The Inequitable Political Pillars of Canada’s Founding Nations

In conceptualising the Canadian federation and the driving force behind the state’s development, Peter H. Russel frames it as the conciliation of interests in the relationship between the three founding nations – Aboriginals, Anglophones, and Francophones. As the recent nation-wide demonstrations against the Coastal Link pipeline trespassing on Wet’suwet’en land has demonstrated, they are far from equal partners. The incident is indicative of a broader trend of the non-Aboriginal nations creating an environment that obstructs and disincentives Aboriginal participation in the daily functioning of Canadian society, politics being no exception. This exclusion is much to the detriment to the strength of Canadian society. Accordingly, this paper examines Aboriginal absenteeism from Canadian politics as to identify the obstacles to their meaningful political participation with the wider aim of aiding the redefining of the relationship between the founding nations that recognises the Aboriginal nation as an equal partner.