Master of Arts in Indigenous Governance

Reprinted from: James White, ed., Handbook of Indians of Canada , Published as an Appendix to the Tenth Report of the Geographic Board of Canada , Ottawa , 1913, 632p., pp. 472-479.

"We are all treaty people."

"The Report of the Ipperwash Inquiry recommended that provincial and First Nation governments should establish a permanent, independent, and impartial agency called the Treaty Commission of Ontario (TCO) to facilitate and over see the settling of land and treaty claims in Ontario."

Aboriginal governance involves complex and difficult issues. There are many opinions on what Aboriginal self-government means and how it can best be implemented. The challenge at times seems overwhelming. The Committee views this study as one process through which the debate of self-government can be further developed. We hope our work will serve as a step toward advancing a relationship of mutual respect and coexistence between Aboriginal peoples and non-Aboriginal peoples in Canada.

"This report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples concerns government policy with respect to the original historical nations of this country. Those nations are important to Canada, and how Canada relates to them defines in large measure its sense of justice and its image in its own eyes and before the world."

Historical understanding is particularly important in the study of indigenous politics in Canada, where there is a constant attempt to link modern and traditional forms of governance. Understanding aboriginal traditions is essential for achieving aboriginal-non-aboriginal reconciliation, and many political scientists argue that misrepresentations of pre-contact indigenous governance continue to perpetuate colonialism.

From the Institute On Governance. [Report aims to] to increase awareness among Aboriginal leaders and their communities and among government policy makers about the linkages between governance and sustained socioeconomic development in a Canadian Aboriginal context.

'The Urban Aboriginal Peoples Study is an extensive new research study that has gone beyond the numbers to capture the values, experiences and aspirations of Aboriginal peoples living in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and Ottawa."