Dancing Around the Table: Part One provides a fascinating look at the crucial role Indigenous people played in shaping the Canadian Constitution. The 1984 Federal Provincial Conference of First Ministers on Aboriginal Constitutional Matters was a tumultuous and antagonistic process that pitted Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau and the First Ministers—who refused to include Indigenous inherent rights to self-government in the Constitution—against First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders, who would not back down from this historic opportunity to enshrine Indigenous rights.In a now infamous exchange, Kwakwaka’wakw lawyer and lead negotiator Bill Wilson states that he has two children who want …
Pre-teach
the concept of self-government as proposed by the Native peoples in Canada.
Discuss the many arguments put forth by the Native peoples at this conference.
Comment on the attitudes of the Native leaders, Prime Minister Trudeau, René
Lévesque and Premier Richard Hatfield of New Brunswick. Is it accurate to call
the actions of the BC and federal governments "genocide"?