ForeignPolicyCamp Event: EDMONTON
The Inherent Right to Aboriginal Self-Governance:
What Role should Canada play in realizing this Right within a Global Context?
DATE: Monday, November 30, 2009
TIME: 1:00pm - 5:00pm (please plan to arrive 15-30 minutes early for registration)
LOCATION: Aboriginal Student Council (Same building as Dewey’s, just West of Rutherford Library)
University of Alberta North Campus
Edmonton, Alberta
COST: FREE. Please RSVP to confirm your attendance HERE.
Questions? Please email Sarina Piercy at sarina@canadasworld.ca
Canada is home to many indigenous people who are demanding recognition on the world stage.
This interactive and interdisciplinary dialogue aims to provide an open space for citizen engagement. Participants will have the opportunity to share knowledge, experiences, ideas and concerns relating to Aboriginal issues and Indigenous rights. Through both large and small discussion groups, we will develop recommendations for what role Canada should play in realizing and achieving Aboriginal Rights within a Global context.
Featured Session Participants
Dr. Makere Stewrat-Harawira is an Associate Professor in Indigenous Education and Globalization at the University of Alberta. A New Zealand Maori scholar whose disciplinary interests are in Indigenous peoples, imperialism and global transformation, Dr. Stewart-Harawira has been actively involved in issues to do with Indigenous peoples, globalization, and education for over a decade. The author of The New Imperial Order: Indigenous responses to globalization (Zed & Huia, 2005), her current research focuses on the intersections of indigenous languages and ontologies, global citizenship, and new formations of global governance. Dr. Stewart Harawira received her doctorate and Masters degrees from the University of Auckland and where she also taught and was formerly Acting Head of the Postgraduate Studies Department at Te Whare Wananga o Awamuiarangi, a Maori tribal university.
Dr. Isabel Altamirano is an Indigenous Zapotec from southern Mexico. She holds a joint appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta. She has done extensive research comparing Indigenous politics in Canada and Mexico. In 1998 she coordinated the North American Native Organizations Network funded by the United Nations Development Program. She is currently concluding the research project “Mapping Back Indigenous Land”, which is a comparative and collaborative research project involving Indigenous Peoples from Canada and Nicaragua and researchers from both countries. Altamirano has published a number of articles and book chapters, including “The Construction of Difference and Indigenous Transnationalism in North America,” “The Neo-liberal and Social Investment Constructions of Women and Indigeneity,” “Indigenous Peoples and the Topography of Gender in Mexico and Canada,” and is working on a book manuscript. She teaches, among other courses, Indigenous people and Globalization, Gender and Nationalism, Aboriginal Women, Theories and Methods of Comparative politics and Comparative Indigenous North America.
Dr. L. James Dempsey is a member of the Blood Indian Tribe of southern Alberta and was born in Calgary, Alberta. He attended the universities of Alberta and Calgary where he obtained his BA (1985) and MA (1987). Dr. Dempsey came to the University of Alberta in 1992 as the new Director of the then School of Native Studies. Previously, he was the Acting Dean for the Saskatoon Campus of the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (now First Nations University of Canada). In 2001 he received his Phd. from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. Dr. Dempsey’s interests are in the Indian Act, Treaties, Land Claims, Plains Indian History and Culture, Warriors and Warfare, and Blackfoot History and Culture.
This event is open to everyone. Whether you have a background in this area or not, your participation is important. However, please be aware that as this is a dialogue, attendees will be participating in the discussion and we ask that you become familiarized with the issues. Below are some important documents that we strongly encourage participants to read.
http://www.canadasworld.ca/learnmor/ninenewr/indigenous~2
http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/962-e.htm
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/webarchives/20071211062256/http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ch/rcap/sg/sh12_e.html#3%20Governance
Guiding Questions:
1. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 13 September 2007. The Canadian government decided not to ratify this declaration. Was this decision an indicator of:
a) Disinterest/lack of commitment to Aboriginal issues on the government’s part?
b) Interest in and commitment to creating a Canada-specific solution to the issues?
Follow-up: Can there be an effective global strategy to addressing indigenous issues? Or do each country’s unique aboriginal groups and colonial histories merit completely independent approaches?
2. The Maori Representation Act guarantees New Zealand’s Aboriginal population political representation in government. Should Canadian Aboriginals be guaranteed a certain amount of representation in government, as in New Zealand? Should this extend to Canada’s representatives on an international level? What form would be the most appealing in order to achieve legal acceptance? What form would allow for the current Canadian levels of government and an Aboriginal independent government to work cohesively to address Aboriginal challenges and opportunities in a global context?
3. Would a ceremonial position for an aboriginal leader, an equivalent to the Governor General, bring more public attention to Aboriginal issues, or be just another symbolic gesture? Could one individual speak for all three major indigenous groups in Canada (First Nations, Metis, Inuit) and the smaller groups therein?
This is a satellite event in collaboration with Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, which includes an interactive media element where we will participate and interact with the Vancouver ForeignPolicyCamp event through innovative virtual software.
We look forward to seeing you there!
