Brian Giesbrecht: Should Canada Hold an Indigenous Referendum?

Commentary Canada, United States, Australia, and New Zealand all share one important historical feature: Indigenous peoples were already present when the Europeans arrived. The histories are all similar in that the indigenous populations had to be accommodated before large-scale settlement could occur. Peace was achieved after some bloodshed, and the native populations were left with some special rights not accorded to the general population. In each country there has arisen an integrated educated indigenous elite class that demands more special rights, and a large, poor, semi-integrated indigenous underclass. In United States, Australia, and New Zealand there is increasing pushback from the citizenry against the demand for more special indigenous rights. And now, in New Zealand, there is a demand that those special rights, and the quasi-apartheid systems that inevitably result from the granting of rights based on race, be ended entirely....