Aboriginal Peoples and Quebec: Competing for Legitimacy as Emergent Nations

• Main Author: Barsh, Russel Lawrence
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: eScholarship, University of California 1997
• Subjects: Quebec sovereignty; competing ethnonationalisms; debating independence; remain part of Canada; Arctic; Nunavut; Canada; Indian; British Columbia; Central Arctic; inuit
• Online Access: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1cx0s4h9

Despite the reprieve offered by a narrow ”No” vote in the October 30, 1995 referendum on Quebec sovereignty, the political geography of Canada, and indeed the idea of Canada as a nation-state, are still far from settled. Scholars and politicians have forecast everything from Yugoslav-style chaos, to the birth of a uniquely decentralized society which other multiethnic states might do well to emulate. It seems to many bewildered and frustrated Canadians that their country is falling prey to competing ethnonationalisms. The Parti Quebecois remains committed to negotiating independence from Canada. Aboriginal peoples, who comprise a majority in half the territory claimed by Quebec, have stressed publicly that they will not leave Canada willingly. The Acadians of Canada’s Maritimes region are debating whether to seek their own independence, attach themselves to Quebec, or remain part of Canada. In Arctic Canada, two new Provinces may soon be created, one in the central Arctic where Inuit are a large majority (Nunavut), and the other in the west, where Inuit and Indians comprise just under one-third of the population. In British Columbia, Indian claims to land and local autonomy are in negotiation under the auspices of a provincial Treaty Commission, and a national-level Royal Commission has tabled a report describing Aboriginal peoples as “partners in confederation.’’