When participation is not enough

explaining factors for (not) changing Indigenous land claims recognition policy in Brazil and Canada

Abstract

the paper compares Indigenous participation in Indigenous land claims recognition policy review processes in Brazil and Canada. Firstly, we deal with the 2016’s 1st National Public Policy Conference on Indigenous Policy. Secondly, we analysed the Canadian Task Force to review the Land Claims Policy of the country in 1985. Whereas the first participatory institution did not have any significative impact regarding Indigenous proposals to change the referred policy, the Canadian one had a modest success. Our main goal was to understand the reasons behind the variation on the observed capacity of policy change through participatory channels. We listed as potential explaining factors, beyond the institutional ones, the federalist arrangement in each country, the executive agenda and the collective agency of Indigenous peoples. We interviewed 16 public officials and carried out documental research in both countries. We concluded that, among other factors, the Ruralist Caucus is the political actor with veto powers capable of blocking Indigenous claims in the Brazilian case; in Canada, on the other hand, Indigenous issues have bipartisan consensus, which makes proposals for policy change less contentious and more feasible.