Challenging the citizenship regime: The James Bay Cree and transnational action

Politics and Society

Volumn 28, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 245-264

  Jenson, Jane ^a   Papillon, Martin ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0034383339     PISSN: 00323292     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0032329200028002005     Document Type: Article

References (42)

1. Matthew Coon Come, "A message regarding the rights of the Cree and other Aboriginal Peoples in Canada," in Grand Council of the Cree (Eeyou Astchee), Never without Consent: The James Bay Cree's Stand against Forcible Inclusion into an Independent Quebec (Toronto: ECW Press, 1998).
2. On the notion that Canada is a multinational country, see Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1995).
3. For a detailed definition and discussion, see Jane Jenson and Susan D. Phillips, "Regime Shifts: New Citizenship Practices in Canada," International Journal of Canadian Studies, vol. 14 (fall 1996). This definition is a modified version of the definition of a welfare-state regime developed by Gøsta Esping-Andersen in The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990), 80. While we have adapted this definition of a regime, it is worth noting that, being a case study, the goal of this article is not to follow his procedure of identifying regime types. Comparison of types more than individual regimes was obviously at the root of his 1990 analysis. One might do the same with citizenship regimes, but this article elaborates no typology of regime types.
4. For a detailed definition and discussion, see Jane Jenson and Susan D. Phillips, "Regime Shifts: New Citizenship Practices in Canada," International Journal of Canadian Studies, vol. 14 (fall 1996). This definition is a modified version of the definition of a welfare-state regime developed by Gøsta Esping-Andersen in The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990), 80. While we have adapted this definition of a regime, it is worth noting that, being a case study, the goal of this article is not to follow his procedure of identifying regime types. Comparison of types more than individual regimes was obviously at the root of his 1990 analysis. One might do the same with citizenship regimes, but this article elaborates no typology of regime types.
5. Keith Banting, The Welfare State and Canadian Federalism (Kingston, Canada: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1987).
6. David E. Smith, "Canadian Political Parties and National Integration," in Alain-G. Gagnon and A. Brian Tanguay, eds., Canadian Parties in Transition, (Scarborough, Ontario: Nelson Canada, 1989), 130-51.
7. Gilles Bourque and Jules Duchastel, L'identité fragmentée. Nations et citoyenneté dans les débats constitutionnels canadiens, 1941-1992 (Montreal: Fides, 1996).
8. Jane Jenson, "Citizenship and Equity: Variations across Time and in Space," in Political Ethics: A Canadian Perspective, vol. 12, ed. Janet Heibert for the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing (Toronto: Dundurn, 1991).
9. Kenneth McRoberts, Misconceiving Canada: The Struggle for National Unity (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997).
10. Not all social movements are challengers to the post-1945 regime. Some, such as the labor movement and the second wave of the women's movement, also participated in building it.
11. This position is opposed to the stronger thesis arguing that a new type of transnational social movement has emerged as a consequence of national political opportunity structures giving way to transnational ones following globalization. See Sidney Tarrow, Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action and Politics, 2d ed. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 178.
12. Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998), 12.
13. For a more detailed discussion of naming strategies, see both Jane Jenson, "Mapping, naming and remembering: Globalization at the end of the twentieth century," Review of International Political Economy 2, no. 1 (spring 1995); and Martin Papillon, "Action collective et représentation identitaire: Analyse du mouvement d'affirmation des Cris de la Baie James entre 1971 et 1995" (master's thesis, Université de Montréal, June 1999).
14. For a more detailed discussion of naming strategies, see both Jane Jenson, "Mapping, naming and remembering: Globalization at the end of the twentieth century," Review of International Political Economy 2, no. 1 (spring 1995); and Martin Papillon, "Action collective et représentation identitaire: Analyse du mouvement d'affirmation des Cris de la Baie James entre 1971 et 1995" (master's thesis, Université de Montréal, June 1999).
15. It is important to note that when we describe the Cree making citizenship claims, we are imposing on them our conceptualization of citizenship, broadly defined. As most Aboriginal peoples living in Canada insist, they are not seeking to become simple citizens of Canada; they seek another standing altogether.
16. Extract from Boyce Richardson, Strangers Devour the Land (Toronto: Macmillan, 1975), 84.
17. The postwar citizenship regime was a liberal one but one whose liberalism was modified by the recognition of "categorical equity." The Cree, and other Aboriginal peoples, were adamant that they did not constitute a category of the disadvantaged, as the White Paper would have tagged them, placing them alongside poor Canadians, women, and other victims of discrimination or exclusion.
18. Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec), General Assembly Resolutions, 16 March 1989, Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec).
19. Matthew Coon Come, A Word from the Grand Chief: Remarks to the General Assembly of the Grand Council of the Cree, 19 March 1989. Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec).
20. This ad appeared in The New York Times Magazine, 12 January 1992.
21. Remarks by Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come at a press conference, New York, April 1991, Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec).
22. The Inuit living in the North of Quebec were also cosignatories to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement and also concerned about the consequences of flooding for their survival. Their politics has been somewhat less nationalist and more conciliatory to negotiations, however.
23. Speech by Deputy Grand Chief Diom Romeo Saganash on Environmental Inequality, November 1991, Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec).
24. Matthew Coon Come, "Self-Determination and Jurisdictional Relations with Nation States" (paper presented to the "Strengthening the Spirit: Beyond 500 Years" conference, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, November 1992, Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec).
25. See, for example, Ted Moses, "Remarks to the World Conference on Human Rights," Vienna 1993, Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec); also Philip Awashish, "Political Considerations and Status of the Eenouch and their Homeland (Eenou Estschee)." Discussion document, 1992, Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec). The difference in spelling reflects the fact that it took a while for the new terms to settle into currency.
26. See, for example, Ted Moses, "Remarks to the World Conference on Human Rights," Vienna 1993, Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec); also Philip Awashish, "Political Considerations and Status of the Eenouch and their Homeland (Eenou Estschee)." Discussion document, 1992, Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec). The difference in spelling reflects the fact that it took a while for the new terms to settle into currency.
27. Ted Moses, "Remarks to the World Conference on Human Rights," Vienna 1993, Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec).
28. Greenpeace Canada split into two wings, creating an independent Greenpeace Québec after the pan-Canadian organization failed to consult its then provincial wing about participation in The New York Times ad campaign. Other groups also turned against the Cree cause. See "Au Courant tourne le dos aux Cris," Le Devoir, 8 October 1994.
29. Greenpeace Canada split into two wings, creating an independent Greenpeace Québec after the pan-Canadian organization failed to consult its then provincial wing about participation in The New York Times ad campaign. Other groups also turned against the Cree cause. See "Au Courant tourne le dos aux Cris," Le Devoir, 8 October 1994.
30. The 1988 Meech Lake Accord, which recognized Quebec as a "distinct society" was roundly criticized by progressive forces. They also supported Aboriginal people's objections to it as only a "Quebec round," which would have settled disputes between Quebec and the rest of Canada while leaving the agenda of Aboriginal peoples unresolved. The 1992 Charlottetown Agreement, as a "Canada round," did address their issues but foundered on other objections, including the recognition of Quebec as distinct. The defeat of the Charlottetown Agreement in the 1992 pan-Canadian referendum then opened the way to an electoral victory by the Parti Québécois in 1994 and its own referendum in 1995.
31. Matthew Coon Come speaking of the Cree opposition to the Great Whale hydroelectric project, Concordia University, Montreal, April 1995.
32. For several years, constitutional reform was hotly debated across Canada. This stage ended with a Canada-wide referendum on the Charlottetown Accord in 1992, which included recognition of Aboriginal peoples' right to self-government as a "third-order" government alongside Ottawa and the provinces. The agreement, signed by four pan-Canadian Aboriginal organizations as well as all the provinces and territories, was rejected by the voters, including many Aboriginal voters.
33. Bob Epstein, "Questions to Ask, Decisions to Make: The James Bay Cree and the Future of Canada." Reflection Document presented to the General Assembly of the Grand Council of the Cree, Mistassini, 1992, Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec).
34. Diom Romeo Saganash, "Competing Claims for Self-Determination: Aboriginal Nations and Quebec," Memorial Symposium on Self-Determination, Saskatoon, 6 March 1994, Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec).
35. Matthew Coon Come, "The Status and Rights of the James Bay Cree in the Context of Quebec Secession from Canada," Center for International Studies, Washington, DC, September 1994, Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec).
36. Nor would they accept the decision if the rest of Canada voted to let Quebec go and the Cree along with them.
37. The vote was 96.9 percent to stay with Canada. According to a press release from the Grand Council of the Cree: "Les Cris demandent au gouvernement de respecter le résultat du référendum cri," 27 October 1995.
38. The Cree were immensely visible. Before and after the referendum, there were more than 150 newspaper articles reporting their opposition to Quebec's independence. Matthew Coon Come alone was the subject of at least 30 articles in Canadian and U.S. dailies or weeklies. These told of his life, that of the James Bay Cree, his views on Aboriginal struggles, and Quebec nationalism. See the Annual Report of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec), 1997, Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec).
39. Speech by Diom Romeo Saganash, Vice Chairman of the Cree Regional Authority, "Competing Claims for Self-Determination: Aboriginal Nations and Quebec," March 1993, Archives of the Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec).
40. For example, Anglophone partitionists launched a campaign to mobilize municipal governments to promise to hold local referendums in the evident of a yes vote in a Quebec-wide referendum, so that each local community would be legitimated as the unit of decision. At the same time, federalists outside Quebec argued that all of Canada would have to vote before Quebec could leave.
41. Matthew Coon Come, "A Message Regarding the Rights of the Cree and Other Aboriginal Peoples in Canada," 12.
42. For a clear exposition of this position, see Paul Chartrand, "Aboriginal Self-Government: The Two Sides of Legitimacy," in Susan D. Phillips, ed., How Ottawa Spends, 1993-94: A More Democratic Canada? (Ottawa, Canada: Carleton University Press, 1994).