Mesomobilization and fragile coalitions: Aboriginal politics and treaty-making in British Columbia

Mesomobilization actors perform important structural and ideological roles for social movements. This paper examines the dilemmas confronting one such meso-level organization – the First Nations Summit – currently engaged in tri-partite treaty negotiations with the governments of British Columbia and Canada. Asymmetrical power relations between the negotiating parties leave the First Nations vulnerable to government strategies aimed at achieving “certainty” with minimal concessions on key issues such as Aboriginal Title, compensation, and governance. The paper considers the Summit's options for mobilizing its diverse and often reluctant constituents in order to gain leverage in the treaty process.