Self-determination

"On the Land: Confronting the Challenges to Aboriginal Self-Determination in Northern Quebec and Labrador is a collection of seven essays about the various ways First Nations and Inuit in Quebec and Labrador are asserting their rights to the land and challenging the right of Quebec to sovereignty. Aboriginal voices include Matthew Coon Come, Zebedee Nungak, Daniel Ashini, and Mary Ellen Turpel. Views from the outside include Harvey Feit, Alan Penn, and Boyce Richardson. The book covers the Inuit of Quebec, the Innu of Labrador, and the James Bay Cree.

"For more than 300 years, the true Canadian North (north of the 60th parallel) was ruled either as a private fiefdom of the Hudson's Bay Company or as a far-off colony of Ottawa. The gold rush of 1898 changed that for the Yukon, but it wasn't until 1935 that the Northwest Territories started to organize itself into a political entity and not until 1953 that the true revolution began.

"Historically, Aboriginal people have had little influence on the development of Native policy from within government. As a result, national, provincial, and regional Native political organizations have developed to lobby government on Native peoples issues. Joe Sawchuk defines the various native groups in Canada and examines the origins of the organizations which represent them. He examines the structure of the organizations, their relationship with government, and the way in which power is consolidated within the organizations themselves.

"This book brings together eleven contributors who discuss the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination. All authors are recognized experts in the field, some as academics, others as indigenous activists or international lawyers. The idea behind bringing together this group of writers and their contributions is the belief of the editors that the best way to solve the seeming impasse in the process towards a United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is to operationalize the right of self-determination.

"Focusing on issues raised by the U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Peoples, this study reveals the obstacles to self-determination for these peoples in all parts of the world. The author argues, using both legal and social theory, that the right of self-determination can be available to indigenous peoples, and proposes measures that the UN might institute to oversee the realization of this right." - Provided by publisher

"This book compares and contrasts historical and contemporary Canadian and U.S. Native American policy. The contributors include economists, political scientists, and lawyers, who, despite analyzing a number of different groups in several eras, consistently take a political economy approach to the issues.

"What happens to a First Nation after the successful negotiation of a land claim? Navigating Neoliberalism argues that neoliberalism, which drives government policy concerning First Nations in Canada, can also drive self-determination. And in a globalizing world, new opportunities for indigenous governance may transform socioeconomic well-being.

"The First Nations who have lived in the Great Lakes watershed have been strongly influenced by the imposition of colonial and national boundaries there. The essays in Lines Drawn upon the Water examine the impact of the Canadian—American border on communities, with reference to national efforts to enforce the boundary and the determination of local groups to pursue their interests and define themselves.

"In Peace, Power, Righteousness: an indigenous manifesto, Mohawk scholar Taiaiake Alfred presents a strong, well-reasoned argument for First Nations communities to return to their traditional political values in order to achieve true self-determination through the power of reason. Alfred draws on the traditional teachings of The Great Law of Peace for his inspiration. He maintains that only when Aboriginal communities are grounded in their traditional values of consensus-based government will they succeed in healing the divisions.