Indigenous Political Representation in Canada

Despite long-standing academic interest in Indigenous peoples and the Canadian state, there has been little study of Indigenous elected officials as representational actors. We ask: What are the distinctively Indigenous forms of representation practised by Indigenous elected officials in Canada? And...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian journal of political science 2023-06, Vol.56 (2), p.257-278
Main Authors: Carrière, Réal, Koop, Royce
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advocacy
Concept formation
Constituents
Discipline
Governance
Indigenous peoples
Native peoples
Participation
Political behavior
Political representation
Politics
Public officials
Research Article/Étude originale
Sovereignty
Statehood
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Summary:Despite long-standing academic interest in Indigenous peoples and the Canadian state, there has been little study of Indigenous elected officials as representational actors. We ask: What are the distinctively Indigenous forms of representation practised by Indigenous elected officials in Canada? And how does clarifying the role of Indigenous elected officials as representatives both contribute to and enhance our overall understanding of Indigenous politics, governance and sovereignty? We draw on the existing literatures on substantive representation as well as original interviews conducted with current and former Indigenous elected officials to develop an original conceptualization of Indigenous representation. These actors differ in their perceptions of themselves and their roles as representatives, the representational behaviours they engage in and the outcomes they seek. Our conceptualization of Indigenous representation engages with four themes: Indigenous perspective, Indigenous advocacy, balance with other imperatives including constituency representation and party discipline, and Indigenous nationhood.
ISSN:0008-4239
1744-9324
DOI:10.1017/S0008423923000173