Citizens Plus: Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian State (Brenda and David McLean Canadian Studies) - Softcover

Cairns, Alan C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0774807687 ISBN 13: 9780774807685

Publisher: UBC Press, 2001

Synopsis

In Citizens Plus, Alan Cairns unravels the historical record to clarify the current impasse in negotiations between Aboriginal peoples and the state. He considers the assimilationist policy assumptions of the imperial era, examines more recent government initiatives, and analyzes the emergence of the nation-to-nation paradigm given massive support by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Citizens Plus stakes out a middle ground with its support for constitutional and institutional arrangements that will simultaneously recognize Aboriginal difference and reinforce common citizenship.

About this title

About the Author:

Alan C. Cairns is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo.

Review:

[This book] is an exciting and provocative investigation of the importance of citizenship in the modern age. Cairn’s work deserves a broad and diverse audience. (Ken Coates Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 26, No. 1)

A remarkable and well-researched study  that adds a measure of sanity to the often histrionic debate over Aboriginal rights and redresses in Canada. ... a cogent and compelling argument for integration as the middle road. (Suzanne Methot Quill & Quire)

... in his book, Citizens Plus, he’s on to some wider possibilities that might bridge the dangerously widening divide between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians... It puts the emphasis on what we share in common the foundation of sensible mutual relations, rather than on the idea that we share next to nothing or that aboriginals’ distinctiveness is of no value to them or us. (Jeffrey Simpson The Globe and Mail)

Citizens Plus is a wonderfully informed, well-documented and balanced analysis of the issues, and political and legal debates concerning the position of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. More importantly, it’s a refreshing work since it addresses in a positive and realistic manner the fatal flaws that surround much of the debate. (The Donner Prize Jury)

We are in the midst of a fundamental re-evaluation of the desired relation of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples to each other, and of how the former are to be institutionally and constitutionally accommodated within Canada. Words matter. How we think about where we are and about the future goal of our relationship can confine us in an intellectual prison or liberate us from choices we will otherwise regret.

In Citizens Plus, Alan Cairns unravels the historical record to clarify the current impasse in negotiations between Aboriginal peoples and the state. He considers the assimilationist policy assumptions of the imperial era, examines more recent government initiatives, and analyzes the emergence of the nation-to-nation paradigm given massive support by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

We are battered by contending visions, he argues – a revised assimilation policy that finds its support in the Canadian Alliance Party is countered by the nation-to-nation vision, which frames our future as coexisting solitudes. Citizens Plus stakes out a middle ground with its support for constitutional and institutional arrangements which will simultaneously recognize Aboriginal difference and reinforce a solidarity which binds us together in common citizenship. Essential reading for those in political science, history, Native studies, public administration, and law, Citizens Plus will also appeal to the general public interested in one of the most important and complex issues on our agenda.

Selected as a BC Book for Everybody

About this edition

• Publisher: UBC Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0774807687
• ISBN 13: 9780774807685
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 288