Frances Abele is Academic Director of the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation. A Professor and former Director of the School of Public Policy and Administration, Dr. Abele’s research interests include Aboriginal-state relations, Aboriginal economic development, northern political economy, and community development and training. She is a former  Deputy Director of Research for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and research fellow at the Institute for Research on Public Policy. Current research projects include Aboriginal self-government and the federation; sustainable development in northern Canada, including the definition of new public policy options; the northern social economy; federal northern development policy, and the further development of northern democracy.