INDIGST 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Elijah Harper, Charlottetown Accord, Stopped Process
27 Feb 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
RCAP & Justice System
Canadian Constitution, 1982
● Section 35
○ (1) The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of
Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.
○ (2) In this Act, "aboriginal peoples of Canada" includes the Indian, Inuit and
Métis peoples of Canada.
○ (3) For greater certainty, in subsection (1) "treaty rights" includes rights that
now exist by way of land claims agreements or may be so acquired.
○ (4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the aboriginal and treaty
rights referred to in subsection (1) are guaranteed equally to male and female
persons.
Dancing Around the Table
● 4:04 - 7:40
○ Due to the Indian Act, some lands in Canada belong to the Aboriginal people
○ All Indian reserves are federal lands
● 11:44 - 14:02
○ Answer has become going to the Supreme Court about Land Claims
■ A lot of money going out
Meech Lake Accord, 1987
● Bryan Mulrooney
● Quebec wanted special powers within the Canadian Constitution
○ Wanted to opt out of federal programming but still have federal transfers
○ Still wanted jurisdiction
● PM gave a three year deadline
● FN people concerned about Indigenous lands in Quebec
○ Questions about more autonomous government for FN around Canada
● Elijah Harper stopped process (holding up an eagle feather)
○ Asserted that FN peoples in Canada also have a right to some form of
government opposed to what they currently had in 1990
■ Also a crucial year because the standoff at Oka happened in 1990
■ Tensions are high
Charlottetown Accord, 1992
● After Meech Lake
● PM Mulrooney still in power
○ Created a new deadline
● Similar to the Meech Lake Accord
○ Came down to a national referendum of citizens
○ Addition of Aboriginal Self Government was stipulated
● Criticism
○ Would divide Canada rather than unite it
● Shows persistent effort since the 70’s into the 90’s of Indigenous peoples fighting for
recognition within federal policies
● Not a lot of female representation on either side
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP)
● Started in 1991
● 7 commissioners
● Over 200 peoples contributing to these recommendations
○ Comprised of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples
○ Policy analysts, teachers, urban indigenous peoples, etc
● Over 4000 pages in five volumes
● Released in 1996 after 5 years
● Purpose was to develop recommendations which would make a more equitable
relationship between government and FN communities
● Talked about not just land but consequences of land disputes
● Some would argue RCAP had a lot of answers in it, but largely ignored
○ Repackaged over and over again during the past 20 years
● Vol. 1, P. 247
○ As part of its historical overview the Commission explores in greater detail
four policy directions, based on these false premises: the various Indian Acts,
residential schools, community relocations, and the treatment of Aboriginal
veterans. These four areas were selected "... because Aboriginal people have
said they were among the most unjust policies imposed on them and that
those injustices, while rooted in history, have effects that continue to this
day."
○ Residential schools were first talked about publicly
○ Policies have been uncovered and talked about
● Principles;
○ Mutual recognition
■ Three facets of which are equality, coexistence, and self-government
○ Mutual respect
○ Sharing
■ Based on the long overdue recognition that Canada’s past and
present prosperity rests on a relationship of sharing extended by
Aboriginal peoples
○ Mutual responsibility
■ Involving the transformation of a colonial relationship into a
partnership
● RCAP attempted to;
○ Aboriginal nations have to be reconstituted
○ Assumption of power by Aboriginal nations
○ Reallocation of lands and resources
■ Indigenous lands only extending to reserve boundaries is not a proper
representation of Indigenous land claims
■ No one indigenous view
● Some peoples oppose capitalism whereas others want to get
rich off of the land as opposed to non FN peoples
○ Governance and economic self-reliance
○ Economic Development
RCAP & Institutional Reform
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
● A new Cabinet Committee on Aboriginal Relations:
○ The replacement of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs with two
departments each with its own Minister, namely:
■ A department for Aboriginal Relations (to lead the treaty negotiations)
■ A department for Indian and Inuit Services
● Similar powers to Indian Affairs
● Health services, Indian registration for reserves but separate
ministry to deal with treaty and land claim negotiations
○ The Minister of Aboriginal Relations would provide “fiscal and policy
guidance” to the Minister of Indian and Inuit Services
■ Suggesting the person taking the role is First Nations
○ Establishment of an Aboriginal Lands and treaties tribunal to be involved in
two areas:
■ Specific claims
■ Treaty making implementation and renewal
○ Establishment of permanent Treaty Commissions in the relevant provinces
and territories to facilitate treaty negotiations
○ The formation of an Aboriginal Arts Council and an Aboriginal Languages
Foundations
○ The establishment of:
■ an Aboriginal Peoples’ Review Commission to monitor and report to
Parliament on, among other things, implementation of the
Commission’s’ recommendations
■ a nation Aboriginal Development Bank
■ an Aboriginal Peoples International University
■ a non profit foundation in honour of Aboriginal veterans to promote
and facilitate educational and research in Aboriginal history
RCAP and Justice
● “... I think when people start recognizing that there are reasons why we end up here,
we weren’t born like this. We weren’t born to come to jail. It is everything that took
place within our lives, all the struggles we have endured, all the hardships we have
traveled. It all comes down to this. This is where we end up.” ~ RCAP, Bridging the
Cultural Divide, Bev Auger, Prison for Women, March 31, 1993, at 141.
● “Far from being a Canadian anomaly, these conclusions are global. The failure of an
imposed foreign criminal jurisdiction system over Indigenous nations has haunted
each British colony’s legal system. In recent decades, every Commonwealth country
that has studied the problem has reached a similar conclusion: the British legal
system is not succeeding with Aboriginal peoples. The failure is a function of
relationships of force rather than justice.”
Anishinaabe Clan System
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
