Contested Colonialism: Responsible Government and Political Development in Yukon

Abstract

AbstractThis article argues that the granting of responsible government to Yukon in 1979 was not the inevitable outcome of territorial political development but the result of a protracted and organized settler political movement that emerged first in opposition to the federal government and, later, to Yukon's Indigenous peoples. I analyze settler actor political behaviour and outcomes using the framework of “contested colonialism.” Non-Indigenous Yukoners are understood as actors who simultaneously bring colonialism to the North while also contesting elements of that same colonial order. Using extensive archival research, I identify several critical junctures leading to the implementation of responsible government during the 1960s and 1970s.