Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
Sean Kilpatrick, The Canadian Press. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde participate in the signing of the Assembly of First Nations-Canada Memorandum of Understanding on Joint Priorities on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, June 12, 2017.
Today, Team ReconciliAction YEG embarks on a five-week focus on topics in Indigenous governance and the law in Canada. Over the next three weeks, we will be delving into the history of this topic. We begin with an overview of pre-contact systems of governance and tracing key points in the story of Canada-Indigenous relations leading to the governance framework established under the 1876 Indian Act. We then consider the subsequent development and re-negotiation of self-governance to the present day. In our final two weeks on the topic, we will examine current topics in Indigenous governance, highlighting the benefits and challenges of locating Indigenous self-governance and sovereignty within Canada’s legal and political framework. In today’s post, we define and distinguish three terms that will lay the groundwork for our discussions over the next five weeks: sovereignty, self-determination, and self-governance.
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is perhaps the most intangible of the three concepts, referring to an inherent power or natural right to define, sustain, and perpetuate identities as individuals, communities, and nations.[1] In classical European political theory, sovereignty is a social, legal, and political construct with the term conveying “absolute power over people, land, water, and natural resources, typically residing in the head of state.”[2] From an Indigenous perspective, sovereignty is understood as a political and legal right as well as an inherent human right - the “ultimate power from which all specific political powers are derived.”[3] Theories of Crown sovereignty that came to underpin Canada’s legal and political system is what, in part, allowed Canada to assert its stolen legal authority from Indigenous peoples and marginalize and subordinate systems of Indigenous law and governance.[4]
Self-Determination
The principle of self-determination is the natural expression of sovereignty - it is the “power of choice in action”.[5] The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (“UNDRIP”) recognizes Indigenous self-determination in Article 3:
Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.[6]
In Article 4, the UNDRIP states that self-determination includes the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs including the means to finance these functions.[7] Self-determination has been understood as essentially intertwined with the ability to achieve and assert desires and aspirations. In the words of René Tenasco, Councillor for the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg Council: “Self-determination is looking at our desires and our aspirations of where we want to go and being given the chance to attain that… for life itself, for existence itself, for nationhood itself.”[8]
Self-Governance
Self-governance is one way Indigenous peoples may put the principle of self-determination into practice. Self-governance is an arrangement where a “collective governs its own affairs, as a unit or subunit of sovereign power”.[9] It includes the “ability to assess and satisfy needs without outside influence, permission or restriction.”[10] Reclaiming self-governance is one way Indigenous nations can rebuild their own institutions and achieve collective outcomes in line with their respective community values.[11] In reclaiming autonomy and governance power, Indigenous peoples have in turn reshaped sovereignty and governance theory in Canada.[12]
While we have attempted in this post to provide a basic definition of sovereignty, self-determination, and self-governance, it should be recognized that these are versatile concepts with meanings that can overlap with one another. Further, ReconciliAction YEG respectfully acknowledges that the terms are used by different peoples in different ways. Over the next few weeks, we will be engaging with all three terms to provide a more contextualized and critical understanding of ideas associated with these concepts. Thank you for continuing to learn alongside us!
Yours Truly,
Team ReconciliAction YEG
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[1] John J Borrows & Leonard I Rotman, Aboriginal Legal Issues: Cases, Materials & Commentary, 5th ed (Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2018) at 3 [Borrows].
[2] William Nikolakis, “The Evolution of Indigenous Self-Governance in Canada” in William Nikolakis, Stephen Cornell & Harry Nelson, eds, Reclaiming Indigenous Governance: Reflections and Insights from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States (University of Arizona Press, 2019) 55 at 56 [Nikolakis].
[3] Roger Jones, Councillor and Elder Shawanaga First Nation, Sudbury, Ontario, 1 June 1993, as quoted in Borrows, supra note 1 at 3.
[4] For a compelling discussion regarding the historical assertion of Canadian sovereignty along these lines, see Joshua Nichols, “Sui Generis Sovereignties: The Relationship Between Treaty Interpretation and Canadian Sovereignty” in Oonagh E Fitzgerald, Valeria Hughes & Mark Jewett, eds, Reflections on Canada’s Past, Present and Future in International Law (McGill-Queen’s University Press, CIGI Press, 2018) 131.
[5] Borrows, supra note 1 at 3.
[6] United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, GA Res 61/295, UNGAOR (2007), online: <www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf>.
[7] Ibid.
[8] René Tenasco, Councillor Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg Council, Maniwaki, Quebec, 2 December 1992, as quoted in Borrows, supra note 1 at 3.
[9] Nikolakis, supra note 2 at 56.
[10] Borrows, supra note 1 at 3.
[11] Nikolakis, supra note 2 at 55.
[12] Ibid at 56.
