Issue 31:

Undoubtedly the most urgent issues of governance in Canada today concern Aboriginal people. Two linked articles examine some of these issues. John Graham casts a spotlight on 11 features of First Nation governance that, in combination, act as “a significant brake on achieving better results for First Nation communities.” Joseph Quesnel takes a close look at one particular First Nation, the Nisga’a of northwestern British Columbia, who in 1998 signed a treaty that granted them effective self-government. How has that worked out? Quesnel finds “very compelling evidence for improvements in various areas under self-government,” but warns against thinking of self-government as a “silver bullet.” Questions of First Nation governance are raised by David Adams Richards in his 2011 novel Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul in a very different way – through a murder mystery. We present two reviews of Richards’s novel – by Joseph Quesnel, who pays particular attention to governance questions, and by Nicole O’Byrne, who looks at more universal themes.