Chapter 2: Neo-Colonial Interventions – Regulating First Nations Peoples' Motor Vehicles and Criminalising Drivers

A feature of the law enforcement apparatus for First Nations drivers is the expansion of driver and vehicle regulations. The far-reaching network of traffic regulations appears benign and includes driving without a licence, driving with a suspended licence, driving an uninsured or improperly insured, defected or unroadworthy vehicle and driving in breach of road rules. While these regulations are facially neutral, their coercive application to First Nations drivers through police, prosecutors, courts and prisons is tailored to the completion of the colonial project. The enforcement of driving regulations is a tool to redouble the assertion of colonial sovereignty, especially when the colonial project is under threat by First Nations peoples living and moving on Country.