POLI 211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Slovenian Intercommunal Leagues, Oka Crisis, Nunavik
17 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
INTER-COMMUNAL RELATIONS (03.28)
Next Friday (class of April 6th): no class
Wednesday (class of April 11): John Perisella
Friday (April 13th - last class): QC model of governance
Inter-communal relations
- Read Chapter by Stevenson pertaining to the relationship b/w QC’s Francophone majority and the
Anglophone community in QC (not enough time to cover this in class)
- Since last week, we are examining the place of cultural groups in QC and the political actions
revolving around this. We spent some time talking about the Francophone majority.
- Today, we will talk about the minorities: Anglophone minority (not covered in class), the Indigenous
minorities and newcomers (immigrants)
1. Indigenous community in QC
- 11 nations on the QC territory
- Represents about 1% of the QC population
- Small community but still politically important
- The question of Indigenous communities is tricky because Indigenous relationships are a policy issue
that falls under Federal government’s jurisdiction
- According to the Canadian constitution, it is a policy area where it is really the Federal government
responsible for it.
- Relationships (involvement) b/w the QC government and the Indigenous communities has been very
important over the years. Why is that so? It is not a policy area of provincial jurisdiction and yet the
QC government has been involved in relationships with Indigenous nations. Reasons for tensions:
o The Plan Nord: What is important about it? The notion that the QC government, starting in
the 1970s, has wanted to exploit natural resources on the QC territory, especially the
northern territory. Why is this significant? Natural resources fall under provincial jurisdiction
according to the Canadian constitution. It is the provincial government that is responsible for
anything having to do with natural resources and their exploitation on the province’s territory.
As soon as the QC government started to exploit these resources, especially the water
resources and the building of major dams, this meant that the QC government was
exploiting resources present on territory that was also occupied by many of these
Indigenous nations. This is where the conflict stems from.
o During the 1970s, the courts (obviously, the Indigenous nations wanted to challenge the goals
of the QC government in courts asserting that they have ancestral rights to this territory)
actually tended to side with the Indigenous nations. The QC government, in order to keep
building these dams, had to sit down with the Indigenous nations and sign treaties (land-claim
settlement) with them.
▪ First Treaty: 1975 – James Bay Convention: signed between the Cree and Inuit.
▪ Second Treaty: 1978 – Northeast Convention: signed by QC’s Naskapi First Nations
o In both cases, it was a treaty that allowed the continuation of hydroelectricity development on
these territories with a specific set of compensations in return to Indigenous nations.
- Next major step in the relationship b/w the QC government and the Indigenous nations was in 1985.
The National Assembly of QC passed a Resolution (unanimously) recognizing the rights of
Indigenous nations over their territory encapsulating some elements of these treaties + created the
Secretariat aux autochthones as an organism that would facilitate discussions with Indigenous people
in QC, serving basically as a link b/w the Native nations and the QC government. Things like land
control and ownership, recognition of the culture and the traditions of the nations, and the rights to
territory were recognized via this resolution.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- Relationships are getting more positive
- In 1990: Oka Crisis (Martin Papillion chapter talks about this) → Major shock, major setback in the
relationship between the QC government and the Indigenous people in QC.
- Since then, there has been a series of ups and down.
- In 2002: Major Breakthrough → QC government was able to sign 3 new Treaties with some of
these Indigenous nations (ex. Accroche commune with the Innu)
- Ever since 2002, talks are getting stalled over ways to implement the content of these Treaties. Some
of these treaties actually had some provisions for the possible creation of a regional government – this
was something that was negotiated in 2002. Talks surrounding the actual implementation of these
previsions have been stalling.
- In 2007: Creation of regional government in Nunavik (homeland of Inuit). Finally, the talks had
concluded and there was a plan on the table to create a regional government. However, it was decided
to put this plan to a referendum. The referendum was held in 2011. The plan to create regional
government was rejected by the Inuit population (66% rejected the plan (so back to square one). The
QC government was not too sure where to go from there. The rejection was due to the fact that the
plan had no provisions regarding the tax powers (control over revenues was seen as a crucial element
that was missing) for such a regional government – it was a bit better than the current system (the
regional government would have a bit more power than what the Inuit currently have, but still no
taxing power). This was seen as a major drawback (disappointment).
- It has been a bit more successful regarding the Cree population of James Bay. In 2013, there was a
signed agreement to create a regional government in James Bay. This time, it was decided not to go to
the referendum route. The project is in the process of being implemented.
- Since 1990s, there have been ups and downs
- Sometimes, the QC gov’t is able to sign some kind of Treaty; there is a lot of good will involved
- The implementation of all the good will into concrete institutions becomes complicated, complex and
difficult
- There are still some tensions following the Oka crisis to this day
- Despite these bumps in the road, there have been important advances, there is still good will, it would
be unfair to say that the QC government doesn’t care about Indigenous issues.
- The good will comes from the fact that the courts tend to side with the Indigenous nations when there
are court challenges, and the Indigenous nations have been able to mount some successful protests
across CA
- More importantly (Papillion’s Chapter), there is also some normative considerations that play here.
The QC government really wants to do something about the socio-economic status of Indigenous
people. The QC government is aware of the factors that affect the Indigenous people (poverty, social
challenges, suicide rates are higher, alcoholism is higher, health problems are more numerous,
unemployment is higher). There is a moral concern in order to alleviate this community’s problems.
- The literature tends to emphasize two of these tensions that account in part to these bumps in the road
and the difficulties the QC government has been facing in its relationship with Indigenous people.
- Elements of tension
o Quebecois nationalism
▪ In the nationalist discourse in QC, it is not clear what place there is for the
Indigenous nations. For a long time, the nationalist discourse was focused on the
Francophones, so Indigenous people were not really in this portrait, therefore they
were feeling excluded from this definition of what is the Quebecois people.
▪ This is a question of identity.
▪ The drawback of this nationalist discourse from the Francophone majority was the
development over time of an Indigenous nationalist discourse in direct response to
Quebecois nationalism.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Next friday (class of april 6th): no class. Friday (april 13th - last class): qc model of governance. Read chapter by stevenson pertaining to the relationship b/w qc"s francophone majority and the. Anglophone community in qc (not enough time to cover this in class) Since last week, we are examining the place of cultural groups in qc and the political actions revolving around this. We spent some time talking about the francophone majority. Today, we will talk about the minorities: anglophone minority (not covered in class), the indigenous minorities and newcomers (immigrants: indigenous community in qc. Represents about 1% of the qc population. The question of indigenous communities is tricky because indigenous relationships are a policy issue that falls under federal government"s jurisdiction. According to the canadian constitution, it is a policy area where it is really the federal government responsible for it. Relationships (involvement) b/w the qc government and the indigenous communities has been very important over the years.
