When you have completed Political Science 311: Aboriginal Politics and Governments, you should be able to achieve the following course objectives.

  1. Outline important concepts associated with Aboriginal politics and Aboriginal governments in Canada.
  2. Discuss Aboriginal governing traditions, the evolution of Aboriginal politics and changes in Aboriginal governance systems, and current trends and issues associated with Aboriginal governments.
  3. Discuss the complexity of the issues related to Aboriginal politics and governments, and discuss how Canadian society both influences and is influenced by Aboriginal governments and politics.

To help you achieve these course objectives, Political Science 311 emphasizes the realities of and current developments in Aboriginal governing systems and Aboriginal movements for change; what Aboriginal peoples and organizations have said about these realities; and the initiatives of the federal, provincial, and territorial governments.

No one can know as much as Indians themselves about what policies are valid for them and . . . the Indian perspective must be heard and acknowledged for a meaningful dialogue to occur between Indians and non-Indians.

(Little Bear, Boldt, and Long 1984, ix)