Issues in Entrenching Aboriginal Self-Government

L.C. Green is a university professor of political science and an
honorary professor of law at the University of Alberta.

This volume constitutes the report of a workshop organized by the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations of Queen’s University in February, 1987. The topics discussed covered the political process, public opinion, the Federation, and legal, financial, and jurisdictional issues as they touched upon or affected the problems of aboriginal self-government.

In view of the entrenchment of aboriginal rights in the Charter, it is interesting to find one of the discussants (Micha Menzer) asserting that in view of the “contrast between western society’s priority for individual rights and the aboriginal peoples’ dedication to communal rights ... the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, seen as an essential in Canadian society to protect against abuses of government, does not have the same imperative in aboriginal society, which has its own historical methods of securing fundamental freedoms and democratic rights” (p. 29). This partly explains aboriginal strivings for self-government with their own indigenous institutions.

To achieve this, the central government and the people of Canada must recognize that what is good for the whole country may not be the method by which the aboriginal peoples will be satisfied. There is thus a major task in so far as public opinion is concerned. The public must accept that self-government is not only concerned with land, but relates to what “the organized society of aboriginal peoples did before corning into contact with whites.... It logically would include many other social activities, such as the determination of descent and family matters” (p. 63). But the aborigines must recognize modern developments, particularly in relation to conservation. The problem raises both political and legal issues and there is much to be said for the suggestion that aboriginal leaders might “pledge” to refrain from court processes for a reasonable time while political negotiations with the federal and provincial governments take place (p. 88). But the aboriginals have some ground for complaining that the latter have dragged their feet for too long already.

Perhaps the most significant statement made at the workshop was Ian Cowie’s: “What is required is to have an aboriginal community present its own self-government requirements, identify powers and financial requirements for the future, and provide a basis for integrating those requirements with the non-aboriginal view of how governments function” (p. 124) — but their proposals must be realistic and the non-aboriginal authorities must show both goodwill and good faith.