History is on the “no” side. Only eight of 44 referendum questions have been carried since federation
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks past Ivanka Trump at the Women and Development event at the G20 summit in July 2017 in Germany.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is making a political career out of burnishing his self-image and convincing the world he’s a human rights leader. Do his actions match his words?
Changing the date of Australia Day is the first tiny step for Australia to begin the reckoning with its origins.
AAP/Dan Peled
Reconciliation between the Settler and First Nations populations is a self-evident prerequisite for Australia cutting the ties of colonial dependency with Britain to stand on our own.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, constitutional change is about righting injustices inherent in the current recognition of difference, rather than promoting an agenda of sameness.
Michael Coghlan/Flickr
The process of constitutional recognition was initially to be completed by 2013, but is now being directed towards a referendum in May 2017 to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum.
Success will come from changing the way Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s issues are talked about and addressed – from one of deficit in which people are described as problematic to one of empowerment and strength.
Global Panorama/Flickr
In many ways, the “great Australian silence” about Indigenous history, pointed out by eminent anthropologist W.E.H. Stanner back in 1968, still endures in this country some 50 years later.
The Saami have a history of colonisation and discrimination, and tend not to have easy relationships with the four modern states they inhabit.
Reuters/William Webster
Although the Saami have made political and legal gains in the past decades, progress is precarious. And recognition of their rights cannot be taken for granted.
Native Americans have struggled for recognition of the violence done to them through colonisation and the persistent harms of settler colonialism.
EPA/Mike Nelson
Despite significant shortcomings in the negotiation, content and honouring of treaties, they continue to define the nature of the relationship between most Native Americans and the United States.
The relationship between Canada’s Aboriginal peoples and non-indigenous population has never been an equal one.
AAP Image/Adam Gartrell
The relationship between Canada’s Aboriginal peoples and non-indigenous population has never been an equal one, even though the 1982 national constitution recognises Aboriginal rights.
Despite the Treaty of Waitangi, acts by both the British Crown and successive New Zealand governments have had detrimental effects on the Māori population.
AAP Image/SNPA Pool, David Rowland
Reconciliation efforts were established in New Zealand 30 years ago to tackle grievances stemming from government initiatives that have seen Māori lose both resources and power.
Apologies for past injustices issued to indigenous people in Canada, Australia, the United States and New Zealand in the last few decades are signs of progress.
butupa/Flickr
Australia’s national legitimacy is compromised by the failure to repair its relationship with its Indigenous population. Our series explores different ways of resolving this unfinished business.