Canadian Federalism, Indigenous-state Relations, and the Algonquin Land Claim

• Main Author: Davidson, Jenna L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) - l’Institut canadien des urbanistes (ICU); Association of Canadian Urban Planning Programs (ACUPP) -L’Association des Programmes Universitaires Canadiens en Urbanisme (APUCU) 2022
• Subjects: modern treaties; Algonquin Land Claim; Indigenous sovereignty; traités modernes; revendication territoriale algonquine; souveraineté Autochtone; anishina*
• Online Access: https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/cpp/article/view/14081

The Algonquin Land Claim negotiations have been ongoing for over 25 years in Ontario and will be the province’s first modern-day constitutionally protected treaty. Traditional territories of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg under claim include areas in the Ottawa River Valley and the City of Ottawa itself. As a result, this land claim is unique in jurisdictional complexity, situated in urban landscapes that are heavily populated and developed, as well as rural areas that feature cottage country, hunting and fishing camps, provincial parks and natural resource projects. To answer the question: what is the process for negotiating lands for transfer to Indigenous communities within urban and rural contexts? This research investigates the Algonquin Land Claim case study within Canada’s current jurisprudential landscape of Indigenous sovereignty and recognition, and the implications it has for land use planning in Ontario. As a practical profession operating within relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, the study explores planning practices in the context of negotiating a modern-day treaty. This recount of Canada’s legislative history and its interaction with Indigenous nations infuses many references to the fundamental attributes of Canadian federalism, Indigenous jurisdiction and the tensions that lie between the two concepts. Les négociations concernant la revendication territoriale des Algonquins se déroulent depuis plus de 25 ans en Ontario, et constitueront le premier traité moderne de la province protégé par la Constitution canadienne. Les territoires traditionnels des Anishinaabeg algonquins revendiqués comprennent des régions de la vallée d’Outaouais et la ville d’Ottawa elle-même. En conséquence, cette revendication est unique en matière de complexité juridictionelle, située aux paysages urbains et bien développés, ainsi que dans des régions rurales où il y a des parcs provinciaux, des camps de pêche et de chasse, des projets de ressources naturelles, et aussi des régions de ...