Aboriginal policy development within the BC NDP : 1969-1990
Date
2002
Authors
Reeve, Daniel Charles Hayden
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Abstract
This thesis tracks the development of Aboriginal policy within the British Columbia (BC) New Democratic Party (NDP) between 1969 and 1990 .. In this period, the BC NDP (the Party) begins to turn away from its traditional integrationist values (founded on principles oflegal, political, and economic equality) towards a vision which recognises distinct Aboriginal rights (specifically, Aboriginal title, the inherent right of Aboriginal self-government, and the necessity of the province to enter treaty negotiations to address these rights). In addition to the influence of prominent Party members (such as Bob Williams, Norm Levi, George Watts, Bob Skelly, and Mike Harcourt), significant actors on the Party's immediate periphery (the major BC Aboriginal political organisations, the Federal government, the BC Social Credit Party, and the provincial and federal courts) play an import role informing the Party's Aboriginal policy. Because the Party lacked a definitive policy process (and thus a definitive policy statement on Aboriginal issues) until the leadership of Mike Harcourt, the Party's policy voice was found in a wide variety of sources including resolutions, initiated government policy, campaign literature, press releases, and leadership pronouncements. From this cacophonous and often contradictory collection of policy visions, the Party gradually, unevenly, and reluctantly adopted a new vision for Aboriginal / non-Aboriginal relations based on inherent Aboriginal rights.