Canada’s Cultural Property Export Controls: An Analysis of the Colonial and Heritage Discourses that Animate the Cultural Property Export and Import Act

This thesis critiques Canada’s Cultural Property Export and Import Act (CPEIA) and its framing as a legal instrument intended to protect and preserve Canada’s cultural heritage. It focuses on the export provisions of the Act and the related experts and administrative bodies who oversee disputes under those provisions. I argue that colonial and capitalist heritage and property discourses are the foundation that underpins the CPEIA and as a result, the legislation both expressly and implicitly privileges colonial and capitalist ideas about heritage and property ownership. The legislation, on its face and through the limited examples of available application, leaves little room for alternative ideas about the meaning of “heritage” and its association with culture. Relying on Laurajane Smith and Fiona Macmillan’s work on the Authorized Heritage Discourse, I provide an updated historical account of the CPEIA and Canada’s perceptions of cultural property as a settler state in light of new opportunities to engage with the application of the legislation following recent decision from the Federal Court of Appeal and the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board.