Negotiating the Deal: Comprehensive Land Claims Agreements in Canada

193 Pages·2013·1.247 MB·English

by  Christopher Alcantara

NegotiatiNg the Deal
Comprehensive land Claims agreements in Canada
Negotiating the Deal provides the first systematic and comprehensive
analysis of the factors that explain both completed and incomplete
treaty negotiations between Aboriginal groups and the federal, pro-
vincial, and territorial governments of Canada. Since 1973, groups that
have never signed treaties with the Crown have been invited to ne-
gotiate what the government calls “comprehensive land claims agree-
ments,” otherwise known as modern treaties, which formally transfer
jurisdiction, ownership, and title over selected lands to Aboriginal sig-
natories. Despite their importance, not all groups have completed such
agreements – a situation that is problematic not only for governments
but for Aboriginal groups interested in rebuilding their communities
and economies.
Using in-depth interviews with Indigenous, federal, provincial, and
territorial officials, Christopher Alcantara compares the experiences of
four Aboriginal groups: the Kwanlin Dün First Nation (with a com-
pleted treaty) and the Kaska Nations (with incomplete negotiations)
in Yukon Territory, and the Inuit (completed) and Innu (incomplete)
in Newfoundland and Labrador. Based on the experiences of these
groups, Alcantara argues that scholars and policymakers need to pay
greater attention to the institutional framework governing treaty nego-
tiations and, most importantly, to the active role that Aboriginal groups
play in these processes.
christopher alcantara is an associate professor in the Department of
Political Science at Wilfrid Laurier University.
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Negotiating the Deal
Comprehensive Land Claims Agreements
in Canada
ChrISToPher A LCANTArA
UNIverSITY oF ToroNT o PreSS
Toronto Buffalo London
© University of Toronto Press 2013
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
Printed in Canada
ISBN 978-1-4426-4477-9 (cloth)
ISBN 978-1-4426-1284-6 (paper)
Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable-
based inks.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Alcantara, Christopher, 1978–
Negotiating the deal : comprehensive land claims agreements in Canada /
Christopher Alcantara.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4426-4477-9 (bound). – ISBN 978-1-4426-1284-6 (pbk.)
1. Native peoples – Canada – Claims. 2. Native peoples – Canada – Govern-
ment relations. 3. Native peoples – Land tenure – Canada. I. Title.
Ke7718.A78 2013  346.7104’3208997  C2012-908144-2
KF8208.A932 2013
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian
Federation for the humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to
Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sci-
ences and humanities research Council of Canada.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the ontario
Arts Council.

University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support of the
Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for its publishing
activities.
For Kerry Lee, Kees, Adelaide, and Anthony
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Contents
Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 3
1  Setting the Stage: The Context of Modern Treaty Negotiations
in Canada 14
2  The Innu and the Inuit in Labrador 33
3  The Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Kaska Nations in
the Yukon Territory 73
4  Where Do We Go from here? options and Alternatives 121
Conclusion 139
Postscript 141
Notes 145
Bibliography 155
Index 173
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Illustrations
Maps
Map 2.1 Labrador 35
Map 2.2  The lands controlled by the Nunatsiavut government under
the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement 36
Map 2.3 Innu Traditional Territories 37
Map 3.1 The Yukon Territory 75
Map 3.2  The Traditional Territories of the Kwanlin Dün and
the Kaska 76
Tables
Table 2.1  Factors relative to the Aboriginal groups that affect which
CLC negotiation outcomes are obtained 58
Table 2.2  Factors that affect the speed of CLC negotiation
outcomes 68
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