{"id":86869,"date":"2023-07-17T11:19:40","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T15:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=86869"},"modified":"2023-07-18T04:40:01","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T08:40:01","slug":"new-report-calls-for-diplomacy-between-sovereigns-in-first-nations-provincial-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2023\/07\/new-report-calls-for-diplomacy-between-sovereigns-in-first-nations-provincial-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"New report calls for diplomacy between sovereigns in First Nations-provincial relations"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report co-authored by a Brock University researcher is outlining how relations between First Nations and provinces in Canada are impacted by conceptions of sovereignty and diplomacy.<\/p>\n

Liam Midzain-Gobin, Assistant Professor in Brock\u2019s Department of Political Science, wrote \u201cReimagining Canada as Inter-National: Understanding First Nations-Provincial Relationships<\/a>\u201d with Caroline Dunton, a research associate at the University of Ottawa, and Robert Tay-Burroughs, former senior adviser to New Brunswick\u2019s commissioner on systemic racism.<\/p>\n

Their report was published by the Centre of Excellence on Canadian Federation at the Institute for Research on Public Policy last week.<\/p>\n

In it, the researchers examine differences between provincial relations with Indigenous Peoples in British Columbia and New Brunswick. Midzain-Gobin says the report grew out of the team\u2019s previous opinion piece in Policy Options<\/em><\/a>, published shortly after the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) Act became law in Canada in 2021.<\/p>\n

Noting that UNDRIP had first been enacted as law in British Columbia, the researchers set out to highlight the role that provinces should play in reconciliation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the federal government has legal responsibility for \u2018Indians and lands reserved for Indians,\u2019 it\u2019s actually the provinces that have the greatest impact, but we don\u2019t really talk about that,\u201d says Midzain-Gobin. \u201cThere are hundreds if not thousands of interactions on policy files and regular points of contact between First Nations related to lands, waters, the environment, child and family welfare, judicial policy \u2014 these are all areas under provincial jurisdiction that impact Indigenous lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Midzain-Gobin says the often-heard political claims that implementing UNDRIP and recognizing sovereignty among First Nations would create economic instability ought to be revised given how much overall stability other diplomatic relationships with sovereign nations provide for Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving provinces implement the Declaration will actually bring stability to relationships with Indigenous Peoples \u2014 that\u2019s what a diplomatic lens can bring,\u201d he says. \u201cReimagining the relationships as existing among nations actually brings more expertise to the table and means decisions are not only made together but that they are better decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says an \u201cinter-national\u201d approach to governance would also be \u201cless fraught\u201d in terms of long-term instability caused by drawn-out court battles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen everybody has participated in and accepted an economic development or resource development decision, you\u2019re a lot less likely to end up in court or have major decisions be overturned or have cases drag on for 15 to 20 years, which is the situation we\u2019re in right now,\u201d says Midzain-Gobin. \u201cThis model might mean negotiations take a bit longer, but then action happens faster without getting held up in the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds that provinces are already well versed in diplomacy because they regularly manage overlaps in jurisdiction with other provinces, different levels of government, trading partners and U.S. states that share borders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe provinces certainly have the tools and capacity to engage in diplomacy. Part of what we\u2019re saying is that they need to rethink what their relationships with Indigenous Peoples are,\u201d he says. \u201cThese are diplomatic relationships, not stakeholder relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new report co-authored by a Brock University researcher is outlining how relations between First Nations and provinces in Canada are impacted by conceptions of sovereignty and diplomacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":86870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,1,5,38],"tags":[4104,522,9486,3325],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86871,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86869\/revisions\/86871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}