Aboriginal
Self-Government in Canada Essay Example:
The issues of self-government for Aboriginal people in Canada have been of current importance for several decades already. Historians state, that aboriginal people, migrating from Asia, came to Canada thousand of years ago. When people from Europe started to investigate the lands of Canada there were a lot of fishers, hunters and farmers already living there.
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In this paper we are going to discuss the problems of aboriginal self-government in Canada, historical development of this phenomenon and its importance and possible consequences for aboriginal people.
Canada played an important role in World War I, and its economy started to rapidly develop. Although Canada, as well as other countries, had to go through Great Depression, its economy continued to develop after World War II. “This growth, combined with government social programs such as family allowances, old-age security, universal medicare and unemployment insurance, has given Canadians a high standard of living and desirable quality of life”(Hogg, 191). Before World War II broke out a lot of immigrants traveled to Canada from Eastern Europe and the British Isles. After the end of the war the number of the immigrants from Europe, Asia, South America increased greatly, this certainly contributed to the development and expansion of the multiculture in Canada.
At the same time Canada managed to improve its reputation and position among other countries. Canada took part in the United Nations Since the time it originated; also Canada was the member of “the Commonwealth, la Francophonie, the Group of Seven industrialized nations, the OAS (Organization of American States) and the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) defense pact” (Peters, 13). This is for several decades already that Canadian people are concerned with the issues of the national identity. In 1980 a referendum took part in Quebec as for the giving political autonomy to Quebec, but most of the voices were against. Two years later the Constitution act was signed, “Under this Act, the British North America Act of 1867 and its various amendments became the Constitution Act, 1867-1982” (Peters, 28).
Matters of self-governing for aboriginal peoples in Canada have been for a long time under discussion already. This is evident, that they would like to be separated from Canadian government, in order to be able to take their own decisions concerning development and changes in their cultures. They strongly believe, that the right for self-government should be respected by all Canadians. In fact the right of self-government for aboriginal cultures is recognized by the Government of the country based on the section 35 of the Constitution Act 1982 (Hogg, 203). There was an agreement worked out in order to define the regulations for supporting self-government and the way it will operate. The representatives of Aboriginal cultures and of the Canadian government were trying to come to an agreement concerning the recognition of the inherent right of Aboriginal self-government, however, there are still a lot of discrepancies between them, for example as for the definition of self-government. It is clear that as Indian, Metis or Inuit peoples have absolutely different needs and aspirations and they all would like to use the inherent right in certain ways. “Some want their own governments on their land base; some want to work within wider public government structures; and some want institutional arrangements” (Doerr, 218). Some commentators state that Canada is a pluralist state, but in fact we cannot consider Aboriginal self-governments from this standpoint. The identity of the Aboriginal peoples is arranged of unique cultural and national characteristics, and above all they would like to protect these characteristics. What is vitally important is that “self-government is not about preserving cultural and national differences as goods in and of themselves, but rather is about equalizing current imbalances in power to allow Aboriginal peoples to construct their own identities” (Doerr, 256).
The representatives of the Canadian government insist that aboriginal governments and institutions should act within the frames of the Canadian Constitution; and that it is for the sake of the both sides, that aboriginal and non-aboriginal governments are able to come to agreements and develop close cooperation according to the laws of the country and aimed at better functioning of the whole system. There is an idea, that due to the fact, that aboriginal peoples in Canada are various, it is next to impossible to work out the unique form of the self-government for all of them on the territory of Canada. It seems more logical to develop the regulations and fundamentals for each Aboriginal group, for it to be able to better perform under historical, cultural, economic, social and legal conditions.
There is a certain diversity of issues that should be defined for all the forms of aboriginal self-government, namely: establishment of governing structures, internal constitutions, elections, leadership selection processes
membership
marriage
adoption and child welfare
Aboriginal language, culture and religion
education
health
social services
administration/enforcement of Aboriginal laws, including the establishment of Aboriginal courts or tribunals and the creation of offences of the type normally created by local or regional governments for contravention of their laws policing and so on (Hogg, 212).
Besides, the researchers expect the problem of the so-called transition period, thus it is necessary to foretell the problems that could appear during the stage, when some of the aboriginal groups are likely to refuse from immediate execution of the inherent right or would prefer to give a new legislative regime time and to operate on the basis of the old authorities and jurisdictions.
Thus this is obvious, that Aboriginal peoples will have to face a lot of difficulties during the process of developing their self-governments, and the process itself will probable be long and not easy. There are a lot of significant steps done till the moment for reaching the aim, and still there are a lot of issues remaining ambiguous and a lot of problems remaining unsolved. The fact, that Aboriginal peoples have their right for developing and sustaining their unique cultural and political traits, is incontestable. Canada has always been a multi cultural country and there should be respect and support for all peoples constituting population of it.
To make a conclusion, in order to manage the company successfully, it is indispensable to pay attention to all the functions of management and to follow carefully all the stages: planning, organizing, leading and controlling.
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