Reconciliation 'at the end of the day' : decolonizing territorial governance in British Columbia after Delgamuukw ...

• Main Author: Kotaska, Janalyn Gail
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2013
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0074235; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0074235

This dissertation examines new relationships and reconciliation processes between First Nations and the province of British Columbia after the 1997 Supreme Court of Canada ruling in Delgamuukw, a decision that confirmed the continuing existence of Aboriginal title in the absence of treaties. Beginning with existing theories and critiques of reconciliation, I construct a framework for evaluating if reconciliation processes, and particularly those related to territorial governance, are genuine. The framework is then applied to an examination of new relationships, including co-governance, and a new Indigenous system of territorial governance: the Coastal First Nations’ Regional Monitoring System. In order to better understand how relationships are changing and competing claims to land and resources are being reconciled, I interviewed First Nation and provincial policy- and decision-makers, engaged in participant-observation as an employee of various First Nation groups, studied a case of Indigenous territorial ...