Using the language of rights and national self-determination, Aboriginal peoples have mounted a fundamental challenge to Canadian federalism in the past forty years. In order to move beyond the imposed structure of colonial governance, Aboriginal peoples have sought to establish their own form of federal relationship with contemporary Canadian governments and society. While much attention has been devoted to the constitutional and legal dimensions of Aboriginal challenges to state authority, this thesis argues that incremental yet fundamental changes are also taking place in the less visible but nonetheless important arena of policy-making. Aboriginal claims for greater political recognition, combined with the redefinition of the role of the state associated with neoliberal ideas, have led to the emergence of multilevel governance practices between Aboriginal governing authorities and their federal and provincial counterparts. While they do not alter the formal nature of state authority as defined in the constitution, multilevel policy exercises are characterized by growing interdependencies between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal governing actors, leading to a partial displacement of formal rules of authoritative decision-making in favor of joint decision-making processes and negotiated solutions to policy disputes. Building on comparative analyses of the transformations in the governance regimes of the James Bay Crees and Kahnawa:ke Mohawks, this thesis argues that these multilevel exercises can become transformative spaces for Aboriginal peoples to reshape their relationship with the state and establish themselves as representatives of distinct political communities with their own sources of authority and legitimacy independent of federal and provincial parliaments. As a result, I argue a new form of federalism may well be emerging not through constitutional negotiations or treaty-making exercises, but from below, in everyday practices of governance.

Using the language of rights and national self-determination, Aboriginal peoples have mounted a fundamental challenge to Canadian federalism in the past forty years. In order to move beyond the imposed structure of colonial governance, Aboriginal peoples have sought to establish their own form of federal relationship with contemporary Canadian governments and society. While much attention has been devoted to the constitutional and legal dimensions of Aboriginal challenges to state authority, this thesis argues that incremental yet fundamental changes are also taking place in the less visible but nonetheless important arena of policy-making. Aboriginal claims for greater political recognition, combined with the redefinition of the role of the state associated with neoliberal ideas, have led to the emergence of multilevel governance practices between Aboriginal governing authorities and their federal and provincial counterparts. While they do not alter the formal nature of state authority as defined in the constitution, multilevel policy exercises are characterized by growing interdependencies between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal governing actors, leading to a partial displacement of formal rules of authoritative decision-making in favor of joint decision-making processes and negotiated solutions to policy disputes. Building on comparative analyses of the transformations in the governance regimes of the James Bay Crees and Kahnawa:ke Mohawks, this thesis argues that these multilevel exercises can become transformative spaces for Aboriginal peoples to reshape their relationship with the state and establish themselves as representatives of distinct political communities with their own sources of authority and legitimacy independent of federal and provincial parliaments. As a result, I argue a new form of federalism may well be emerging not through constitutional negotiations or treaty-making exercises, but from below, in everyday practices of governance.

<p>No pages i or ii in the hard copy</p> <p>Pgs. 111 and 209 were combined together in Photoshop because pages were too large for scanning at one time.</p> / <p>This thesis is based upon ethnographic and archival research relating to the Crees of Red Earth in east central Saskatchewan. Ethnographic research was conducted at the Red Earth reserves for about a year, mainly in 1971 and 1972. Archival research was carried out at the Public Archives of Manitoba, utilizing documents of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Anglican Missionary Society.</p> <p>This research has been basically historical in orientation and directed towards obtaining information on the changing subsistence-settlement patterns and social organization of the Crees of the Red Earth region since about 1860. Culturally, the Red Earth people are Plains Crees, originally affiliated with those who centred their yearly activities about Ft. a la Corne, Saskatchewan. Of particular interest is the cultural and social affiliation of the Red Earth people with the Shoal Lake Crees, a Swampy Cree group who formed one segment of the large Indian group attached to The Pas, Manitoba.</p> <p>A major theme of this thesis is the development of a high degree of in-marriage between the Red Earth and Shoal Lake Crees and the formation of an in-marrying group which is here termed the "deme" or "marriage isolate". It is postulated that the marriage isolate is a social form characteristic of hunter-gatherer society throughout the world and that it was present among Northern Algonkians in the early contact period (and, therefore, also in pre-contact times). Due to the environmental instability of the boreal forest, disruptions due to contact (introduced diseases, fur trade vicissitudes) and contemporary government policies, it appears that Northern Algonkian demes have been in a recurrent state of disruption and re-formation throughout the contact period.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)