Acknowledgements

A book such as this one owes a debt of gratitude to many people. As a Canadian academic who studies Indigenous politics in Latin America, one of the first questions I am most often asked by interviewees is, What is it like for Indigenous peoples in Canada? This research project was born out of a commitment to answer that question. In so doing, I learned so much about the country that I call home. I am eternally grateful for this opportunity. Field research in northern Canada is very expensive. This book would not have been possible without the financial support of a Standard Research Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

I would like to thank the great folks in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nunavut, and Yukon who shared their valuable time and insights into Indigenous politics with me. Thank you for the wonderful work that you do each and every day to make democracy work for all of us.

A special thanks to Graham White for suggesting the Yukon as a fruitful comparison to Ecuador, and for all the great work that you do on Nunavut. Thanks also go to Kirk Cameron and Ken Coates for introducing me to the wonders of the Yukon!

I would also like to thank Ken Roberts for his ongoing mentorship and conversations on my North-South comparative research design, and Pablo Policzer for his suggestions on the conceptual chapter. Thank you to Allyson Benton for her wonderful idea on how to conceptualize the book in terms of democratic decolonization (as opposed to simply governance innovation) at the 2020 American Political Science Association conference. And thank you to Christopher Carter for organizing that excellent panel and for including me in it!

Last, but not least, a special thanks to the amazing people at the University of Calgary Press for making this book a reality, and to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions. Any shortcomings remain my own.

I dedicate the book to my husband, Sid, for always supporting my career and being the great father and friend that he is—and to our amazing sons, Ryan and Rhys, who had to endure my many absences when they were little so that I could carry out the field research for this study. I will never forget the time that I received a late-night phone call while in Whitehorse from my oldest son, Ryan, who had just lost his first tooth at home in Toronto. And I missed it. I can only hope that this book, and the ideas of inclusive change that it carries, are worth it. I love you guys.