Consensus or more colonialism? Two white authors approach aboriginal relations from opposite viewpoints.

Consensus or more colonialism? Two white authors approach aboriginal relations from opposite viewpoints. Creating Choices: Rethinking Aboriginal Policy John Richards C.D.Howe Institute 142 pages, softcover ISBN ISBNabbr.International Standard Book NumberISBNInternational Standard Book NumberISBNn abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m0888066775 Reconciliation: First Nations Treaty Making in British Columbia British Columbia,province (2001 pop. 3,907,738), 366,255 sq mi (948,600 sq km), including 6,976 sq mi (18,068 sq km) of water surface, W Canada.Geography Tony Penikett Antony (Tony) David John Penikett is a mediator and negotiator and former politician in Yukon, Canada. An activist with the New Democratic Party (NDP), Penikett was campaign manager in 1972 for Wally Firth, the first indigenous northern MP ever elected to the House of Commons. Douglas & McIntyre 295 pages, softcover ISBN155365143x For the past 40 years or so aboriginal relations have been animportant part of the Canadian policy agenda. The only other countrythat can match Canada in this respect is Australia. In both countriesrelations with aboriginal people won a place on the political agendawhen significant parts of the political leadership in each country movedaway from the idea of solving the "Indian problem" and the"aborigines aborigines:see Australian aborigines. problem" by having the Native peoples disappear asongoing, recognizable political societies; those of their members whosurvived were absorbed as individuals into the mainstream society withthe full rights and opportunities of citizens. From the early 1970s on,aboriginal peoples in both countries made significant gains in beingrecognized as political societies with distinctive rights and status.The key gains have enabled aboriginal peoples to find room within thesettler states to reassert responsibility for their own societies and tostrengthen their ties with traditional lands. Although, from an aboriginal perspective, the gains were modest,they were still enough by the mid 1990s to generate a strong backlash innon-aboriginal society. In Canada some of that backlash was manifest inpositions taken by Ontario's Conservative government of Mike Harris For other persons of the same name, see Michael Harris.Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945, in Toronto, Ontario) was the twenty-second Premier of Ontario from June 26, 1995 to April 15, 2002. and, for a while, by Gordon Campbell's Liberal government inBritish Columbia. In Australia, in 1996, the conservativeLiberal/National Coalition led by John Howard For other persons of the same name, see John Howard (disambiguation).John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian politician and the 25th Prime Minister of Australia. took power with acommitment to roll back aboriginal rights. Federally in Canada, Stephen Harper's recently formedConservative government has not yet shown itself to be as clearlyopposed to aboriginal rights as the Howard government in Australia. Butalready, in its first few months in office, it has taken positions thatreduce three of the gains made by Canada's aboriginal peoples.First, it has refused to support the agreement on housing, health,education and strengthening relationships reached at Kelowna in November2005 by federal, provincial and territorial governments withrepresentatives of Canada-wide aboriginal organizations. Second, itinstructed Canada's United Nations delegation to oppose theadoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples The term indigenous peoples has no universal, standard or fixed definition, but can be used about any ethnic group who inhabit the geographic region with which they have the earliest historical connection. , totallyreversing the very positive role Canada has played in developing thatdocument. Third, Prime Minister Harper has characterized court decisionssupporting aboriginal fishing rights in traditional areas as"race-based," totally misrepresenting both the rationale ofthe jurisprudence jurisprudence(jr'ĭsprd`əns), study of the nature and the origin and development of law. and the nature of aboriginal societies. Resistance to aboriginal peoples these days does not go so far asto return openly to the full colonial assimilationist project. There isa sense that a popular political mandate is lacking for obliterating o��blit��er��ate?tr.v. o��blit��er��at��ed, o��blit��er��at��ing, o��blit��er��ates1. To do away with completely so as to leave no trace. See Synonyms at abolish.2. allthat aboriginal peoples have achieved by way of recognition and rights.Instead, neo-conservatives minimize the value of those gains and arguethat they are, in fact, barriers to practical improvements in the livingconditions living conditionsnpl → condiciones fpl de vidaliving conditionsnpl → conditions fpl de vieliving conditionsliving and opportunities of citizens with aboriginal backgrounds.This is what the Howard government in Australia calls "practicalreconciliation." Two fundamental assumptions underlie practical reconciliation--bothof which are dead wrong. The first is that there is a dichotomous di��chot��o��mous?adj.1. Divided or dividing into two parts or classifications.2. Characterized by dichotomy.di��chot ,either/or relationship between practical improvements in aboriginalliving conditions on the one hand and recognition of aboriginalpeoples' responsibility for their own societies and their right toa fair share in the management and benefits of their traditional landson the other. The second is that the aspirations of aboriginal peoplesand the leaders they select are not to be given the same weight as theprescriptions of the settler state's policy makers. The great whitefather and his advisors know best what is good for aboriginal people.The way to progress is not through consensual agreements with aboriginalpeoples but through policies poured from the colonial medicine bottle. John Richards's Creating Choices: Rethinking Aboriginal Policyand Tony Penikett's Reconciliation: First Nations Treaty Making inBritish Columbia represent the two sides of the debate about aboriginalrelations currently running in non-aboriginal Canada. The choicesRichards wishes to promote for aboriginal people have to do withenhancing their opportunities to enjoy the full benefits of Canadianlife. His arguments and analysis are aimed at showing that this can bedone best through policies that enable aboriginal youth to escape thedebilitating de��bil��i��tat��ingadj.Causing a loss of strength or energy.DebilitatingWeakening, or reducing the strength of.Mentioned in: Stress Reduction conditions of the Indian reserve For the vast tract created by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 in Canada and the United States see: Indian Reserve (1763)In Canada, an Indian reserve is specified by the Indian Act as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been and by limiting anyfurther concessions to "Aboriginal nationalism." TonyPenikett, a veteran of negotiating modern treaties with First Nations,focuses his book on how to improve the process of reachingaccommodations with aboriginal peoples that has been central to Canadiandecolonizing efforts since the mid 1970s. Penikett is not indifferent toaboriginal peoples progressing in a practical sense but does not acceptthe premise that working at agreements on self-government and resourcesis antithetical an��ti��thet��i��cal? also an��ti��thet��icadj.1. Of, relating to, or marked by antithesis.2. Being in diametrical opposition. See Synonyms at opposite. to such progress. On the contrary, he sees treatynegotiations as the only way of improving aboriginal peoples'economic opportunities in a manner that reduces their colonization. The meat of Richards's book is in his chapters on health andeducation. His chapter on health raises the question of why, despitesignificant increases in expenditure on aboriginal health care, solittle progress is being made in narrowing the life expectancy Life Expectancy1. The age until which a person is expected to live.2. The remaining number of years an individual is expected to live, based on IRS issued life expectancy tables. gapbetween aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians. That gap remains at sixyears--as wide as when the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) was a royal commission established in 1991 to address many issues of Aboriginal status that had come to light with recent events such as the Oka Crisis and the Meech Lake Accord. reported a decade ago. Richards presents data showing that the incidenceof suicide and diabetes is significantly higher among the third of theaboriginal population who live on reserves than among off-reserveaboriginals. He links this finding to the much lower levels ofemployment and much higher levels of welfare dependence of on-reserveIndians compared to other aboriginal Canadians. Surviving throughwelfare on reserves rather than through traditional harvesting of theland leads to obesity, substance abuse, depression and poor health. Richards applies a similar analysis to aboriginal education. Recentdecades have seen remarkable gains in the education levels achieved byaboriginals. But school completion rates are significantly lower amongIndian children whose parents reside on reserves. Again, lower levels ofeducation translate into lower levels of employment and income. Richardssuggests that Indian parents who stay on reserve and "willinglyforego off-reserve employment opportunities" structure theirchildren's choices away from schooling that leads to higher levelsof educational attainment Educational attainment is a term commonly used by statisticans to refer to the highest degree of education an individual has completed.[1]The US Census Bureau Glossary defines educational attainment as "the highest level of education completed in terms of the , gainful gain��ful?adj.Providing a gain; profitable: gainful employment.gainful��ly adv. employment and prosperity. My quarrel is not with the links Richards makes among poor health,lower levels of education and the welfare dependency of reserve Indiansbut with his solutions for breaking out of these conditions. The path hefavours is for the federal government to stop funding aboriginal healthand education by handing money over to Indian bands and other forms of"institutional parallelism" and instead fund parents who arewilling to make progressive educational choices for their children andwork with the provinces to enhance aboriginal access to mainstreamhealth services health servicesManaged care The benefits covered under a health contract . Nowhere does Richards consider that a more directapproach to advancing aboriginal interests, and one more congruent withthe aims of most aboriginal leaders--on and off reserves--would be toexpand the economic resources of aboriginal societies. It is remarkablethat a policy study done for the C.D. Howe Institute pays no attentionto the economic development opportunities of aboriginal peoples. By focusing its "rethinking of aboriginal policy"entirely on welfare state reforms and neglecting the economicdevelopment opportunities of aboriginal peoples, the C.D. Howe studyreflects the wrong-headed assumptions driving the conservative backlashin aboriginal politics. Richards does not recognize aboriginal peoplesas forming political societies that have never relinquished theirresponsibility for securing and advancing their collective interests. Ifwe are serious about overcoming the welfare dependency of reservecommunities, that sense of collective responsibility is something to beencouraged rather than viewed in Richards's terms as an aberrant aberrant/ab��er��rant/ (ah-ber��ant) (ab��ur-ant) wandering or deviating from the usual or normal course. ab��er��rantadj.1. nationalism borrowed from third world ideologues. I fear that thisdismissal of the political economy prospects of Canada's aboriginalpeoples is also the general outlook of the C.D. Howe Institute. In hisforeword to the study, Jack Mintz, the institute's CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , writes that"Canadians have undertaken to assure that Aboriginal governmentsand culture survive," but that Richards's book will explore"pragmatic policy reforms." Note that for Mintz it isculture--crafts and folklore--not lands and resources that Canadianshave been decent enough to leave in aboriginal hands. Richards, too, iscomfortable with aboriginal cultural survival, although he spurns thepolitical tradition of treaty making that aboriginal peoples have alwaysinsisted upon as the instrument for managing their relationships withnewcomers. Treaty making--its foundations in our legal system, its spottypractice through our history and its current difficulties, especially inBritish Columbia--is the focus of Tony Penikett's book. The openingchapters of the book remind us that 250 years ago aboriginal peoples andthe British government agreed that land would be acquired for the homesand enterprises of newcomers through agreements with the aboriginalnations recognized as the owners of that land. It is through suchagreements or treaties that most of Canada has been opened to settlementand economic development. And we newcomers did rather well through thesetreaties, leaving aboriginal peoples marginalized on postage-stampreserves constituting less than one percent of the lands in the Canadianprovinces. In the modern era of treaty making, First Nations have proved to bemuch tougher negotiators. They have shrewd and determined leaderseducated in Canadian universities who know all about the bad deals madein the past, and it is no longer a criminal offence for them to hirelawyers. Treaty making is no longer a slick operation in which an Ottawaofficial with a priest and a Mountie operating under the cover of theGreat White Mother in England embellish a vague prepackaged pre��pack��age?tr.v. pre��pack��aged, pre��pack��ag��ing, pre��pack��ag��esTo wrap or package (a product) before marketing.Adj. 1. treatydocument with florid florid/flor��id/ (flor��id)1. in full bloom; occurring in fully developed form.2. having a bright red color.flor��idadj.Of a bright red or ruddy color. and unaccountable promises. When the parties arewell matched in technical skills and knowledge and equally accountableto their respective political authorities Political authorities hold positions of power or influence within a system of government. Although some are exclusive to one or another form of government, many exist within several types. , treaty negotiation takes alot more time. Today, most of Canada is either under treaties signed withaboriginal peoples or is under ongoing negotiations with aboriginalpeoples who continue to live on their lands but have not yet enteredinto agreements with Canada on land and governance issues. The historictreaties through which the reserves of Ontario and the prairie provinces Prairie Provinces,Canada: see Manitoba; Saskatchewan; Alberta. were formed have generated hundreds of "specific claims" aboutunfulfilled obligations of the Canadian government. In British Columbia,where the provincial government did not agree to participate in thetreaty process until the 1990s, 57 First Nations are negotiating landand self-government treaties with the federal and provincialgovernments. In the Northwest Territories Northwest Territories,territory (2001 pop. 37,360), 532,643 sq mi (1,379,028 sq km), NW Canada. The Northwest Territories lie W of Nunavut, N of lat. 60°N, and E of Yukon. , where access to the Deh Cho Deh Cho[1] is a territorial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories, Canada.The current Member of the Legislative Assembly is Michael McLeod. Dene's lands is sought for a pipeline project, negotiations havebeen underway since the beginning of this century. Dedicating resourcesto these negotiations should be a top priority of aboriginal relations.Spurning the treaty process would be the height of imprudence im��pru��dence?n.1. The quality or condition of being unwise or indiscreet.2. An unwise or indiscreet act.Noun 1. . Doing sowill simply provoke conflict--occupations, blockades and otherflashpoints that are disruptive and costly, and that divert governments,aboriginal and non-aboriginal, from working constructively on politicaland economic arrangements that are in our common interest. Tony Penikett was Yukon premier in the early 1990s when a moderntreaty was made with that territory's 14 First Nations. Theagreement recognized aboriginal title Aboriginal title is a common law property interest in land. It has been recognised in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and increasingly in other common law countries as well, such as Malaysia and Nigeria. to 41,595 square kilometres, aland base large enough to support traditional harvesting activities andthe economic development of aboriginal communities. This area exceedsall lands on existing Indian reserves in Canada. Far from seeing thistreaty as promoting the institutional parallelism so feared by Richards,Penikett shows how the treaty integrated aboriginal peoples and theirpolitical authorities into the governance of Yukon. These integratingfeatures include a tripartite community-based negotiating process thatemphasizes continuing communication with third-party interests,aboriginal seats on many government boards and commissions, andco-management arrangements for conservation and wildlife that bringaboriginal knowledge into the regulatory process. The treaty process in B.C., to put it mildly, has thus far beenextremely disappointing. Although it has generated a large number ofinterim agreements on specific resource issues, it has yet to produce afinal agreement. (The Nisga'a Agreement concluded a process thatbegan before the province-wide process was set up.) Penikett, who hasserved as deputy minister of negotiations for the B.C. government, hasmuch to say about the reasons for the lack of results at B.C. treatytables and offers a set of practical recommendations for improving theprocess. Topping the list of factors that block successful treaty makingare * the high expectations and high stakes High Stakes is a British sitcom starring Richard Wilson that aired in 2001. It was written by Tony Sarchet. The second series remains unaired after the first received a poor reception. that make First Nationsvery cautious about agreeing to once-and-for-all agreements on theirlands and governance; * government negotiators who come to the table with fixed andlimited mandates; and * failure of governments to adequately resource the treaty process. Penikett led a B.C. governmental team that developed a fast-tracktreaty proposal, which he writes was "potentially the mostimportant, and also the most quickly forgotten, product of ourlabours." A feature of this proposal that strikes me as promisingis to narrow the primary focus of treaties to land, resources andfinance issues, leaving the complexities and intricacies ofself-government to a second round. The Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (French: Cour supr��me du Canada) is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeal in the Canadian justice system.[1] has opened up an alternative to theformal treaty process that may well lead to agreements similar toPenikett's fast-track treaty proposal. In the Haida Nation and TakuRiver The Taku River is a river running from British Columbia, Canada to the northwestern coast of North America, at Juneau, Alaska.During the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, the Taku Indians controlled the trade routes on the river and compelled natives of the cases, decided in 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that beforeauthorizing a development project on lands subject to a Native titleclaim the Crown has a duty to "consult" the First Nationinvolved--even though the claim has not yet been settled. Otherwise, thecourt reasoned, the First Nation might find its interests in its landsseriously denuded when it finally makes out its claim. Consultation heremeans much more than telling the aboriginal people "here'swhat we plan to do on what you claim as your lands--hope you don'tmind." The Supreme Court made it clear that consultation means astrong effort to reach an agreement with the First Nations so that theirinterests--spiritual, environmental and economic--can be accommodatedwithin the development proposal. Although op-ed writers at The Globe andMail and National Post railed at this exercise of "judicialactivism Noun 1. judicial activism - an interpretation of the U.S. constitution holding that the spirit of the times and the needs of the nation can legitimately influence judicial decisions (particularly decisions of the Supreme Court)broad interpretation ," the decisions, as Penikett observes, received a muchmore positive reception from business and government in BritishColumbia. Indeed the Campbell government, instead of focusing itsaboriginal policy on emasculating the treaty process, has launched a newpolicy aimed at reaching resource sharing and management agreements withFirst Nations in areas subject to Native title claims. The Supreme Court's decision in Minskew, a 2005 Alberta caserecognizing a Crown duty to try to accommodate aboriginal interests inprojects on off-reserve treaty lands, opened up a similar route toworking out practical agreements with First Nations on the vast areas ofprovinces that remain Crown lands and on which treaty nations haverights and interests. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario haveall developed consultation guidelines that recognize that their duty toconsult First Nations can be a vehicle for forging agreements onresource development that are in the mutual interest of the aboriginaland non-aboriginal people of the province. In Ontario, where 87 percentof the province is Crown land, and nearly all of these publicly owned Publicly owned can refer to: Public company, a company which is permitted to offer its securities (stock, bonds, etc.) for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange Public ownership, of government-owned corporations lands and waters are subject to continuing treaty rights and interests,this process has enormous potential for enabling First Nations to breakthe confines of their postage-stamp reserves. Expanding the economicbase of First Nations would create jobs and opportunities not only forthose members who continue to live on reserve but also for off-reservemembers who retain strong attachments to their First Nations. Opening up these avenues of economic development--on and offreserve--is precisely the approach to aboriginal relations to whichRichards's C.D. Howe study seems so blind. Rather than broodingabout reserve-based Indians' dependence on welfare and looking for Looking forIn the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. ways to break down the collective strength of these communities, itwould be better to work on expanding the economic base of First Nations.That is a much more promising way to increase their self-sufficiency andsense of well-being. Such an approach means that aboriginal policy isnot forced by policy analysts down the throats of aboriginal peoples whoare not considered smart enough or democratic enough to speak,legitimately, for their own interests. It was heartening heart��en?tr.v. heart��ened, heart��en��ing, heart��ensTo give strength, courage, or hope to; encourage. See Synonyms at encourage.Adj. 1. in early July of this year to see Jim Prentice P. E. James Prentice, PC, MP (born July 20, 1956, in South Porcupine, Ontario near Timmins) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. In the 2004 federal election he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a candidate of the Conservative Party of Canada. ,the Harper government's aboriginal affairs minister, and B.C.premier Gordon Campbell For the recipient of the Victoria Cross and MP, see Gordon Campbell, VC For the Scottish Conservative politician, see Gordon Campbell, Baron Campbell of CroyGordon Muir Campbell sign an agreement on aboriginal education (onepiece of the Kelowna Accord The documents referred to as the Kelowna Accord are commonly accepted to be a working paper (entitled "Strengthening Relationships and Closing the Gap") resulting from 18 months of roundtable consultations cumulating at the First Ministers' Meeting in Kelowna and a separate press ). The agreement requires the working out ofagreements with First Nations that will enable them to opt out ofprovisions of the Indian Act The Indian Act ("An Act respecting Indians"), R.S., 1985, c. I-5, is Canadian statute that concerns registered Indians (that is, First Nations peoples of Canada), their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. and run their own education systems in away that incorporates their own heritage and at the same time enablestheir students to meet provincial standards of general education. Inwelcoming this agreement, Grand Chief Ed John of the B.C. Assembly ofFirst Nations said "our kids are dropping out like flies, we haveto figure out a way to turn that around." Compare this with JohnRichards, who is reluctant to let First Nations take responsibility forthe education of their children because he thinks their leadersdiscourage the search for employment by tolerating high dropout (1) On magnetic media, a bit that has lost its strength due to a surface defect or recording malfunction. If the bit is in an audio or video file, it might be detected by the error correction circuitry and either corrected or not, but if not, it is often not noticed by the human rates. Agreements are the key to moving ahead with the Kelowna agenda andother efforts to improve the circumstances of aboriginal peoples inCanada Aboriginal people in Canada are Peoples recognized in the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982, sections 25 and 35, respectively as Indians, M��tis, and Inuit. It also refers to self-identification of Aboriginal Peoples who live within Canada, but who have not chosen to accept the . Tony Penikett shows how difficult it is to reach theseagreements and how limited our success has been so far. But he makes aconvincing case that despite the difficulties this is the only way togo. Aboriginal peoples have had enough of having things done to them,and more than enough of having things done for them. From now on, weshould focus on doing things with them. That is the most practical andhonourable way of serving our common interests. Peter H. Russell is professor emeritus of political science at theUniversity of Toronto Research at the University of Toronto has been responsible for the world's first electronic heart pacemaker, artificial larynx, single-lung transplant, nerve transplant, artificial pancreas, chemical laser, G-suit, the first practical electron microscope, the first cloning of T-cells, . His most recent book is Recognizing AboriginalTitle: The Mabo Case and Aboriginal Resistance to English-SettlerColonialism (University of Toronto Press, 2005).