Discusses the conflicts between Canada’s local governments due to the disagreement over the land-rights of the Anglophones, Francophones and Natives.
Michael Ignatieff’s 2000 Massey lecture highlighted Canada as a rights society. This is a consequence of the geographic concentration of the three founding peoples. The result has been conflicts between the federal and provincial governments and between natives and provincial governments. This discussion focuses on the assertion that ‘land claims’ are an avenue to settlement of these issues. It links establishment of a territorial base to political autonomy.