According to the Government of Canada, the modern comprehensive land claims process is “the primary means through which Aboriginal peoples and the Crown establish mutually agreed-upon frameworks for reconciliation.” 26 Indigenous groups have signed a comprehensive land claim agreement (modern treaty) since 1975, and over 70 more are in the negotiation stage. Despite their profound impact, there has been relatively little work in political science comparing Indigenous communities’ experiences with negotiations, and even less work in political theory that attempts to identify standards for the fair distribution of land and jurisdictional rights and responsibilities among peoples in treaty agreements.
Adopting methods in political science, political theory, law, anthropology, and Indigenous intellectual traditions, this project will develop partnerships among academics and Indigenous treaty experts from several communities with the aim of generating new insights into the negotiation of Indigenous land and self-government agreements in Canada. Building on cross-case analyses and the expertise of our partners, we will (1) compare the impacts of current negotiation procedures on Indigenous communities’ self-determination and wellbeing, and (2) develop normative approaches to evaluate the kind and scope of land restitution and jurisdictional rights offered by the modern treaty process. We aim to construct a space for community experts confronting the treaty process to develop valuable working relationships with scholars and other communities, and we hope to include representation from communities at various stages, including those currently negotiating a treaty, those that have finalized a treaty, and communities that have left the modern treaty process altogether.
DAY 1 - Thursday, May 9
Macdonald Engineering Building (Room 280)
| Breakfast buffet at Sofitel | |
| 10:00 am-10:50 am | Welcome, presentation and governance discussion |
| 10:50 am-11:10 am | Coffee |
| 11:10 am-12:10 pm | Discussion: Relationships to land (theme 1) |
| 12:10 pm-1:30 pm | Lunch at McGill Faculty Club |
| 1:30 pm-2:30 pm | Discussion: Relationships with the federal and provincial governments (theme 2) |
| 2:30 pm-2:50 pm | Coffee |
| 2:50 pm-3:50 pm | Discussion: Comparing remedies (theme 5) |
| 3:50 pm-4:30 pm | Discussion: State of the Federation |
| 6:30 pm | Dinner at Lola Rosa (Milton) |
DAY 2 - Friday, May 10
Macdonald Engineering Building (Room 280)
| Breakfast buffet at Sofitel | |
| 10:00 am-10:50 am | Reflections from day 1 |
| 10:50 am-11:10 am | Coffee |
| 11:10 am-12:10 pm | Discussion: Community participation, referendums, Indigenous law (themes 4, 5) |
| 12:10 pm-1:30 pm | Lunch at McGill Faculty Club |
| 1:30 pm-2:20 pm | Discussion: Certainty provisions and the future (theme 6) |
| 2:20 pm-2:40 pm | Coffee |
| 2:40 pm-3:30 pm | Discussion: Opportunities for collective action (theme 7) |
| 3:30 pm-4:00 pm | Summing up; What next? Reflections for future projects |
Participants are invited to reflect on the following themes, in light of their research and community experience, prior to our discussions:
1. Relationships to land
How do different Indigenous and settler communities vary in their relationships to land? How should variations in communities’ ceremonial, cultural, economic, and political practices and identities, including those relating to land, be reflected in land claims agreements and postcolonial Indigenous governance?
2. Federalism, and the Federal and Provincial Governments
How do styles and tactics of treaty negotiation (along with the willingness to negotiate) vary among different levels of government, and why? What role do these governments play in capacitating and constraining negotiations? What form should reconfigured relationships take between Indigenous communities and the federal and provincial governments?
3. Community Participation in Negotiations (Consultation, Referenda, and Beyond?)
How are community members integrated into deliberations concerning modern treaty agreements? Do community members play an active role in providing information and objectives to negotiators? How do referenda function in the context of treaty negotiation? Do referenda function to ensure that negotiations track the desires and values of the community? What role should community participation play in the overall process?
4. Indigenous Law (in Negotiations, and Outcomes)
How does Indigenous law regulate the conduct of treaty negotiators? How is Indigenous law reflected in the terms of final agreements? Is there an expanded role for Indigenous law in treaty negotiations?
5. Comparing Remedies: Exclusive Rights, Co-Management, Resource Rights
What are the different forms of land rights and land management practices encompassed in modern treaty agreements? What are the trade-offs between different options? What goals should distributions of rights to land and territorial authority track in the negotiations between Indigenous and settler peoples? How are fair distributions circumscribed by the procedures of treaty negotiation?
6. Certainty Provisions and the Future
How do certainty provisions function to affect the incentives of Indigenous and settler communities and their negotiators at the treaty negotiation table? What is the legal
effect of these provisions under current circumstances? How should we interpret certainty provisions from the perspective of the treaty relationship more broadly?
7. Confidentiality and Collective action
How do agreements about the conduct of negotiators and communities during the treaty negotiation process affect the quality of deliberation of Indigenous and settler communities about their futures? What opportunities are there for collective action among Indigenous communities confronting the treaty process?
Accommodations have been booked for all participants at Sofitel (1155 Sherbrooke St W).
Workshop sessions will take place at the Macdonald Engineering Building/ ENGMD (Room 280) at McGill – this is a 9-minute walk from Sofitel. The brunch buffet at Sofitel has been covered for all participants for Thursday and Friday mornings. Lunch each day will be served at the McGill Faculty Club each day.
Our core team consists of ten academics from five Canadian universities in collaboration with several university centres, including the Centre for the Study of Democracy and Diversity, and the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations at Queen’s University. We are also partnered with the Ottawa-based NGO, Forum of Federations.
Our principal investigator, Dr. Veldon Coburn (McGill University), is a member of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn and an expert in contemporary Indigenous politics.
The project co-director, Dr. Margaret Moore (Queen’s University), is an expert in political philosophy and the political theory of territory.
Our partners and collaborators include Dr. Carole Blackburn (University of British Columbia), Dr. Janique Dubois (University of Ottawa), Dr. Jennifer Meness (Algonquin, Toronto Metropolitan University), Dr. Darren O’Toole (Metis, University of Ottawa), Dr. Pierrot Ross-Tremblay (Innu Essipit, University of Ottawa), Dr. Janna Promislow (University of Victoria), and Dr. Christian Leuprecht (Queen’s University).
We have also hired a postdoctoral fellow to pursue research on our project, Dr. Michael Luoma (Queen’s University).
Queen's University is situated on traditional Anishnaabe and Haudenosaunee Territory.
To acknowledge this traditional territory is to recognize its longer history, one predating the establishment of the earliest European colonies. It is also to acknowledge this territory’s significance for the Indigenous peoples who lived, and continue to live, upon it – people whose practices and spiritualities were tied to the land and continue to develop in relationship to the territory and its other inhabitants today. The Kingston Indigenous community continue to reflect the area’s Anishinaabek and Haudenosaunee roots. There is also a significant Métis community and there are First Peoples from other Nations across Turtle Island present here today.
Canadians have been Called to Action through the TRC Report.
