| Sumario: | Green burial can alleviate the damaging environmental effects of conventional burial practices. In settler-colonial contexts like the United States and Canada, however, it also poses the risk of further appropriating land from Indigenous peoples. The research question we thus sought to answer is: What are the land use implications of green burial within settler colonial contexts? To answer our question we did a document review to clarify the legal implications of turning land into a green cemetery, and the challenges this might pose for Indigenous nations with claims to that land. We also did site visits and interviews at four different burial grounds in the Canadian province of British Columbia, which is a national hotspot for green burial. We found that in settler-run graveyards a 'return to nature' can reinforce, rather than unsettle, the erasure of Indigenous people and traditions from the land. A closer look at how green burial is actually being practiced in settler-colonial Canada serves to complicate the often uncritical narratives present in the literature. Since green burial is expected to grow worldwide, including in settler-colonial contexts, the implications of the practice on Indigenous jurisdiction is deserving of more attention. We conclude with a series of recommendations for green burial advocates and law-makers in settler-colonial contexts.
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