Indigenous rights, peoples, and space exploration: A response to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Consulting Canadians on a framework for future space exploration activities

Canada is beginning to plan its next chapter of space exploration that includes sending humans back to the Moon and onwards to Mars. This includes understanding humanities place in space and who will benefit from our exploration. As part of this plan the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) placed a call for consultations. In response, we presented comments urging the CSA to be inclusive of Indigenous peoples in the planning as well as to be inclusive of Indigenous rights and worldview in the future of space exploration. In particular, we explore the questions of how Outer Space Laws intersect with treaties between Indigenous Nations and the Crown in what is today Canada, how the current narratives of space exploration parallel the historic narratives of colonization that negatively impact Indigenous peoples, and how the future of commercial exploitation of outer space acts to further colonization.