In Citizens Plus: Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian State, Alan Cairns unravels the historical record to clarify the current impasse in negotiations between Aboriginal peoples and the state. He considers the assimilationist policy assumptions of the imperial era, examines more recent government initiatives, and analyzes the emergence of the nation-to-nation paradigm given massive support by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Political scientist who was one of the author's of the 1966-67 Hawthorne Report explores the nature of Aboriginal Peoples and their relationship to the Canadian state. He still maintains that First Nations are "citizens plus" and they are indeed Canadian citizens with some additional differences. His analysis begins with the assimilation policies of the Canadian government, then moves to the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and ends with a call to return to the idea of citizens plus. Unfortunately there is no room for notions of self-government in this consideration. An interesting contribution to the many voices involved in trying to solve the issues surrounding Aboriginal Peoples and Canada.
