Envisaging Canada in a Disenchanted World: Reflections on Federalism, Nationalism, and Distinctive Indigenous Identity

Abstract

I have taught law for more than twenty years. I have gradually become convinced that jurists (like myself), political scientists, and philosophers who are interested in federalism and Indigenous issues — whether they themselves are of Indigenous origin or not — do not always take sufficient consideration of the Trickster in their understanding of these matters. Their intellectual constructions lack asperities. No provision is made for the unforeseen. Everything is just too smooth. Above all, these constructions often overestimate or underestimate the capacity of human beings to think by and for themselves.