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Implementing First Nations Self-Government in Yukon: Lessons for Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2005

Gurston Dacks
Gurston Dacks
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
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Abstract

Abstract: The experience of implementing self-government in the Yukon offers important insights into the future of self-government nationally. Yukon First Nations have created institutions that reflect their traditional values, that achieve creditable levels of accountability and that have limited their responsibilities to what their staff resources can handle. Yukon First Nations have assumed relatively few jurisdictional responsibilities because they reject the financial terms presented by the federal and territorial governments. This pattern is likely to weaken inherence-based governments as they appear elsewhere in Canada. This prospect raises the question of how First Nations should divide their energy and resources between pursuing inherence and strengthening the capacity of their existing institutions.

Résumé. La mise en oeuvre d'un gouvernement autonome au Yukon offre d'importants aperçus sur l'avenir de l'autonomie sur le plan national. Les autochtones du Yukon ont créé des institutions qui reflètent leurs valeurs traditionnelles, atteignent des niveaux estimables de responsabilité et ont limité leurs engagements en fonction de leurs ressources en personnel. Les autochtones du Yukon ont assumé relativement peu de responsabilités juridictionnelles parce qu'ils rejettent les conditions financières présentées par le gouvernement fédéral et le gouvernement territorial. Ce dilemme va vraisemblablement affaiblir les gouvernements inhérents qui verront le jour ailleurs au Canada. La question se pose dès lors de savoir comment les autochtones devraient diviser leur énergie et leurs ressources entre la poursuite de l'inhérence et le renforcement de la capacité de leurs institutions existantes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , September 2004 , pp. 671 - 694
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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