Canada: The State of the Federation 2003 Reconfiguring Aboriginal- State Relations Edited by Michael Murphy Published for the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University by McGill-Queen’s University Press Montreal & Kingston • London • Ithaca Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Library and Archives Canada has catalogued this publication as follows: Canada : the state of the federation. Annual. 1985- Continues: Year in review, ISSN 0825-1207. ISSN 0827-0708 ISBN 1-55339-011-3 (2003 issue ; bound).—ISBN 1-55339-010-5 (2002 issue : pbk.) 1. Federal-provincial relations—Canada—Periodicals. 2. Federal government— Canada—Periodicals. I. Queen’s University (Kingston, Ont.). Institute of Intergovernmental Relations JL27.F42 321.02’3’0971 C86-030713-1 rev The Institute of Intergovernmental Relations The Institute is the only organization in Canada whose mandate is solely to promote research and communication on the challenges facing the federal system. Current research interests include fiscal federalism, the social union, health policy, the re- form of federal political institutions and the machinery of federal-provincial relations, Canadian federalism and the global economy, and comparative federalism. The Institute pursues these objectives through research conducted by its own staff and other scholars, through its publication program, and through seminars and conferences. The Institute links academics and practitioners of federalism in federal and provincial govern- ments and the private sector. The Institute of Intergovernmental Relations receives ongoing financial support from the J.A. Corry Memorial Endowment Fund, the Royal Bank of Canada Endowment Fund, Power Corporation, the Government of Canada, and the Government of Ontario. We are grateful for this support which enables the Institute to sustain its extensive program of research, publica- tion, and related activities. L’Institut des relations intergouvernementales L’Institut est le seul organisme canadien à se consacrer exclusivement à la recherche et aux échanges sur les questions du fédéralisme. Les priorités de recherche de l’Institut portent présentement sur le fédéralisme fiscal, l’union sociale, la santé, la modification éventuelle des institutions politiques fédérales, les mécanismes de relations fédérales-provinciales, le fédéralisme canadien au regard de l’économie mondiale et le fédéralisme comparatif. L’Institut réalise ses objectifs par le biais de recherches effectuées par son personnel et par des chercheurs de l’Université Queen’s et d’ailleurs, de même que par des congrès et des colloques. L’Institut sert comme lien entre les universitaires, les fonctionnaires fédéraux et provinciaux et le secteur privé. L’Institut des relations intergouvernementales reçoit l’appui financier du J.A. Corry Memorial Endowment Fund, de la Fondation de la Banque Royale du Canada, de Power Corporation, du gouvernement du Canada et du gouvernement de l’Ontario. Nous les remercions de cet appui qui permet à l’Institut de poursuivre son vaste programme de recherche et de publication ainsi que ses activités connexes. © Copyright 2005 ii CONTENTS v Foreword vii Preface ix Contributors I Introduction 3 1. Relational Self-Determination and Federal Reform Michael Murphy II Urban and Off-Reserve Dimensions 39 2. Geographies of Urban Aboriginal People in Canada: Implications for Urban Self-Government Evelyn J. Peters 77 3. Another Voice Is Needed: Intergovernmentalism in the Urban Aboriginal Context Calvin Hanselmann and Roger Gibbins 93 4. Challenges to Urban Aboriginal Governance Gordon Christie III New and Renewed Initiatives 119 5. Rebuilding the Relationship: The “Made in Saskatchewan” Approach to First Nations Governance David C. Hawkes 133 6. Co-Management and the Politics of Aboriginal Consent to Resource Development: The Agreement Concerning a New Relationship between Le Gouvernement du Québec and the Crees of Québec (2002) Colin H. Scott iii 165 7. From Board to Nation Governance: The Evolution of Eeyou Tapay-Tah-Jeh-Souwin (Eeyou Governance) in Eeyou Istchee Philip Awashish 185 8. The Persistence of Paradigm Paralysis: The First Nations Governance Act as the Continuation of Colonial Policy Kiera Ladner and Michael Orsini IV Intergovernmentalism 207 9. The Challenges of Intergovernmental Relations for Nunavut Annis May Timpson 237 10. Paying for Self-Determination: Aboriginal Peoples, Self-Government, and Fiscal Relations in Canada Michael J. Prince and Frances Abele V Judicial Reconfigurations 267 11. Reconfiguration through Consultation? A Modest (Judicial) Proposal Richard F. Devlin and Ronalda Murphy 295 12. Residual Tensions of Empire: Contemporary Métis Communities and the Canadian Judicial Imagination Chris Andersen VI Conclusion 329 13. Self-Determination, Citizenship, and Federalism: Indigenous and Canadian Palimpsest Joyce Green VII Chronologies 355 14. Chronology of Events January 2003 – December 2003 Aron Seal and Michael Munroe 381 15. Chronology of Events January 2001 – December 2001 Brett Smith iv FOREWORD This year’s Canada: The State of the Federation is focused on the reconfiguration of Aboriginal-state relations in the federation. The organiz- ing assumption of the volume is that much of the recent intellectual and policy work in this area has not kept pace with an Aboriginal population that is be- coming increasingly socio-demographically diverse, and whose relations with non-Aboriginal peoples and governments is becoming ever more complex. Particularly vital are fresh ideas and governance models that are relevant to the living experience of land-based, urban, and geographically dispersed Abo- riginal populations. Accordingly, one of the central tasks of this volume is to assess whether the self-rule, shared rule, and intergovernmental features of Canada’s federal geometry are sufficiently flexible to adapt to these challenges. While the authors tend to agree that much has changed on the surface of Aboriginal-state relations, they present a variety of perspectives on whether these changes represent genuine progress in terms of increased governing ca- pacity, reconciliation, and meaningful self-determination. This volume aims to increase the understanding of scholars and public officials who are seeking direction in this complex and highly politicized domain of Canadian federalism, and to play a small part in helping to forge more just and lasting relationships among the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples of Canada. Contributions to the volume emerged from the conference “Reconfiguring Aboriginal-State Relations,” which was held on 1-2 November 2002 in the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University. The conference attracted more than 130 participants, including academics, government officials, consultants, students, and interested members of the general public. The theme was a natural choice for the Institute, given its importance to the federation, but also be- cause it provided us with the opportunity to revisit a subject to which we had devoted substantial time and resources in the 1980s and early 1990s. Neither the conference nor the edited volume would have been possible without the support of a large number of individuals and organizations. First of all, acknowledgments must go to the Social Sciences and Humanities Re- search Council of Canada (SSHRC) for a conference grant under the Federalism and Federations Program, and for a Standard Research Grant that aided the preparation of the volume’s introductory essay. A special debt of gratitude is owed to David Newhouse and Kathy Brock for their assistance in the conceptual v development of the conference. I also received a wealth of valuable advice from, in no particular order, Alan Cairns, Alain-G. Gagnon, Calvin Hanselmann, Roger Gibbins, Peter Meekison, James Tully, Audra Simpson, John Borrows, Peter Russell, Richard Zuker, Natalie Oman, Will Kymlicka, Nathalie Gelinas, Ron Watts, Doug Brown, Frances Abele, Kathy Graham, Mark Walters, Robert Bish, Kent McNeil, Brent Cotter, David Hawkes, and Bradford Morse. I wish to thank the Assembly of First Nations, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada for sending representatives to participate in the Round Table on Indian Act Reform, and I offer a very special thanks to Dr Joseph Gosnell for delivering the keynote address during the conference dinner. As always, the logistical dimensions of the conference were handled with remarkable skill and patience by Mary Kennedy and Patti Candido, who to- gether comprise the administrative backbone of the Institute. Thanks in this regard also go to Adele Mugford, Aaron Holdway, and Katrina Candido, and to R. J. Candido and Caroline Mangosing for capturing the conference event on videotape. I am grateful to Rachel Starr and Tim Hansen of PinkCandy Productions for the development of the conference web site, and once again to SSHRC for financially supporting the Canadian Network of Federalism Studies, which allowed us to create an online archive of some of the confer- ence presentations and essays from the edited volume. Patti and Mary also deserve a huge amount of credit for their work in preparing the edited volume for publication. It is also vital to mention our chairs, discussants, and anony- mous reviewers, whose intellectual input added substantially to the overall quality of the contributions and which is gratefully acknowledged. Many thanks are offered to Michael Munroe and Aron Seal for preparing the chronology of events for