However sovereignty can in fact be interpreted in a variety of ways, as Aboriginal people themselves are quick to recognize. For example, when the Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en people of northern British Columbia insist that they be accorded a role in determining development policies in relation to land which they claim, but which has been 'alienated' under Canadian law, and back up their claims by peaceful disruption of logging operations, they are demanding that sovereignty be shared. It would seem more fruitful to concentrate on exactly what forms of autonomy it may be possible for Aboriginal people to extract, rather than on the limitations created for Aboriginal people by the unwillingness of governments to concede some legal notion of 'ultimate' sovereignty. Given that his own analysis demonstrates so clearly that federal government initiatives regarding land rights legislation and an 'instrument of reconciliation' have to date produced so little for Aboriginal people, it would seem important to explore other, possibly more fruitful alternatives. These might include the creation of locally-based Aboriginal organizations which start to assume and to perform certain 'governmental' functions in relation to their members and to lobby for control over public funds currently dispensed through, and controlled by, state or federal government agencies.
Aboriginal people are themselves well aware of the importance of such initiatives.
Initiatives of this type not only allow Aboriginal people more autonomy in the short term, an objective which Brennan regards as highly desirable, but they can help redefine what is 'politically feasible' over the longer term. By demonstrating that indigenous people are in fact capable of exercising substantial autonomy without threatening the continued existence of the states within which they reside, and of substantially enhancing their own well-being in the process, they can make it much more difficult for conservative political forces to resist the introduction of political and legal mechanisms which recognize and enhance indigenous rights. In sum, much of Brennan's analysis of the treatment of indigenous rights in Australia is of considerable value. However it is difficult to understand why many of the policy prescriptions he draws appear to run counter to his own analysis. Aboriginal Peoples, Self-Government and Constitutional Reform , Minister of Supply and Services Canada, Ottawa.