This work explores the emergence of the vocabulary of First Nations' self-government into the realm of public and parliamentary discourse in Canada during the decade of the 1970s. The emergence of the vocabulary is chronicled through a study of the testimony of First Nations and aboriginal witnesses before a series of Joint Committees on the Constitutions and the Commons Committee on Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

Michael W. Posluns received his PhD from York University, in Toronto. He was the founding director of the parliamentary relations programme of the National Indian Brotherhood/Assembly of First Nations from 1976 to 1982.

Introduction: Gaining a Purchase: An Introduction to the Public Emergence of the Vocabulary of First Nations' Self-Government 1. The Interplay of Language, Policy & Ethics in the Discourse of First Nations' Relations 2. Assimilation, Enfranchisement and the White Paper: An Overview of First Nations Relations Before 1970 3. Public Conversations on First Nations' Self-Government 4. The Middle Period: A Minority Parliament and a First Patriation Bill 5. Notions of Sovereignty: Self-Help, Self-Confidence, And Individual And Collective Self-Fulfillment