Aboriginal Groups & Canadian Government

This research examines the degree and nature of the influence of Aboriginal groups in the government of Canada. In Canada, the term "First Nations" refers to the aboriginal peoples who inhabited North America before occupation of the continent by Europeans. As an example, the Mohawk people refer to themselves as the Mohawk Nation. The terms "Indians" and "Bands," by contrast, tend to reinforce "the labels provided by others" to Canada's aboriginal peoples.

Many issues are sources of conflict between the government of Canada and the aboriginal peoples in Canada. These issues, however, may be considered largely in the context of three broad areas of concern--the constitutional relationship between the government of Canada and the peoples of the First Nations, land and resources rights, and the place of aboriginal peoples within the Canadian system of laws. This research examines the degree and nature of the influence of Aboriginal groups in the government of Canada within the context of these broad areas of concern.

The "Oka Crisis" in Quebec in 1990 was portrayed in the media for the most part as a dispute over land. The "Oka Crisis," however, was more a dispute over the constitutional relationship between the government of Canada and the First Nations than it was a simple dispute over the right of non Oka people to build a golf course on a specific site.

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ransformation of their property rights on the basis of claims of aboriginal title. Euro-Canadians, by an large, elect the federal and provincial governments in Canada. Thus, deferral by these governments to aboriginal demands that may threaten re-election chances are not likely to occur. Continued pressure by aboriginal groups in such situations without attempts to negotiate settlements acceptable to the majority of Euro-Canadians simply weaken the influence of the aboriginal groups with the federal and provincial governments in Canada. The cancellation of the negotiations between the government of British Columbia and the Nisga Nation is an example of such an outcome. The aboriginal people cannot count on the courts to do what cannot be accomplished politically, because the majority population in Canada can change governments with a charge to change the courts. The Little Shuswap and Neskonlith blockades in Northern British Columbia in the summer of 1995 not only did not gain rights to the claimed lands, the actions likely moderated the abilities of all aboriginal groups in Canada to influence the federal and provincial governments. The comprehensive land claims process in Canada "marks the modern-day continuation of the
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2636
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)