Abstract

A theory of consociational democracy, which explains political stability of plural societies, has received scholarly concern by political scientists in the past. A number of studies indicate that Canada is regarded as one of the 'democratic plural societies' in the world. A major concern of the applicability of this model in Canada, however, remains as a study of the relationship between English Canada and French Canada. Other minorities or aboriginal peoples are not included in many cases. In other words, consociational democracy in Canada usually implies political accommodation between the two major linguistic communities or regional interests. This thesis intends to introduce a new perspective on the study of consociationalism by examining relationships between the aboriginal peoples and the majority of Canadians. In this context, the contribution of this thesis is twofold: first, this work identifies a theoretical framework for Canada's aboriginal issues and second, it analyzes this subject theoretically and comparatively. Chapter 1 examines aboriginal policies in advanced western nations and sets a comparative overview.

Chapter 2 introduces a two-dimensional model in order to establish our theoretical basis. As a result, four types of inter-group relationships are identified: the consociational, melting-pot, control and assimilatory models. By using the two-dimensional model, historical, administrative, political and constitutional aspects of the aboriginal-White relationships are discussed in Chapters 3 to 6 respectively.

Chapter 3 reviews the historical transformation of the relationships in North America, and it is clear that interactions between the aboriginals and Europeans were complex and diverse. Chapter 4 identifies the administrative aspects of the relationships, and the complexity that exists in the process of program delivery. Political aspects of the relationships are discussed in Chapter 5 and the strengths and weaknesses of the aboriginal peoples in the Canadian political process are pointed out. Chapter 6 attempts to clarify meanings and political implications of aboriginal rights.

Chapter 7 evaluates our model as a whole, and identifies the advantages and shortcomings of the two-dimensional model. The issue of group rights for aboriginal peoples in liberal democracies such as Canada and the United States is also discussed.