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Leslie Mackay, "Diverging Futures: Indigenous Peoples and the Progress of the Nation" Canada and Australia have always had very similar trajectories in the ways in which they have dealt with Indigenous peoples. Both national histories have been constructed as an heroic march of progress in which Aboriginal peoples were unavoidable casualties of expanding civilisation. The policy aim of historical practices was usually explicitly genocidal: to end the existence of indigenous peoples as distinct peoples. Twenty-first century goals in Canada and Australia now include promises of reconciliation, healing, self management, self-determination and Aboriginal self-government. Both countries have repudiated their assimilationism with or without apologies, and are endeavouring to put the past behind them and move on, to create unified, competitive, global nations in which the indigenous and non-indigenous populations can interact in harmony, social justice can prevail, and growth can continue. However, their strategies have diverged, with the Canadian governments locked into the treaty process which requires negotiating with indigenous collectivities, and the Australian governments persisting in the view that Aborigines are individuals with few rights to negotiate collectively. While Canadian treaties and Canadian successes in improving Indigenous social indicators are often cited as proof that Canadians are "years ahead," this paper will consider the limits of this notion. I will argue that while the Canadian First Nations have an important symbolic place in the new and important rhetoric of reconciliation, treaty and apology, Australian Aboriginal peoples, despite the appalling failure of Indigenous health policies, have been able to claim a unique economic and structural space. Thus while Canadian First Nations are presently much better off, Australian Aboriginal peoples may be in a better position to build on their future value in the nation building process. Addressing the differences between these two national strategies may enable us to conceptualise a more "progressive" indigenous future in both nations. Biography: Leslie Mackay is a Doctoral candidate at the University of Queensland. Originally from Canada, she has lived in Australia since 1985, and is currently conducting comparative research in Australian Aboriginal and Canadian First Nations contemporary writing. |
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