No Need of a Chief for This Band: The Maritime Mi'kmaq and Federal Electoral Legislation, 1899-1951

ISBN-13: 9780774817905 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 216 str.

Martha Elizabeth Walls

Opis

In 1899, the Canadian government implemented a policy to replaceMi'kmaw leader selection and other political practices with thetriennial system, a Euro-Canadian system of democratic band councilelections. Officials in Ottawa assumed the federally mandated andsupervised system would redefine Mi'kmaw politics. They werewrong.Drawing on reports and correspondence of the Department of IndianAffairs, Martha Walls details the rich life of Mi'kmaw politicsbetween 1899 and 1951. She shows that many Mi'kmaw communitiesrejected, ignored, or amended federal electoral legislation. Thosecommunities that did accept triennial elections did so sporadically-- not in acquiescence to Ottawa's assimilative project, butto meet specific community needs and goals. This compelling and nuancedstudy complicates understandings of state power by showing that theMi'kmaw did not succumb to imposed political models but ratherretained political practices that distinguished them from theirEuro-Canadian neighbours.This timely book offers support for Aboriginal claims at a time whenAboriginal peoples and governments across Canada are attempting to cometo terms with the issue of self-governance. It will not only appeal tohistorians of the Maritimes and Aboriginal-state relations in Canadabut also to students and scholars of Native studies, political science, and law.