Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada: Current Trends and Issues

Christine Hughes is a policy analyst at the Ontario Native Affairs
Secretariat.

This volume, edited by John Hylton, contains 13 articles that are
intended “to provide a practical guide for students and practitioners
who are interested in designing and implementing self-government
initiatives.” Contributors include Native leaders, government
officials, academics, policy analysts, and consultants from the fields
of medicine, law, social work, social anthropology, criminology, public
administration, geography, and psychology.

The book is divided into four sections. Part 1 establishes a framework
for the discussion of self-government trends and issues that follow.
Part 2 describes recent efforts to implement self-government in several
sectoral areas, including health care, education, criminal justice, and
employment and training. Part 3 reviews a number of unresolved issues,
including financing aboriginal self-government, spatial arrangements in
self-government agreements, the implications of self-government for
aboriginal women and Métis, and public attitudes toward aboriginal
self-government. Part 4 provides a summary of progress made to date and
identifies barriers to self-government.

Self-government for Hylton involves the development of parallel social,
economic, cultural, and political institutions run by and for the
benefit of Native peoples. In stating the case for self-government, he
effectively argues that the implementation of aboriginal self-government
must be a national public policy priority—one pursued through the
constitutional process and within the existing constitutional framework.

This book is a welcome addition to the growing body of literature on
the subject of aboriginal self-government. Its holistic,
interdisciplinary perspective should appeal to a wide audience of
readers who are interested in receiving constructive, practical
suggestions for establishing aboriginal self-government.