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- Describe the terms of the Western Arctic Claim Agreement (Inuivialuit Final Agreement).
Answer: The Inuvialuit Final agreement was reached in 1984, extinguishing Inuvialuit Aboriginal title in the western Arctic in exchange for corporate ownership of 90,600 km2 of land including 12,980 km2 subsurface mineral rights stretching up to Banks Island, along with payments from the federal government totally $152 million over the next fourteen years. Administered by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, this agreement also includes wildlife conservation and management and numerous business activities.
- Describe the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP).
Answer: The Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples is contained in five volumes and a total of 3,537 pages. Its recommendations, released in 1996, advocate for a major change in the social and political institutions that are related to Indigenous peoples. Four key issues were identified: the need for a new relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, self-determination through self-government, economic self-sufficiency, and healing for Indigenous peoples and communities. The Commission made 440 recommendations to achieve these goals. RCAP also outlined four dimensions for social change: (1) healing; (2) improving economic opportunity; (3) developing human resources and Indigenous institutions; and (4) adapting mainstream institutions to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous needs.
- Who was Ovide Mercredi? Discuss his role in negotiations of Aboriginal self-government.
Answer: Ovide Mercredi was at one time the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN). One of Canada’s foremost advocates for self-government and constitutional reform, his first role was working for the Iynu and Innu in the Great Whale hydroelectric project in Quebec. He was also a key advisor to Elijah Harper during the Meech Lake Accord negotiations. He served as a mediator in the Oka Crisis of 1990 and at Gustafsen Lake in 1995. His belief in the inherent right to self-government is published in his book, In the Rapids: Navigating the Future of First Nations (1993).