Secession and Native Americans

In: Peace review: the international quarterly of world peace, Band 12, Heft 1, S. 7-14

Abstract

The moral right of a group to secede from a state is considered in the case of Native Americans in the US & Canada. It is argued that while secession cannot legally take place in the US, there are valid moral reasons for it to occur: the group no longer seeks to be a member of a state, the group has a valid moral claim to territory, & the group is willing to pay a "secession settlement." Quebec's talk of secession is held to be problematic since the "territory" it would claim would actually be morally the land of the James Bay Crees. It is concluded that talk of secession brings a fresh outlook to Native American rights & that secession should be provided for constitutionally. 20 References. D. Weibel