Frances Abele

Four Pathways to Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada

Abstract Recent decades have seen the rising of a vital, multifaceted politics in Canada, focused on the future relations between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian state. While there are many debates about specific arrangements, there is consensus that the negotiated establishment of Aboriginal self-government constitutes a major piece of unfinished business for the Canadian federation. This essay seeks to contribute more structure and focus to contemporary debates by examining four different models of Aboriginal government: “mini-municipalities,” a third order of government institutions, the public government federal option, and nation-to-nation relations. Each form has different implications for the relationship between Aboriginal and Canadian political communities, and each has different implications for the institutions and practices of Canadian federalism. We argue that further concurrency of powers and greater asymmetries in intergovernmental relations are likely to be notable features of the Canadian federation, and that no single model or pathway is likely to emerge as the dominant one in the near and medium term.

Inuit diplomacy in the global ERA: The strengths of multilateral internationalism

In this article we extend the meaning of traditional diplomacy to include the multiple levels of diplomatic activities that can exist inside states, in federations, and in states where Indigenous peoples are present, and to include also the diplomatic activities of non‐governmental political entities who intervene internationally. We review the diplomatic activity of Canadian Inuit, identifying continuities in their diplomatic practices from the times before there was extensive contact with other peoples, through colonial times, to the present. As a transnational people relying entirely upon peaceful means, they have been able to reframe the colonial logic in the Arctic using four strategies: (1) forming a transnational Inuit polity cutting across four nationstates, but directly challenging none of them; (2) creating an Arctic region based on cooperation between nation‐states; (3) establishing the Inuit as an international people; and, (4) negotiating self‐governing arrangements in most of the Inuit regions. These achievements are built on the successful adaptation of practices present in traditional circumpolar societies, in a fashion that should recommend them to circumpolar nation‐states concerned with building a peaceful circumpolar region.

From Public Education to Social Marketing: The Evolution of the Canadian Heritage Anti-Racism Social Marketing Program

SUMMARY Social marketing plays a critical role in a multitude of government programs, yet little research has examined how social marketing programs commence and develop over time. Utilizing a case-study methodology, this article documents the evolution of a large-scale social marketing program–the March 21 Canadian Heritage anti-racism campaign. The research reveals that this program did not begin as a social marketing program, but rather as a public-education campaign. Over the years it took on many, but not all, of the characteristics of a social marketing program. Further research expanding the scope of this study and examining whether this evolutionary pattern is common for government and not-for-profit social marketing programs at other levels, in other sectors, jurisdictions, and countries is recommended. The results are thought to be of interest to those concerned with both the theory and practice of developing strategies for the marketing of social marketing.

Socialism and democracy: the political engagements of Ellen Meiksins Wood

Abstract The untimely death of Ellen Meiksins Wood on January 14, 2016 deprived the Left of one of its most original voices. Following Meiksins Wood’s own approach to political theory, we consider her work about the contradictory relationship between capitalism and democracy, and her commitment to a political program that led beyond capitalism towards a genuinely democratic society, in the context of her life and times.

Coming in from the Cold

In the past, Inuit societies were often pictured as unorganized, primitive, and isolated. Their impressive success in domestic and international politics over the last forty years contradicts these early stereotypes. Inuit have been strong partners in an international movement to create a stable and equitable political regime in the circumpolar world. Beginning in the 1970s, Canadian Inuit made common cause with Inuit of Alaska and Greenland, forming the very effective nongovernmental organization, the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) in 1977. They developed an Arctic Policy to support international efforts to better manage the circumpolar basin, fought and won a battle to create a global program to reduce the production of persistent organic pollutants, and have led international efforts for action on climate change.