Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T05:19:08.023Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Telling Stories about Conflict: Symbolic Politics and the Ipperwash Land Transfer Agreement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2014

Michael Morden
Michael Morden*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
*
Michael Morden, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, Sidney Smith Hall, Room 3018, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3, [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Abstract. Direct protest actions by Indigenous peoples in Canada have rarely yielded the specific gains that were targeted. In the aftermath of conflict, Canadian governments have typically proven to be intransigent. An exception to this general tendency is the Anishinabek occupation of Ipperwash Provincial Park, which began in 1995. In 2007, the government of Ontario agreed to return the parkland to the First Nation, making it an unusually successful instance of direct action. It is argued here that this outcome can best be explained by drawing on the “symbolic politics” theory of intergroup conflict. The Ipperwash inquiry, acting as a post-conflict truth commission, generated a micro-narrative shared by both groups, which altered the political incentive structure and enabled the outlier accommodative outcome.

Résumé. Les actions de protestation directe par les peuples autochtones du Canada ont rarement donné les résultats recherchés. Au lendemain d'un conflit, les gouvernements canadiens se sont généralement montrés intransigeants. L'occupation du Parc provincial d'Ipperwash par les Anishinabek, qui débuta en 1995, représente toutefois une exception à cette tendance générale. Le gouvernement ontarien a accepté, en 2007, de retourner les territoires du parc à cette première nation, ce qui en fait un des rares cas où l'action directe a porté fruit. L'article soutient que c'est en s'appuyant sur la théorie de la politique symbolique des conflits intergroupes qu'il est possible d'expliquer ce résultat. Agissant comme une commission de vérité et de réconciliation, la Commission d'enquête sur Ipperwash a généré un récit commun, partagé par les deux groupes. En changeant la structure d'incitatifs politiques, ce récit explique l'étonnant résultat d'accommodement qui en est ressorti.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , September 2013 , pp. 505 - 524
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alcantara, Christopher. 2007. “Explaining Aboriginal Treaty Negotiation Outcomes in Canada: The Cases of the Inuit and the Innu in Labrador.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 40 (1): 185–207.Google Scholar
Alcantara, Christopher. 2008. “To Treaty or Not to Treaty? Aboriginal Peoples and Comprehensive Land Claims Negotiations in Canada.” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 28 (2): 343–69.Google Scholar
Alcantara, Christopher. 2010. “Indigenous Contentious Collective Action in Canada: The Labrador Innu and Their Occupation of the Goose Bay Military Air Base.” The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 30 (1): 21–43.Google Scholar
Alfred, Taiaiake. 2005. Wasase: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Alfred, Taiaiake. 2009. “Restitution is the Real Pathway to Justice for Indigenous Peoples.” In Response, Responsibility, and Renewal: Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Journey. Ottawa: Aboriginal Healing Foundation.Google Scholar
Andeweg, Rudy. 2000. “Consociational Democracy.” Annual Review of Political Science 3: 509–36.Google Scholar
Aubry, Jack. 1996. “Natives to blame for their problems—poll.” Edmonton Journal, July 8, 1996, A3.Google Scholar
Auerbach, Yehudith. 2009. “The Reconciliation Pyramid: A Narrative-Based Framework for Analyzing Identity Conflicts.” Political Psychology 20 (2): 291–318.Google Scholar
Beaubien, Marcel. 2006. Testimony to the Ipperwash Inquiry, January18. Toronto, 280.Google Scholar
Borrows, John. 2010. Drawing Out Law: A Spirit's Guide. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Borrows, John. 2013. Physical Philosophy: Freedom and Indigenous Peoples. Unpublished ms.Google Scholar
Bryant, Michael. 2008a. “Native Land Dispute.” Ontario. Legislative Assembly. Legislative Debates (Hansard). 39th Parl., 1st Sess. May 13, 2008.Google Scholar
Bryant, Michael. 2008b. “Aboriginal Affairs”. Ontario. Legislative Assembly. Legislative Debates (Hansard). 39th Parl., 1st Sess. March 27, 2008.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, J. Edward. 2003. If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? Toronto: Random House.Google Scholar
“The Complex Truth about Ipperwash.” 2007. The Globe and Mail. June 1. A20.Google Scholar
Corntassel, Jeff. 2009. “Indigenous Storytelling, Truth-Telling, and Community Approaches to Reconciliation.” English Studies in Canada 35 (1): 137–59.Google Scholar
Corntassel, Jeff and Holder, Cindy. 2008. “Who's Sorry Now?: Government Apologies, Truth Commissions, and Indigenous Self-Determination in Australia, Canada, Guatemala, and Peru.” Human Rights Review 9 (4): 465–89.Google Scholar
Dorrell, M. 2009. “From Reconciliation to Reconciling: Reading What ‘We Now Recognize’ in the Government of Canada's 2008 Residential Schools Apology.” English Studies in Canada 35 (1): 27–45.Google Scholar
Fearon, James D. 1998. “Commitment Problems and the Spread of Ethnic Conflict.” In The International Spread of Ethnic Conflict, ed. Lake, David A. and Rothchild, Donald. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Fearon, J. D. and Laitin, D.D.. 1996. “Explaining Interethnic Cooperation.” The American Political Science Review 90 (4): 715–35.Google Scholar
Fearon, J.D. and Laitin, D.D.. 2000. “Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic Identity.” International Organization 54 (4): 845–77.Google Scholar
Gabriel, Ellen. 2010. “Fraudulent Theft of Mohawk Land by the Municipality of Oka.” In This is an Honour Song: Twenty Years Since the Blockades, ed. Simpson, Leanne and Ladner, Kiera. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing.Google Scholar
Hamber, Brandon and Wilson, Richard. 2002. “Symbolic Closure Through Memory, Reparation and Revenge in Post-Conflict Societies.” Journal of Human Rights 1 (1): 35–53.Google Scholar
Hardin, Russell. 1995. One for All: The Logic of Group Conflict. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hayner, Patricia. 2001. Unspeakable Truths: Confronting State Terror and Atrocity. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Horowitz, Donald. 2001. Ethnic Groups in Conflict, 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Ignatieff, Michael. 1996. “Articles of Faith.” Index on Censorship 25: 110–122.Google Scholar
Ipperwash Inquiry and Sidney B. Linden. 2007a. Report of the Ipperwash Inquiry. Toronto: Ministry of the Attorney General, Queen's Printer for Ontario.Google Scholar
Ipperwash Inquiry and Sidney B. Linden. 2007b. Executive Summary of the Report of the Ipperwash Inquiry. Toronto: Ministry of the Attorney General, Queen's Printer for Ontario.Google Scholar
Kaufman, Stuart. 2000. Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethic War. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Kaufman, Stuart. 2006a. “Escaping the Symbolic Politics Trap: Reconciliation Initiatives and Conflict Resolution in Ethnic Wars.” Journal of Peace Research 43 (2): 201–18.Google Scholar
Kaufman, Stuart. 2006b. “Symbolic Politics or Rational Choice? Testing Theories of Extreme Ethnic Violence.” International Security 30 (4): 45–86.Google Scholar
King, Thomas. 2003. The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative. Toronto: House of Anansi Press.Google Scholar
Lackenbauer, P. Whitney. 2007. Battle Grounds: The Canadian Military and Aboriginal Lands. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Ladner, Kiera. 2010. “From Little Things…” In This Is an Honour Song: Twenty Years since the Blockades, ed. Simpson, Leanne and Ladner, Kiera. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing.Google Scholar
Lake, David and Rothchild, Donald. 1996. “Containing Fear: The Origins and Management of Ethnic Conflict.” International Security 21 (2): 41–75.Google Scholar
Matchewan, Jean-Maurice. 1989. “Algonquins North of the Ottawa: Our Long Battle to Create a Sustainable Future.” In Drumbeat: Anger and Renewal in Indian Country, ed. Richardson, Boyce. Toronto: Summerhill Press.Google Scholar
Mercer, Jonathan. 2005. “Rationality and Psychology in International Politics.” International Organization 59: 77–106.Google Scholar
Miller, J.R. 2000. Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens: A History of Indian-White Relations in Canada. 3rd ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Miller, John. 2005. Ipperwash and the Media: A critical analysis of how the story was covered. Toronto: Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto. http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/inquiries/ipperwash/policy_part/projects/pdf/ALST_Ipperwash_and_media.pdf (11 July 2013).Google Scholar
Miller, Norm. 2008. “Maynard Sam George.” Ontario. Legislative Assembly. Legislative Debates (Hansard). 39th Parl., 1st Sess. December 3.Google Scholar
Monroe, Kristen, Hankin, James, and Van Vechten, Renee Bukovchik. 2000. “The Psychological Foundations of Identity Politics.” Annual Review of Political Science 3: 419–47.Google Scholar
“Move cautiously on land claims.” 1995. The Globe and Mail, September 19.Google Scholar
“A New Generation of Native Conflict.” 1995. The Globe and Mail. September 9.Google Scholar
Ontario. 2003. Order in Council 1662/2003. Executive Council.Google Scholar
Ontario. 2004. “Experts on Aboriginal Culture and History to Testify at Start of Ipperwash Inquiry Next Week” [press release]. http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/inquiries/ipperwash/m_releases/pdf/July_7_2004.pdf (11 July 2013).Google Scholar
Ontario. 2009. Ipperwash Provincial Park Transfer Process Agreement. Toronto: Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs/Ministry of Natural Resources.Google Scholar
“Overdue justice at Ipperwash.” 2007. The Globe and Mail. December 21. A22.Google Scholar
Popplewell, Brett. 2010. “The Algonquins of Barriere Lake and their battle with Indian Affairs.” Toronto Star. October 29. http://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/government/article/883432-the-algonquins-of-barriere-lake-and-their-battle-with-indian-affairs (11 July 2013).Google Scholar
Posen, Barry. 1993. “The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict.” In Ethnic Conflict and International Security, ed. Brown, Michael. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Radmilovic, Vuk. 2010. “A Strategic Approach to Judicial Legitimacy: Supreme Court of Canada and the Marshall Case.” Review of Constitutional Studies 15 (1): 77–116.Google Scholar
Rothman, Jay and Olson, Marie. 2001. “From Interests to Identities: Towards a New Emphasis in Interactive Conflict Resolution.” Journal of Peace Research 38 (3): 289–305.Google Scholar
Russell, Peter. 2010. “Oka to Ipperwash: The Necessity of Flashpoint Events.” In This is an Honour Song: Twenty Years Since the Blockades, ed. Simpson, Leanne and Ladner, Kiera. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing.Google Scholar
Scholtz, Christa. 2009. “The Influence of Judicial Uncertainty on Executive Support for Negotiation in Canadian Land Claims Policy.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 42 (2): 417–42.Google Scholar
Seawright, Jason and Gerring, John. 2008. “Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research: A Menu of Qualitative and Quantitative Options.” Political Research Quarterly 61 (2): 294–308.Google Scholar
Short, Damien. 2008. Reconciliation and Colonial Power. Surrey: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Smith, Anthony. 1999. Myths and Memories of the Nation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tajfel, Henri. 1970. “Experiments in Intergroup Discrimination.” Scientific American 223 (5): 96–102.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. 1974. “Social Identity and Intergroup Behaviour.” Social Science Information 13 (2): 65–93.Google Scholar
Tsebelis, George. 1990. Nested Games: Rational Choice in Comparative Politics. Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Varshney, Ashutosh. 2003. “Nationalism, ethnic conflict, and rationality.” Perspective on Politics 1 (1): 85–99.Google Scholar