Alan C. Cairns

Cairns's focus is a constitutional one: how does self-government as a nation fit into the current political landscape of Canada? How do the aboriginal peoples of Canada who live in urban areas (the majority) get representation when they aren't associated with a land base?

Cairns takes the 'Citizens Plus' phrase from the 1966 Hawthorn report, suggesting that it is important for the native community to still feel part of Canada, rather than completely separate self-governing units (especially given the small size of most native territories and the fact that many native people don't live in them).

He critiques the 1996 RCAP report fairly comprehensively, suggesting that it fails to address the problems of identity and representation of aboriginal peoples who don't live on reserve lands. There is quite a lot of repetition in the book which got a bit irritating after a while (the word 'anomie' was used a lot).

I found Cairns's arguments interesting, but politically problematic, given the strong support presently for native self-government outside of the Canadian system. There's a lot of distrust of Canadian institutions which would have to be overcome before a majority of First Nations people would be willing to be more engaged in politics as Canadian citizens as well as members of their Nation. I don't think we're anywhere close to that stage yet.… (more)