1969 White Paper “pro” and “con” arguments based on legality, practicality and political acceptability.

Essay Question: Why is the 1969 White Paper, “Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy, 1969” seen as the birth of the modern movement by indigenous peoples and their organizations to seek self-government? What do they mean by self-government? Why did “aboriginal peoples” seek self-government? What were the major steps they took to achieve their present levels of self-government? What authority do they cite for seeking self-governance? How do “aboriginal peoples” differentiate between self-government, self-determination and sovereignty? Is there consensus and unity in their demands? How have the federal, provincial, and territorial governments responded to their demands? How useful has litigation before the courts been in facilitating the growth of self-government? Can self-government bring about greater prosperity, cultural development and health? Should “aboriginal peoples” push for self-determination and sovereignty inside or outside the Canadian state? Should this take the form of a third level of constitutionally entrenched government or a pastiche of variable parallel land claim agreements? Does the passage of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act increase Indigenous legal rights? What rights should “Aboriginals” and “non-aboriginals” share in a new multi-national federal state, or will we fracture into a
differentiated unstable political and legal mosaic with fluid boundaries and no common sense of direction? Discuss.