’in Peoples in interior British Columbia. Her current book project (forthcoming, Minnesota) examines the “Constitution Express,” a 1980s movement that opposed the patriation of Canada’s Constitution from the UK without Indigenous jurisdiction and consent. Her new research looks at state and Indigenous jurisdiction in times of emergency, focusing on decolonial responses to the climate crisis that spring from Indigenous legal orders. Her scholarship has been published in Anthropologica, BC Studies, and the Canadian Journal for Law and Society, and her public writing appears in The Conversation, The Breach, and the Globe and Mail. She has written numerous submissions to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in support of Indigenous land defenders. Previous to joining the University of Toronto, she was an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at York University, and a Fulbright Scholar and SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell.

Funded PhD or Post-Doctoral Fellowship Opportunity

Selected Publications

Books

• Feltes, Emma. Forthcoming. The Constitution Express: Indigenous Jurisdiction and the Patriation of Canada’s Constitution. (Under contract with University of Minnesota Press.)  

Edited Issues and Volumes

• Special Issue: “The Constitution Express: A 40 Year Retrospective.” 2022. BC Studies, Winter 2021/2022, No. 212, guest editors Emma Feltes and Glen Coulthard.  

Peer-Reviewed Articles and Chapters

• Stacey, Jocelyn, Emma Feltes, and the Tŝilhqot’in National Government. (In press.) “Reclaiming Fire: Resistance, Resurgence and Indigenous Jurisdiction in the Climate Emergency.” Accepted by the Journal of Human Rights and Environment.  
• Feltes, Emma, Jocelyn Stacey, and the Tŝilhqot’in National Government. 2023. “Crisis, Colonialism and Constitutional Habits: Indigenous Jurisdiction in Times of Emergency.” Canadian Journal of Law and Society. Volume 38, Issue 1: 1-22. Awarded Canadian Law and Society Association best English language article (2024).
• Feltes, Emma and Sharon Venne. 2022. “Decolonization, Not Patriation: The Constitution Express at the Russell Tribunal.” BC Studies, Winter 2021/2022, Issue 212: 65-100. Awarded BC Studies Prize for best article (2022).
• Feltes, Emma. 2022. “On Getting it Right the First Time: Researching the Constitution Express.” In Voicing Identity: Cultural Appropriation and Indigenous Issues, edited by Kent McNeil and John Borrows, 253-274.  
• Feltes, Emma. 2015. “Research as Guesthood: The Memorial to Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Resolving Indigenous-Settler Relations in British Columbia.” Anthropologica, Volume 57, Issue 2: 469-480.  
• Engler, Cecilia and David VanderZwaag, Richard Apostle, Martin Castonguay, Julian Dodson, Emma Feltes, Charles Norchi, and Rachel White. 2013. “Sustaining American Eels: A Slippery Species for Science and Governance.” International Wildlife Law & Policy, Volume 16, Issue 2-3: 128-169.

Non-Peer Reviewed Articles

• Feltes, Emma. 2024. “An Absolute No To That!: An Interview with tsiqw xwéxwne — Red Hummingbird Judy (Manuel) Wilson 10 Years After Mount Polley.” BC Studies, Spring 2024, No. 221.  
• Feltes, Emma and Glen Coulthard. 2022. “Introduction: The Constitution Express Revisited.” BC Studies, Winter 2021/2022, Issue 212: 13-31.  

Community Reports

• Verhaeghe, Crystal, Jocelyn Stacey and Emma Feltes. 2025. “Nagwentled – Changing Waters; Learnings from the 2024 Tŝilqox Landslide.” Report produced for Tŝilhqot’in National Government.
• Pasternak, Shiri, Anne Spice and Emma Feltes. 2021. “A User Guide for Land Defenders: The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.” Brief for Yellowhead Institute.
• Feltes, Emma, Jocelyn Stacey and Crystal Verhaeghe. 2021. “Dada Nentsen Gha Yatast-Ig; Tŝilhqot’in in the Time of COVID: Strengthening Tŝilhqot’in Ways to Protect Our People.” Report produced for Tŝilhqot’in National Government.
• Verhaeghe, Crystal, Emma Feltes and Jocelyn Stacey. 2019. "Nagwediẑk’an Gwaneŝ Gangu Ch’inidẑed Ganexwilagh: The Fires Awakened Us; Tŝilhqot’in Report on the 2017 Wildfires.” Report produced for Tŝilhqot’in National Government.
• Ignace, Ronald, Emma Feltes, Marianne Ignace and Kenneth Favrholdt. 2010. The Memorial to Sir Wilfrid Laurier; Commemorating the 100th Anniversary, 1910-2010. Shuswap Nation Tribal Council.

Panels Organized

• Reclaiming Indigenous Jurisdiction in the Climate Crisis: Critical Analyses of ‘Critical’ Infrastructure, Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, 2025, (accepted; cancelled due to US travel advisory)
• George Manuel's Fourth World: Its Impact and Relevance Today, American Anthropology Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, 2019.
• The Legacy of Arthur Manuel: A Roundtable on His Revolutionary Thought and Writing, Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, 2019.
• Inter-Peoples Consent Practices and Free Prior Informed Consent, Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage Conference, Vancouver, BC, 2011.

Conference Papers Presented

• "Right to Burn: Indigenous Rights and Jurisdiction in a Country on Fire," co-author Jocelyn Stacey, Infrastructure Beyond Extractivism webinar, 2025.
• "Crisis, Colonialism and Constitutional Habits," co-author Jocelyn Stacey, Legacies of Patriation Conference, Centre for Constitutional Studies (online), 2022.
• "The Constitution Express and Decolonizing Jurisdiction," Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting, Portland, OR, 2019.
• "The Constitution Express, Relational Politics, and Indigenous Jurisdiction," American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, San Jose, CA, 2018.
• "The Constitution Express: An International Movement for Indigenous Jurisdiction Indigenous Internationalism in Context Symposium," Tromsø, Norway, 2018.
• "Research Models Founded on Respect Between Sovereigns and Indigenous Legal Principles," Transforming Colonial Categories Workshop, York University, Toronto, ON, 2012.
• "A Memorial to Sir Wilfrid Laurier: The Document, Indigenous Sovereignty, and Anthropological Allies in BC," American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, QC, 2011.
• "Reciprocity, Protocol, and the Research Relationship," Canadian Anthropology Society Annual Meeting, Fredericton, NB, 2011.
• "Reciprocity, Protocol, and the Research Relationship," Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, 2011.

Select Public and Community Presentations

• "Dancing Around the Table: Film Screening and Panel Discussion" (public panel), organized by the Centre for Constitutional Studies, Edmonton, AB, 2024.
• "The Constitution Express and the Making of Indigenous Rights in Canada" (public lecture), organized by University of British Columbia Public Scholars Initiative, Vancouver, BC, 2017.
• "Their Contingent Liabilities are Our Contingent Assets," “Aboriginal Title: Value It!” Conference, Westbank First Nation, BC, 2014.
• "The Economic Uncertainty of Indigenous Rights," Assembly of First Nations Comprehensive Claims Policy Working Group, Vancouver, BC, 2012.
• "The Economic Uncertainty of Indigenous Rights," Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians General Meeting, London, ON, 2012.