Menno Boldt - Böcker

This collection of many voices develops more deeply and exhaustively the issues raised in the editors’ earlier volume, Pathways to Self-Determination. It contains some twenty-three papers from representatives of the aboriginal people’s organizations, of governments, and of a variety of academic disciplines, along with introductions and an epilogue by the editors and appendices of the key constitutional documents from 1763.The contributors represent a broad cross-section of tribal, geographic, and organizational perspectives. They discuss constitutional questions such as land rights, the concerns of Metis, non-status Indians, and Inuit; and native rights in broad contexts – historical, legal/constitutional, political, regional, and international.The issue of aboriginal rights and of what these rights mean in terms of land and sovereignty has become increasingly important on the Canadian political agenda. The constitutional conferences between government and aboriginal peoples have revealed the gulf between what each side means by aboriginal rights: for the Indians these rights are meaningless without sovereign self-government, an idea the federal and provincial governments are not willing to entertain. Somewhere in the middle lies the concept of nationhood status.Ultimately, the aboriginal peoples are asking for justice from the dominant society around them; if it is denied or felt to be denied, the editors conclude, the consequences for the Canadian self-concept would be costly and debilitating. The twenty-four contributors provide a find guide to this profound and complex problem, whose solution depends on our understanding and our political wisdom.

This book is about a just future for Indians in Canada. It defines justice in terms of the survival and well-being of Indians as Indians, that is, defined by their traditional principles and philosophies, not by the Indian Act or by their experience of colonialism. Menno Boldt calls for social action, not theory, holding that unless Indians revitalize, adapt, and develop their traditional philosophies and principles for living and surviving in the context of Canadian society, polity, and economy, they will become extinct as Indians; they will survive only as a legal-racial category created by the Indian Act. Moreover, Boldt argues, so long as the mass of Indians continue to live in conditions of degrading dependence, destitution, and powerlessness, Indian government will be a travesty.Surviving as Indians examines the roots in injustice to Indians, and then analyses Canadian Indian policies, Indian leadership, culture, and economy. Boldt stresses five imperatives: moral justice for Indians; Canadian policies that treat Indian rights, interests, aspirations, and needs as equal to those of Canadians; Indian leadership that is committed to eliminating the colonial political and bureaucratic structures on their reserves, and to returning Indian government into the hands of their people; revitalizing Indian cultures, languages, and social systems that are adapted and developed within the framework of traditional philosophies and principles; and economic self-sufficiency and independence to be achieved through employment in the Canadian mainstream. The future for Indians must inevitably be worked out with Canadians. Surviving as Indians intends to open a dialogue between the two groups.

In A Quest for Humanity, Menno Boldt presents a persuasive new framework for achieving a human social order in the global age. Boldt explores the concept of ‘the good society’ as a world in which every person can realize their potential for humanity through liberty, social justice, and equal human dignity.A Quest for Humanity innovatively positions globalization as a deterministic phenomenon of expanding interdependence and shared knowledge — resulting in ever-larger economic and political jurisdictions, but also creating social and psychological links between peoples across the world. Boldt challenges mainstream certainty that Western democracy and constitutional human rights are the exemplary doctrines for the global good society. With a fresh vision designed to inspire a universal acknowledgement of human dignity, A Quest for Humanity powerfully affirms the value of each human being.