Do First Nations have representation in Canadian government?
550374#8
In the 1985 territorial election, the party won eight seats, forming a minority government with Penikett serving as government leader. Four of the party's eight MLAs were of First Nations descent, with a by-election win by Danny Joe in 1987 bringing First Nations representation in the government to five out of nine; this remains the all-time historical record for First Nations representation in a Canadian legislature. Joe's by-election win also lifted the party to majority government status.
Tony Penikett
24719802#2
First Nation people have come from a diverse background of history, economy, culture and government. First Nations become active politicians in the Canadian government holding a sense of pride and patriotism towards the nation of Canada. First Nations also become politicians within their own well-defined First Nation government known as the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) which supported by its membership, land base and tribal councils
Indigenous Canadian personalities
315239#64
The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is a body of First Nations leaders in Canada. The aims of the organization are to protect the rights, treaty obligations, ceremonies, and claims of citizens of the First Nations in Canada.
First Nations
163408#82
The Métis are recognized as Aboriginal, but not as a First Nation by the Canadian government and do not receive the same benefits granted to First Nation peoples. However, the 1982 amendments to the Canadian constitution recognize the Métis as an aboriginal people, and have enabled individual Métis to sue successfully for recognition of their traditional rights such as rights to hunt and trap. In 2003, a court ruling in Ontario found that the Métis deserve the same rights as other aboriginal communities in Canada.
Mestizo
196075#46
Today's political organizations have resulted from interaction with European-style methods of government through the Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians. Aboriginal political organizations throughout Canada vary in political standing, viewpoints, and reasons for forming. First Nations, Métis and Inuit negotiate with the Canadian Government through Indian and Northern Affairs Canada in all affairs concerning land, entitlement, and rights. The First Nation groups that operate independently do not belong to these groups.
Indigenous peoples in Canada
35975283#3
The Yinka Dene Alliance also opposes the project as a matter of land rights. The project would traverse around 50 First Nations' territories, much of which has never formally been ceded. Land title is still being negotiated through the BC Treaty Process. The Yinka Dene Alliance, whose traditional territories make up 25% of the land directly affected by the Northern Gateway project, argues that Enbridge has no legal right to proceed without First Nations' approval. However, based on the 1997 Delgamuukw case, the Supreme Court of Canada disagrees. According to Canadian law, the First Nations must be consulted, which is happening through the project's Joint Review Panel and through private negotiations between Enbridge and First Nations, but they do not have the power to veto. The Yinka Dene Alliance are not participating in the Joint Review Panel public hearings, calling them "bogus" on the grounds that the Canadian government has already made up its mind to support the project.
Yinka Dene Alliance
519174#6
Premiers advise the lieutenant governor on whom to appoint to the cabinet and they guide legislation through the legislature. Premiers thus exercise a significant amount of power within the Canadian federation, especially in regard to the federal government. In many ways they remain the most effective representatives of provincial interests to the federal government, as parliament's strong party discipline and other factors have impaired provincial representation there. This reality is acknowledged in annual "first ministers conferences" in which the federal prime minister and the 10 premiers meet to discuss provincial-federal relations. The Meech Lake Accord proposed that these meetings be constitutionally mandated, and some premiers have even proposed that these meetings become a formal branch of government, active in the legislative process (see Council of the Federation). However, only one Canadian provincial premier has ever gone on to serve as prime minister: Sir John Thompson. Canada's first and sixth prime ministers (Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir Charles Tupper) had also been co-premier and premier of British provinces that became part of Canada, but no one who has led a victorious general election campaign in a Canadian province has ever been prime minister.
Premier (Canada)
939696#32
Many at Kahnawake and other First Nations communities believe their people are not being well served by the Canadian justice system. First Nations people are over-represented in it and in prisons. They believe this is in part due to the imposition of the Canadian justice system on traditional ways, by which the government has tried to assimilate the First Nations into European-based culture. The Canadian government has gradually favored "indigenization" of the system. Kahnawake used section 107 of the Indian Act to nominate community members as justices of the peace, and in 1974 Justice Sharron was appointed as the first justice of the peace at the reserve. Many of the cases have dealt with traffic and parking violations, but her scope is wider, as the JP has jurisdiction over Criminal Code offences related to the following four areas: cruelty to animals, common assault, breaking and entering, and vagrancy. The "Kanien’kehá:ka" wanted further improvements.
Kahnawake
315239#51
In 1991, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney created the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples chaired by René Dussault and Georges Erasmus. Their 1996 report proposed the creation of a government for (and by) the First Nations that would be responsible within its own jurisdiction, and with which the federal government would speak on a "Nation-to-Nation" basis. This proposal offered a far different way of doing politics than the traditional policy of assigning First Nations matters under the jurisdiction of the Indian and Northern Affairs, managed by one minister of the federal cabinet. The report also recommended providing the governments of the First Nations with up to $2 billion every year until 2010, in order to reduce the economic gap between the First Nations and the rest of the Canadian citizenry. The money would represent an increase of at least 50% to the budget of Indian and Northern Affairs. The report engaged First Nations leaders to think of ways to cope with the challenging issues their people were facing, so the First Nations could take their destiny into their own hands.
First Nations
315239#92
The Canadian federal government is responsible for health and social services on the reserve and in Inuit communities, while the provincial and territorial governments provide services elsewhere. The divide between each level of government has led to a gap in services for Aboriginal people living off-reserve and in Canadian towns and cities. Although Aboriginal people living off-reserve have access to the programs and services designed for the general population, these programs and services do not address the specific needs of Aboriginal people, nor is it delivered in a culturally appropriate way. It has not been until recently that the Canadian federal government had to increase recognition to the needs for programs and services for Aboriginal people in predominantly non-Aboriginal communities. It is however funding that lags the growth of urban Aboriginal populations and the uncoordinated delivery of services through various government departments would also pose as a barrier. The federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians pointed out that in 2003 almost 90 percent of the funding for programs designed for Aboriginal peoples is spent on reserves, while off-reserve programs for Aboriginal people are delivered through just 22 federal departments, as well as other provincial and territorial agencies. The federal subcommittee on Indigenous child welfare described a "jurisdictional web" in which there is little to no coordination with or between municipal, provincial and federal levels of government.
First Nations
9407354#23
In the 1980s and 1990s, mining declined and the role of government increased considerably with larger and larger transfers from the federal government. In 1978, party politics was introduced to the Yukon Legislative Assembly. In October 1979, responsible government was granted by Minister Jake Epp. On another front, First Nations started lobbying and entered in land claims negotiations in the 1970s which culminated in the signing of an "Umbrella Final Agreement" in 1992. Although most First Nations have signed agreements, land claims and self-government negotiations are still going on today. The First Nations are now considered a fourth level of government and the specific nature of inter-governmental relationships is still being worked out. Today, the Canadian government is investing in clean energy research and environmental protection in the territory, with one of the goals being the increased involvement of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in the northern economy.
History of Yukon