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Under s.91 (27) of the BNA Act, 1867, the Federal Parliament has the exclusive authority to legislate 'criminal law.' This has not stopped the provinces from passing 'quasi-criminal' laws that are difficult to distinguish from criminal law. Recent legislation regarding 'public fighting' and civil remedies for criminal acts suggest there are few legal obstacles to enacting provincial criminal law. This article identifies such provincial criminal laws, explains how the modern doctrines of federalism might invite and allow for their enactment, and discusses impacts on criminal justice policy and administration. It highlights the discretion afforded the Crown and police in charging individuals under the federal Criminal Code or similar provincial laws (or municipal by-laws). While provincial or local laws may allow for more efficient law enforcement, they do so at the expense of the procedural guarantees associated with the criminal law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the public indebtedness of the Canadian provinces and the US states (including a share of the federal debt) over the 2000–2007 period. It presents rankings of the most indebted subnational jurisdictions based on five public debt concepts. Among the provinces, Quebec (with the lowest average rank) and Alberta (with the highest average rank) display the most stable position across the rankings. All other provinces show important fluctuations in their position in the rankings. Hence, allocating the federal debt to subnational states and the specific debt concept being considered significantly influence the rankings, quite spectacularly in some instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally, there is a growing call to embrace more participatory and democratic approaches to environmental science and policy to improve sustainability outcomes. This presents a particular challenge in Westminster-based systems of government, where participatory and inclusive structures for policy making are considered inherently difficult due, in part, to the high concentration of power in the executive and political elite. To better understand this challenge, we conducted exploratory research into the science–policy experiences of former environment ministers (politicians) and senior bureaucrats who have held executive roles in provincial/ state and federal governments across Canada and Australia and the national governments of New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Our results suggest that government organizations could further strengthen a culture of policy-relevant research and evidence-based policy on environment issues by fostering more decentralized approaches to policy and more democratic approaches to scientific knowledge production that better accounts for the complexity of environmental decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the doctrine of provincial interjurisdictional immunity in Canada in accordance with the Canadian Supreme Court case Canadian Western Bank v. Alberta. Topics discussed include provincial interjurisdictional immunity claim with a conflicting federal paramountcy claim along with a conflicting federal interjurisdictional immunity claim, doctrine of Canadian federalism depicting interjurisdictional immunity and description of the court case.

The Province of Alberta seems an unlikely early advocate of multiculturalism; yet, several months before the federal government unveiled its official policy on this issue, it was an Alberta premier, Harry Strom, who demanded that multiculturalism be a condition for constitutional reform during the 1971 Victoria Constitutional Conference. What explains this puzzle? Using William Riker's concept of heresthetics and the literature on Alberta politics, Western alienation, and Canadian federalism, the authors argue that Strom introduced multiculturalism at the conference as a strategic manoeuvre to bolster and defend Alberta's compact perspective on federalism and to block any constitutional change that would prevent Alberta from recognizing itself as an equal and autonomous partner in the Canadian federation. The authors' findings suggest that Riker's concept of heresthetics may be useful for analyzing other instances of intergovernmental relations in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on constitutional law and the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER). It reflects on the capacity of AER to consider constitutional law. It mentions that AER is an important component of the Regulatory Enhancement Project of the Government of Alberta. It outlines the relation of AER to the division of powers inherent, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the First Nations Treaty an Métis rights.

The article offers information on the Co-Management Agreement (CMA) of the Alberta Government and the Metis Settlements General Council (MSGC). It mentions the continuing partnership between the Government of Alberta and the Metis Settlements. It outlines the four fundamental elements of the partnership, defending that Métis are one of the founding aboriginal peoples of Canada.

Calls to abolish the Indian Act and to reset the relationship between Aboriginal people and the Crown dominate the academic discourse. The author proposes something different. He suggests that the Government of Canada and First Nations work within the framework of the Indian Act to find areas of agreement. In doing so, the author draws on Rawls' theory of "overlapping consensus": the idea that two parties with opposing viewpoints, or "comprehensive starting positions", can find areas of agreement without abandoning their respective starting positions. Despite the Crown's and First Nations' very different conceptions of the nature of their relationship, if overlapping consensus can be found on both the changes to be made to the Act and the principles that underlie those changes, progress can be made without asking either party to compromise on its foundational beliefs. The author identifies financial accountability, membership integration and financial integration in First Nation communities as areas ripe for overlapping consensus on necessary reforms. He proposes that members of a First Nation community should be entitled to have their income tax payments directed to their community. This would mean that First Nation communities would finally have the incentive to admit non-status Indians as new members because the communities would receive increased funding for each member through his or her income taxes. The tax redirection plan would further combine accountability and integration, and it would represent a reform that could begin to set the Indian Act on a better path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Federalism is often praised for being able to accommodate diversity within the confines of a single state while preventing secession. Federalism, however, is fraught with tensions and instability. Federalism is typically adopted as a second-best alternative among actors whose first choice is either a more centralized state or a more decentralized state. These preferences persist over time. Instability in federation, then, comes from federal partners pushing in opposite directions at the same time. From this dynamic comes the much-examined propensity for secessionism to develop within federations. Largely unexamined in the literature on federalism, but equally problematic from the standpoint of stability, is the equal and opposite risk of consolidation (or centralization). This article examines sources of federal instability by exploring the origins and evolution of federalism. I use examples from Canada to demonstrate the extent to which my argument is applicable to real world federations. In conducting the exploration, we come to understand how federations can be both unstable and durable. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In-depth interviews with government officials are a critical research method for the study of government. Historical and institutional factors, and particularly the informal internal dynamics that influence policy, require a depth of understanding that is often best investigated through such interview methods. At the federal level in Canada we see many trends that point to the increasing centralization and control of government information. There has been political interference in Access to Information Requests; the outcomes of scientific research have been suppressed; and media access to politicians has become highly constrained. This led us to ask whether tightening controls on information have also affected access to research interviews with government officials. This paper explores this issue by interviewing both academics and public servants in the Canadian federal government. We ask is there evidence of a tightening grip on access to governmental research interviews and, if so, is this affecting how and what we research? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the impact of federalism on reproductive and sexuality rights in Canada. It highlights an important problem in rights implementation triggered by the particular division of jurisdiction in these policy areas. Despite favorable Supreme Court rulings recognizing the essential validity of these actions (namely access to abortion and contraception, and marriage between same-sex partners), cooperation by another level of government is necessary in order to implement access. Huge variation exists in the extent to which provincial and territorial governments have implemented access in law and policy. The article points to an important research agenda on rights implementation that moves beyond analysis of formal responses postjudicial review to consider the impact of divided jurisdiction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the past fifty years, Indigenous peoples in settler countries have mobilized to demand policy and institutional changes from their respective states. Although some scholars have employed multilevel governance (MLG) to make sense of these developments, none has examined systematically whether MLG accurately describes these phenomena. We address this lacuna by creating a more robust definition of MLG and applying it to a sample of Indigenous–settler interactions in Canada. Our findings suggest that MLG is an applicable concept for some, but not for all of the Indigenous–state interactions that are typically assumed to be instances of MLG. This conceptual clarification should help scholars from a variety of countries to use MLG more effectively to analyze the relationships between Indigenous peoples and their respective states. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

On November 6, 2013 the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan Assembly voted to repeal the Senate Nominee Election Act. Immediately thereafter the Premier introduced a motion that the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan supports the abolition of the Senate of Canada. Following speeches by the Premier, the Leader of the Opposition and other members the motion was adopted. The Government House Leader then asked the Speaker to transmit copies of the motion and verbatim transcripts to the Prime Minister of Canada and the leaders of the opposition parties in the House of Commons, as well as the premier of each Canadian province and territory. This article is a slightly abridged version of the Premier's speech on the motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper portrays the emergence of Canadian settlement work with immigrants and explores its prospects as an occupation. Currently, settlement work includes three forms of practice: (1) a loose occupation; (2) a specialty of social work; and (3) an emerging profession. The paper argues that settlement work is likely to have a professional future. However, whether or not it will become an independent profession depends largely on the funding regime of the settlement service sector. If the existing federal and short-term funding regime continues, settlement work will still be trying to define itself in the broader field of social service work. If a provincial and long-term funding regime emerges, prospects for an independent professional settlement work will improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes a new approach to the study of federal–provincial relations by arguing that in the conduct of intergovernmental relations in Canada, whether on major constitutional issues or the mundane, ordinary intergovernmental negotiations, partisanship has an effect. An examination of the Meech Lake Accord constitutional negotiations (1987–1990) and the Child Care Agreements (2004–2005) reveals that where traditional factors fail to provide a reason for conflict or cooperation between governments, the partisan variable offers valuable explanatory power. The impact is found in the process of federal–state bargaining and not in the substance of agreements themselves—in other words, partisanship can influence how an agreement is reached and whether it is kept. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Canadian internal trade policy illustrates the challenges that federalism can pose to economic union goals. Although the federal government played a critical role in bringing internal trade to the policy agenda, provincial and territorial governments have driven policy reform over the past decade. Drawing on both historical institutional and ideational approaches, this article argues that the political development of internal trade policy reflects the interplay between institutional realities and politically influential ideational elements. The decentralized nature of Canadian federalism led subnational governments both to establish policy that limited the role of the federal government and then, in the face of dominant beliefs about economic liberalization, to use the newly formed Council of the Federation to take a more active role on internal trade policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Organizational evaluation capacity building has been a topic of increasing interest in recent years. However, the actual dimensions of evaluation capacity have not been clearly articulated through empirical research. This study sought to address this gap by identifying the key dimensions of evaluation capacity in Canadian federal government organizations. The methodology used, based on Leithwood and Montgomery’s Innovation Profile approach, featured semistructured interviews with evaluation experts and a validating exercise conducted in four government organizations. The framework developed as a result of the study identifies six main dimensions of evaluation capacity (human resources, organizational resources, evaluation planning and activities, evaluation literacy, organizational decision making, and learning benefits), each one broken down into further subdimensions. The evaluation capacity of organizations on each of these dimensions and subdimensions can be described using four levels: low, developing, intermediate, and exemplary. The study found that government organizations vary in terms of their capacity from one dimension to the next, and indeed, from one subdimension to the next. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the development of immigration federalism in Australia and Canada (expressed through the establishment of state/provincial/territorial immigrant selection programs) and its implications for immigrants’ rights and immigration opportunities. Given the very limited scholarship on the issue, and the lack of previous comparative studies on immigration federalism in Australia and Canada, our research is exploratory by nature. Our finding is that provincial/state/territorial programs offer some advantages to prospective applicants (such as increased immigration opportunities), but, at the same time, raise a number of concerns (such as an increased dependence on employers). As our study reveals, the costs and benefits of immigration opportunities under state/provincial/territorial programs differ for skilled and low-skilled workers, whereby the latter are given only limited access to permanent residence, and on more onerous conditions than skilled workers. Drawing on these findings, we identify areas in need of further research and policy response. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article historically assesses Canada’s role in developing new constitutional mechanisms in the global economy. Drawing on the literatures of International Political Economy and analyses of Canadian foreign policy, a reassessment of Canada’s position in the international economic order is proposed. As a consequence of the geostrategic advantages afforded Canada between successive global hegemons, Canada’s path-dependent development has situated the country to benefit and insist on disciplinary mechanisms for all states. Canada’s defense of a rules-based order demands the country adopt an increasingly unfamiliar role as crisis threatens the stability of the global economy. Consequently, Canada has become a primary defender of the new constitutional order of global capitalism, a position that seems opposed to traditional cooperative visions of Canadian foreign policy. Moreover, as the Canadian state becomes an active global proponent of neoliberal economic reforms it undermines the intermediary role of the Canadian state in its own markets, potentially undermining one of the historical purposes of Canadian federalism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Information about the second annual symposium of the Progressive Librarian's Guild of Edmonton at the City of Edmonton Archives in Alberta on October 20, 2012 is presented. Topics include the formation of the Information Ethics Special Interest Group (SIG), cuts made by the federal government to archival programs in Canada and the merger of national library and archive in Canada. The symposium featured several notable people including Toni Samek, Michael Gourlie and Braden Cannon.

Alternative land management options for First Nations are intended to improve their well-being through on-Reserve economic development. Another means by which First Nations are increasing their participation in the economy is through migration off Reserve, primarily urban centres. A third, to date neglected, means by which First Nations participate in the economy is through accessing off-Reserve employment while retaining Reserve residence. While positive urban agglomeration spillovers in the form of employment opportunities for rural populations are well established for the general population, this has not been investigated for Reserve populations. This paper examines the incidence and determinants of off-Reserve employment by Reserve residents in Canada. We find that along with distance, population growth rates and a higher percentage of the population over the age of 15, out-commuting rates from Reserves are influential in Community Well-Being Scores. Out-commuting is, in turn, facilitated by high school completion rates and negatively affected by distance. We conclude that improved access to off-Reserve employment for Reserve residents is an important means of improving the well-being of Reserve populations, and that a high school education is associated with off-Reserve employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1999 the Canadian Federal government passed the First Nations Land Management Act, ratifying the Framework Agreement on First Nation Land Management signed by the government and 14 original signatory First Nations in 1996. This Agreement allows First Nations to opt out of the 34 land code provisions of the Indian Act and develop individual land codes, and has been promoted as a means of increasing First Nation autonomy and facilitating economic growth and development on reserve lands. There are currently 77 First Nation signatories to the Agreement, 39 with operational independent land codes. This paper is the first to empirically examine factors that may influence a First Nation's decision to become signatory to the Framework Agreement. A unique dataset characterizing each First Nation by socio-economic and demographic characteristics is used with a probit model to determine the effects of these characteristics on the probability of First Nation adoption of the Agreement. The results of this study indicate that proximity to an urban centre positively affects the probability that a First Nation will adopt. However, the statistical strength of this finding is sensitive to the inclusion of an education variable in the regression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ottawa Law Review is the property of University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Pathology is the property of Canadian Association of Pathologists and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Since the start of the opioid epidemic in 2016, the Downtown Eastside community of Vancouver, Canada, has lost many pioneering leaders, activists and visionaries to the war on drugs. The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society (WAHRS), and the British Columbia Association People on Opiate Maintenance (BCAPOM) are truly concerned about the increasing overdose deaths that have continued since 2016 and have been exacerbated by the novel coronavirus (SARS-COVID-19) despite many unique and timely harm reduction announcements by the British Columbia (B.C.) government. Some of these unique interventions in B.C., although in many cases only mere announcements with limited scope, are based on the philosophy of safe supply to illegal street drugs. Despite all the efforts during the pandemic, overdose deaths have spiked by over 100% compared to the previous year. Therefore, we urge the Canadian federal government, specifically the Honorable Patty Hajdu, the federal Minister of Health, to decriminalize simple possession immediately by granting exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The Canadian federal government has a moral obligation under Sect. 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to protect the basic human rights of marginalized Canadians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the prospects for US state and Canadian provincial climate policy innovation and diffusion are limited in several respects. Subnational climate leaders tend already to be the cleanest states and provinces, and even they have been strategic in the sectors they regulate and the instruments they employ. In some cases, this selectivity appears to be motivated by opportunities to shift compliance costs to other states. Efforts to pool risks through state and provincial collaboration also are flagging in the wake of the Canadian and US federal governments' failure to adopt nation-wide policies to level the playing field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article assesses the performance of Canada's employment policy governance regime post-1996 by explicitly comparing Canadian approaches to those used in the European Union ( EU) through the open method of coordination ( OMC). It concludes that Canada has moved so far along the decentralization continuum - with 13 provincial systems as well as a federal-only system in place - that coordination, coherence, mutual learning and information sharing on a pan- Canadian basis have been lost. While EU OMC approaches hold promise, to be realized stakeholders would need to become more engaged in the policy domain and provinces, rather than the federal government, must take the initiative for enhanced coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both Canada and the European Union ( EU) have been active in developing pension policies despite the lack of formal mandates to do so. While the Canadian government used its fiscal powers to expand its role in pension programs when pension emerged as a policy issue, the EU has been strongly limited by its lack of resources, institutional complexities, and the maturity of public pension programs in its member states. The EU experience generates interesting lessons for Canadian policy makers who are dealing with increasingly complex pension issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open method of coordination ( OMC) mechanisms have not gained much acceptance in Canada in spite of evidence that they could improve policy making and implementation. In Canada, 'learning,' in particular at the political level, occurs somewhat differently from how it was envisaged in the intellectual underpinnings of the OMC because of the ethos of intergovernmental relations. The provinces, territories and the federal government might, however, improve policy learning by approaching the process in a somewhat different fashion while still benefiting from the European experience. The market for learning may exist less at the level of governments and more at a localized practitioner level. Canada may benefit from taking an indirect approach to the issue and creating institutional arrangements that will allow civil society groups to engage in mutual learning more easily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The articles in this issue suggest that intergovernmental governance takes a different form in Canada and the EU, raising questions about the transference of practices and institutions from one to the other. In both systems, non-hierarchical modes of governance provide coordination in social policy. Hierarchy also plays a role, though not in a manner that one might expect. In the EU, hierarchy is tempered by members' direct participation in policy formulation. In Canada, hierarchy is important, but within rather than between governments, resulting in executive dominance of the intergovernmental process at the expense of devolving power to civil society and sub-provincial governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the role of citizens in public reporting exercises of Canada's National Child Benefit and health care service delivery to that of the European Union's open method of coordination ( OMC) for social protection and social inclusion. It finds that the institutional infrastructure providing for coordination across social policy areas and possible roles for non-governmental actors in policy development is more extensive in the OMC than in the 'new modes of governance' in Canada. However, there are obstacles to developing such infrastructure in Canada, given the different histories and political contexts of the European community and the functioning of federalism in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic analyses of Canada and the EU as comparable federal systems have been neglected for a variety of methodological reasons. Most importantly, neither body fits the mould of the dominant model of the American federal state. A revised conceptual framework can show, however, that Canada and the EU both provide a similar institutional and procedural environment for policy making: powers are shared rather than divided; policy directions are determined by executive negotiation rather than parliamentary deliberation; unanimity takes precedence over majority rule; and inter-regional competition is moderated by a commitment to equalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nearly 80 years after appearing in the writings of Hugh MacLennan, the phrase "Canada's two solitudes" continues to resonate today.1 One can even say that new solitudes were added, making Canada more complex to manage. The national political and administrative institutions in Canada remain ill-equipped to accommodate solitudes, both old and new. Moreover, it may well be that the institutions themselves have contributed to the development or strengthening of those solitudes. The solitudes are not rooted only in language issues. New solitudes have emerged and are the product of divergent or contradictory regional economic interests. This chapter aims to provide an update on the situation of these Canadian solitudes, old and new. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on policy implementation in Canada and around the world is seeking to address the nexus of the mandates, resources, and cultures of public agencies and their wider institutional and socio-political context. This article examines the implications of the transition in the framing of policy implementation processes from 'administration' to 'governance' by looking at regional economic development policy implementation in the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Manitoba since the mid-1980s. These two provinces are part of geographically determined regions classified under Canada's official regional development policy as socioeconomically disadvantaged in relation to the rest of the country. Regional development policy itself has undergone a noticeable shift in policy discourse among public managers over the past decade towards an emphasis on 'promoting innovation' as the rationale for policy intervention. The implications of these transitions suggest that policy implementation or program delivery tasks in complex intergovernmental systems are best viewed as strategic, and not merely operational. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Up until now, values associated with heritage are generally similar: places are usually deemed worthy of preservation for their historical associations to important people or events, their aesthetic/architectural qualities, and their physical relation to their surrounding context. But, in the future, can these remain the only reasons for preserving a place? In the interests of pursuing the natural alliance between sustainable development and heritage conservation, the question begs to be asked in the particular context of heritage evaluations. Beyond its traditional cultural meanings, can the definition of heritage continue to broaden to encompass sustainability's criteria? This article proposes to examine how the paradigm of sustainable development can be incorporated in the current heritage evaluation methods used in Canada's federal and municipal levels of government. The Port of Montreal's grain elevator no. 5 (Silo No. 5), built between 1906 and 1958 and currently awaiting a new use, will be examined. By virtue of its size, situation, and volume, Silo No. 5 can provoke an interesting discussion about the possibilities of integrating social, economic, and environmental issues in heritage conservation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the significant legal developments in Canada during 2012. It informs that the Canadian Government has entered a bilateral investment treaties, also known as Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (FIPAs) providing a more transparent and predictable climate for Canadian investors abroad. It further informs that the Canada-China FIPA negotiations concluded in February 2012.

A key challenge for comparative politics is to explain the varying degrees of political conflict triggered by the territorial redistribution of financial resources. Federal systems pose this question particularly acutely since they typically operate equalization programs that generate different levels and patterns of intergovernmental conflict. For instance, in Canada equalization has generated serious conflict between federal and provincial governments whereas in Australia it has only led to low-level grumblings on the part of some states which have taken shots at others. This article sheds light on the causes for conflict around the territorial redistribution of financial resources by explaining why equalization has produced more severe intergovernmental conflict in Canada than in Australia. It argues that institutional factors linked to the governance structures of equalization and the nature of federalism are at the heart of the cross-national difference. More specifically, the presence of an arms-length agency administrating equalization in Australia compared to executive discretion over the program in Canada and the weaker status and lesser power of states in comparison to Canadian provinces means that equalization policy is more subject to political challenges in Australia than in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Disagreement over how and between whom power should be shared has led to competing conceptions of federalism in Canada. The model of federalism adopted in the Constitution Act 1867 divides power between the provinces and the federal government to the exclusion of Aboriginal peoples. However, pre-Confederation documents such as the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the early treaties suggest that federalism is founded on the coexistence of self-governing nations. This paper presents a case study of how one Aboriginal people, the Métis, are reviving the pre-Confederation vision of federalism founded on mutual recognition by carving out a space for themselves in Canada's political and institutional landscape. We argue that by delivering an expanded array of programs and services to their citizens, creating innovative governance structures, adopting legislation in key areas of Métis interest and fostering economic self-sufficiency, the Métis are reshaping federalism from the bottom up. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Official participation in Canadian First Ministers' Conferences has long been exclusive to federal and provincial first ministers. In March 1992, however, the membership of this intergovernmental arena was expanded permanently to include territorial premiers. Using the tools of historical institutionalism and drawing upon relevant literature and eleven elite interviews with former first ministers and senior civil servants, this paper seeks to explain why this instance of incremental institutional change occurred. It finds that significant friction between the institutional and ideational layers of the Canadian federation during a period of mega-constitutional reform allowed federal, provincial and territorial actors to draw upon ideas about democracy and the political and constitutional maturation of the territorial North to expand permanently the membership of First Ministers' Conferences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]