I. The U.S., Canadian and Australian governments have all had a history of exploiting their native peoples.
II. The United States has made recent gains in protecting native rights.
Executive Order 13007 and the land claims of Quechan Indians.
B. Hawaiian sovereignty movement and State office of land claims.
III. Australia has made significant gains in honoring aboriginal rights.
IV. Canada has made significant gains in honoring aboriginal rights.
Rights of self-governance granted to natives.
V. New Zealand has pursued an equal partnership with its native people, moving farther along the path towards pure equality than Canada, the U.S. or Australia.
Most Americans are familiar with the sorry history of the ways in which the United States government and settlers of European ancestry have over the centuries continually violated the legal and moral rights of the native peoples of the country. But the history of the United States is not unique in this respect รป although this is hardly a fact in which Americans can take comfort. If one looks at the United States, Australia, and Canada, one discovers that each of these countries has in fundamental ways violated the rights of native peoples, with the most of the worst violations occurring in the earliest years of settlement, when indigenous groups were still in possession of large amounts of territory. During the 20th century, and increasingly in the latter half of this century, these three national governments have been increasingly willing to make some forms of restitution to native groups, although never giving anything in value equal to that which was taken from the people to begin with. This paper examines the reconciliation efforts of these three governments.
The United States has a long history of either simply killing off its native populations or of driving them off their land. For many years, this meant pushing Native Americans farther West (and to some e...