ABORIGINAL INSTITUTIONS

Under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, Aboriginal institutions are governed according to the principle of self-government. This principle is founded on respect for the cultural, linguistic and institutional identity of Aboriginal groups as well as the historical paths that are specific to each. Notwithstanding this principle, both the federal government (through the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development) and the provincial governments play an active role in Aboriginal governance in terms of ensuring consistency between the compliance measures associated with non-Aboriginal positive law and the mechanisms and procedures associated with Aboriginal legal mechanisms. The latter are founded on formal agreements (specifically, treaties and agreements negotiated between the federal or provincial governments and Aboriginal nations) and are, as well, framed by federal statutes (The Indian Act, in particular) and provincial legislation. These statutes have precedence over Aboriginal legal mechanisms in the event of a legal dispute.

Three Aboriginal groups are officially affirmed and recognized under the Canadian Constitution : Indians (also referred to as Indians of North America, First Nations, and Natives (in Quebec, especially)), the Métis and the Inuit. The relations between Indians and the federal and provincial governments are defined by The Indian Act, which "constitutes a genuine system of trusteeship governing Indians (both individually and collectively) and the lands set aside for them" (Dupuis, our translation). Under the provisions of this statute, Indians residing on a reserve elect, on a majority basis, the chief and the band council, which is the only authority legally recognized by the federal government for representing the reserve's inhabitants. Métis governance is, of the three main groups, the one that has been the least formalized. Although the existing Aboriginal rights of Métis communities were recognized following the Powley decision handed down by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2003, this recognition is conditional upon the demonstration of the historical character of their settlement in a clearly defined area and the importance of these rights in terms of identity and culture. The Inuit, who are anthropologically distinct from the Indian peoples, are not subject to the provisions of The Indian Act. As a result, where the implementation of the principle of self-government concerns the Inuit in particular, the federal government does not assume as decisive a role as it does in the case of Indian populations. Consequently, the provincial governments participate more actively in defining the terms and conditions under which the individual and collective rights of the Inuit are recognized.

All in all, Aboriginal issues are handled differently depending on the province involved, owing to the varying extent to which the three above-mentioned groups are present on a given province's territory.

It is also worth pointing out that in certain provinces, and particularly in Alberta and Manitoba,  the relative size of Métis populations is close to, though lower than, that of Indian groups. The Métis are, moreover, the Aboriginal group that has, according to the 2006 Census, experienced the strongest population growth. It is also noteworthy to underline the fact that close to seven in 10 Métis inhabited one of the Western provinces.

In comparisons of the demographic weight of the Inuit among the Aboriginal populations of each province, the two provinces in which the Inuit presence is strongest are Newfoundland and Labrador (where the Inuit account for one out of every four Aboriginal persons) and Quebec (10.5%), which is home to the largest population in terms of numbers (10 950 persons). Furthermore, in both these provinces, the Inuit are the main inhabitants of sparsely populated regions, namely, Labrador and Nord-du-Québec. In terms of political and administrative organization, both of these characteristics specific to Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec have facilitated the creation of intrastate institutional entities, called Nunatsiavut in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavik in Quebec.

Nunatsiavut

In 1999, the Labrador Inuit Association, the government of Canada and the government of Newfoundland and Labrador signed off on an agreement that granted the Inuit a certain degree of self-government as well as a range of local and regional institutions endowed with powers in certain spheres of public action. In 2005, representatives of the Labrador Inuit Association, the government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the government of Canada gathered in Nain to sign the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement.

Nunavik

The public law institutions framing the collective organization of the Quebec Inuit are set out in agreements that have the same force and effect as treaties. The first such accord, the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA), was signed in 1975 by the Inuit, the Cree and the governments of Quebec and Canada. In 1999, the Nunavik Commission was instituted under the terms of a Political Accord between representatives of the Makivik Corporation (which manages the compensation funds paid to the Inuit under the terms of the JBNQA) and the governments of Quebec and Canada. This commission was charged with making recommendations concerning a form of self-government responsible for managing the entire territory of Nunavik (the Inuit name for the territory of Quebec located north of the 55th parallel), 90% of whose population are Inuit. The Political Accord was then followed in 2003 by a Framework Agreement, under which negotiations were launched with a view to gradually implementing self-government.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DUPUIS, Renée (1991). La question indienne au Canada, Louiseville, Collection Boréal Express.