Mirrored representation: Canada's Aboriginal Peoples and Parliament

Abstract

This thesis is an investigation of why the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada are severely under-represented in the country's legislative institutions. It compares the number of candidates who received endorsement by mainstream political parties in the 2004 and 2006 federal general elections. The analysis specifically considers six hypotheses and how they might correlate to the rate of success of Aboriginal candidates. Based on this analysis, it is argued that Aboriginal peoples are disproportionately under-represented in Canadian legislatures vis-a?-vis their share of the population. At a minimum, they should occupy a proportionate share of legislative seats as their share of the population suggests. The primary vehicle for increasing the numeric representation of Aboriginal peoples in Canadian legislatives is via several reforms to Canada's electoral and party systems.