Abstract

Due to their historical occupation of this country prior to European settlement Aboriginal people have special status in this country. Long viewed as wards of the Canadian state, Aboriginal people are no longer willing to remain in that position. Today natives are exerting pressure on the Canadian state to recognize them as self-governing people. This demand for self-government is one of the most complex issues facing the Canadian state and threatens the sovereignty of the nation-state. To date, a number of attempts have been made at arriving at a working form of native self-government. The Canadian state has been unsuccessfully trying to develop a universal concept for self-government, applicable for all natives and binding to all ten provinces. Instead what it should attempt is a community-based post-modern approach. Where each native community is consulted as to what type of self-government that particular community wishes to realize.