Citizens Plus: Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian State (Brenda and David McLean Canadian Studies Series)

by Cairns, Alan

• ISBN13: 9780774807678
• ISBN10: 0774807679
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: Univ of British Columbia Pr

Summary

In Citizens Plus, Alan Cairns unravels the historical record to clarify the current impasse in negotiations between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian state. He considers the assimilationist policy of the imperial era, examines more recent government initiatives, and analyzes the emergence of the nation-to-nation paradigm given massive support by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

Citizens Plus strikes a middle ground between a revised assimilation policy and the nation-to-nation vision, supporting constitutional and institutional arrangements which would simultaneously recognize Aboriginal difference and reinforce the solidarity of common citizenship. Essential reading for those concerned about one of the most important and complex issues in contemporary Canada.

Author Biography

Alan C. Cairns is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction	3	(11)
Empire	14	(33)
The Complex Problem of ``Voice''	14	(2)
History and Humility	16	(3)
Empire at Home and Abroad	19	(10)
The Cultural Terrain over Which the Battle Is Fought	29	(11)
How Did We Get to Where We Are?	40	(3)
Conclusion	43	(4)
Assimilation	47	(33)
Basic Assimilation Policy	49	(22)
The 1969 White Paper	51	(2)
Academic and Political Support	53	(5)
Aboriginal Support	58	(3)
Paternalism and the Culture of Leadership	61	(4)
Significance of the White Paper Defeat	65	(5)
Post-White Paper Aboriginal Constitutional Thought: Preliminary Remarks	70	(1)
Cross-currents	71	(6)
Conclusion	77	(3)
Choice	80	(36)
A Time of Transition	80	(6)
The Influence of the Past	86	(4)
The Requirements of Good Aboriginal Constitutional Policy	90	(1)
Assimilation versus Parallelism: Warring Paradigms	91	(6)
How We See Ourselves: The Discourse of Contrast	97	(5)
An Alternative Vision: A Modernizing Aboriginality	102	(4)
A Basis for Living Apart and Together	106	(4)
Self-Government Is Only Half an Answer	110	(4)
Conclusion	114	(2)
The Constitutional Vision of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples	116	(45)
A Many-Splendoured but Problematic Report	117	(5)
The Constitutional Vision of RCAP	122	(30)
Relative Neglect of the Urban Dimension	123	(3)
Ancestry versus Identity	126	(2)
Cultural Survival versus Economic Opportunity	128	(4)
The Centrality of Nation	132	(2)
The Nation-to-Nation Approach	134	(2)
A Third Order of Aboriginal Government	136	(6)
Law, Not Politics	142	(4)
Representation at the Centre	146	(6)
Conclusion	152	(9)
The Choice Revisited	161	(53)
An Early Vision: Citizens Plus	161	(4)
Aboriginal Rights and Aboriginal Nations	165	(45)
The Opening Up of the Debate	170	(5)
Academic Activism and Legal Scholarship	175	(13)
Land Claims, Treaty Negotiations, Self-Government, and Citizenship	188	(12)
Political Science and ``What Will Hold Us Together?''	200	(3)
Interdependence and Other Realities	203	(2)
An Outward-Looking Aboriginality	205	(4)
Empathy and Citizenship	209	(1)
Conclusion	210	(4)
Notes	214	(44)
Bibliography	258	(16)
Index	274