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Contested Colonialism: Responsible Government and Political Development in Yukon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2014

Jerald Sabin
Jerald Sabin*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
*
Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, Sidney Smith Hall, Room 3018, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3, Email: jerald.sabin@utoronto.ca.
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Abstract

This article argues that the granting of responsible government to Yukon in 1979 was not the inevitable outcome of territorial political development but the result of a protracted and organized settler political movement that emerged first in opposition to the federal government and, later, to Yukon's Indigenous peoples. I analyze settler actor political behaviour and outcomes using the framework of “contested colonialism.” Non-Indigenous Yukoners are understood as actors who simultaneously bring colonialism to the North while also contesting elements of that same colonial order. Using extensive archival research, I identify several critical junctures leading to the implementation of responsible government during the 1960s and 1970s.

Résumé

Cet article soutient que l'octroi au Yukon du gouvernement responsable en 1979 n'était pas le résultat inévitable du développement politique territorial, mais plutôt l'aboutissement d'un mouvement prolongé et organisé d'autonomie des colonisateurs qui a surgi initialement contre le gouvernement fédéral et ensuite contre les peuples Indigènes du Yukon. L'article analyse le comportement politique des colonisateurs, et les conséquences politiques de ce dernier pour le Yukon, en utilisant le cadre d'analyse du “colonialisme contesté”. Les Yukonnais non-indigènes se révèlent comme étant des acteurs qui à la fois imposent la domination coloniale au Nord et contestent ce même système coloniale. Se fondant sur une recherche archiviste approfondie, l'article identifie des moments critiques du cheminement de la mise en oeuvre du government responsable au cours des années 1960 et 1970.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , June 2014 , pp. 375 - 396
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 2014 

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