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Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law

Osgoode Hall Law School of York University

Indigenous peoples--Legal status, laws, etc.

Articles 1 - 15 of 15

Full-Text Articles in Law

Book Review: Creating Indigenous Property: Power, Rights, And Relationships, F. Tim Knight Jul 2022

Book Review: Creating Indigenous Property: Power, Rights, And Relationships, F. Tim Knight

Librarian Publications & Presentations

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The Wastelander Life: Living Before And After The Release Of Daniels V Canada, Signa A. Daum Shanks Oct 2017

The Wastelander Life: Living Before And After The Release Of Daniels V Canada, Signa A. Daum Shanks

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The difficulties of entering the Canadian legal system for Indigenous peoples often includes the challenge of using the tools that have a history of harming those same peoples in the first place. Such a reality means the pursuit of recognition in Canadian law will not always be a positive experience—even when a decision supposedly represents a ‘win.’ Here, the author considers some of the effects that have developed from the release of Daniels v Canada. As with other Supreme Court of Canada releases, it inspires observations about colonialism, the modern plight of Indigenous peoples, and the rule of law.


“The Lands…Belonged To Them, Once By The Indian Title, Twice For Having Defended Them…And Thrice For Having Built And Lived On Them”: The Law And Politics Of Métis Title, Karen Drake, Adam Gaudry Sep 2016

“The Lands…Belonged To Them, Once By The Indian Title, Twice For Having Defended Them…And Thrice For Having Built And Lived On Them”: The Law And Politics Of Métis Title, Karen Drake, Adam Gaudry

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

To predict what is on the horizon of the Métis legal landscape, we can look to jurisprudence on First Nations’ rights, given that Métis rights cases are typically ten to fifteen years behind those of First Nations. With the release of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Tsilhqot’in, the next big issue in Métis law may be Métis title. Scholars have doubted the ability of Métis to establish Aboriginal title in Canada for two reasons: first, Métis were too mobile, and second, Métis were too immobile. This paper critically analyzes these positions and argues that the case for Métis …


Pursuing A Reconciliatory Administrative Law: Aboriginal Consultation And The National Energy Board, Matthew J. Hodgson Sep 2016

Pursuing A Reconciliatory Administrative Law: Aboriginal Consultation And The National Energy Board, Matthew J. Hodgson

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Environmental assessment within the process of regulatory review is recognized as the preferred means for carrying out the duty to consult and accommodate Aboriginal rights in administrative decisions over proposed resource development. Recent evidence suggests that integrating the duty to consult into National Energy Board (NEB) proceedings and subsuming the law of Aboriginal consultation under principles of administrative justice have not advanced the goal of reconciliation. This article considers whether the statutory mandate of the National Energy Board requires it to have sufficient regard to Aboriginal rights in a manner consistent with the adjudication of constitutional issues in administrative law. …


Process And Reconciliation: Integrating The Duty To Consult With Environmental Assessment, Neil Craik Jan 2016

Process And Reconciliation: Integrating The Duty To Consult With Environmental Assessment, Neil Craik

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

As the duty to consult Aboriginal peoples is operationalized within the frameworks of government decision making, the relevant agencies are increasingly turning to environmental assessment (EA) processes as one of the principal vehicles for carrying out those consultations. This article explores the practical and theoretical dimensions of using EA processes to implement the duty to consult and accommodate. The relationship between EA and the duty to consult has arisen in a number of cases and a clear picture is emerging of the steps that agencies conducting EAs must carry out in order to discharge their constitutional obligations to Aboriginal peoples. …


Equally Recognized? The Indigenous Peoples Of Newfoundland And Labrador, Sébastien Grammond Jan 2014

Equally Recognized? The Indigenous Peoples Of Newfoundland And Labrador, Sébastien Grammond

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

In Canada, certain Indigenous groups are struggling to obtain official recognition of their status and rights. This is particularly so in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the authorities took the stance, when the province joined Canada in 1949, that no one would be legally considered Indigenous. This paper analyzes the claims of the Indigenous groups of that province, which have resulted, over the last thirty years, in various forms of official recognition. In particular, this article highlights how the concept of equality was used by these Indigenous groups to buttress their claims. Equality, in this context, was mainly conceived of as …


Making Matters Worse: The Safe Streets And Communities Act And The Ongoing Crisis Of Indigenous Over-Incarceration, Ryan Newell Oct 2013

Making Matters Worse: The Safe Streets And Communities Act And The Ongoing Crisis Of Indigenous Over-Incarceration, Ryan Newell

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The Safe Streets and Communities Act (SSCA), a recent and wide-reaching piece of the Conservative Party of Canada’s tough-on-crime agenda, will exacerbate the ongoing crisis of Indigenous over-incarceration. In this article, I review the extensive literature that addresses the causes of Indigenous over-representation in the Canadian criminal justice system before assessing the impact of R v Gladue, nearly fifteen years after the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision. I analyze how the SSCA will restrict courts’ resort to Gladue, thus resulting in the incarceration of increasing numbers of Indigenous people. I then develop one avenue of constitutional challenge to the SSCA’s …


Aboriginal Peoples And Mandatory Sentencing, Larry N. Chartrand Apr 2001

Aboriginal Peoples And Mandatory Sentencing, Larry N. Chartrand

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The author examines the impact of mandatory minimum sentencing on Aboriginal peoples in Canada. Emphasis is placed on the recently enacted mandatory minimum sentencing provisions for firearms offenses. The author argues that the enactment of such provisions are inconsistent with Parliament's objectives as reflected in section 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code which requires sentencing judges to pay "particular attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders." In addition, the author explores preliminary arguments to support a finding that mandatory minimum sentences applied to Aboriginal offenders violate sections 12 and 15 of the Charter.


L'Intégration Des Valeurs Et Des Intérêts Autochtones Dans Le Discours Judiciaire Et Normatif Canadien, Andrée Lajoie, Eric Gélineau, Isabelle Duplessis, Guy Rocher Jan 2000

L'Intégration Des Valeurs Et Des Intérêts Autochtones Dans Le Discours Judiciaire Et Normatif Canadien, Andrée Lajoie, Eric Gélineau, Isabelle Duplessis, Guy Rocher

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article aims to define the degree to which values presented by groups representing Aboriginal interests in the Supreme Court of Canada have been integrated into the discourse of the Court and the decisions of political actors in Canada. The authors' analysis confirms the hypothesis that the Court, in contrast to its favourable treatment of private claims made by social minorities, is less receptive to the claims made by Aboriginals, a political minority whose claims are centered on political power and territory, issues that have been relegated to political negotiations. The significant difference between judicial and political decisionmakers concerning Aboriginal …


Aboriginal Rights, Aboriginal Culture, And Protection, Gordon Christie Jul 1998

Aboriginal Rights, Aboriginal Culture, And Protection, Gordon Christie

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

There is a common perception that elements of mainstream society are disrespectful of Aboriginal culture. This article argues that developments in the law offer promise for the protection of Aboriginal "intellectual products," manifestations of Aboriginal culture reflecting their world-view. What Aboriginal peoples would like to see protected, however, are not so much words, pictures, or acts but rather the values, beliefs, and principles that give these meaning. Such, the author argues, are best protected by mechanisms internal to Aboriginal communities. Furthermore, the lack of such mechanisms would not justify the intrusion of Canadian law, but rather raises a call within …


The Organic Constitution: Aboriginal Peoples And The Evolution Of Canada, Brian Slattery Jan 1996

The Organic Constitution: Aboriginal Peoples And The Evolution Of Canada, Brian Slattery

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Despite recent advances in the law of aboriginal rights, most Canadian lawyers still tacitly view the Constitution as the outgrowth of European legal traditions, transplanted into North America. This article identifies the main features of this model of the Constitution and proposes a more appropriate model to replace it, one that recognizes the Constitution's deep roots in Canadian history and traditions, and acknowledges the distinctive contributions of Aboriginal peoples and their long-standing relations with the Crown.


Relations Of Force And Relations Of Justice: The Emergence Of Normative Community Between Colonists And Aboriginal Peoples, Jeremy Webber Oct 1995

Relations Of Force And Relations Of Justice: The Emergence Of Normative Community Between Colonists And Aboriginal Peoples, Jeremy Webber

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This paper argues that Aboriginal rights are best understood as the product of cross-cultural interaction-not, as is usually supposed, the result of some antecedent body of law (English, international, or Aboriginal). Aboriginal rights are therefore intercommunal in origin. The paper does describe the process by which this body of law emerged, but its primary vocation is theoretical, concerned with the following questions: How can a normative community emerge in the presence of profound cultural divisions? How can relations of justice emerge in a context dominated by power and coercion? How does moral reasoning draw upon the factual relations of the …


Mohegan Indians V. Connecticut (1705-1773) And The Legal Status Of Aboriginal Customary Laws And Government In British North America, Mark D. Walters Oct 1995

Mohegan Indians V. Connecticut (1705-1773) And The Legal Status Of Aboriginal Customary Laws And Government In British North America, Mark D. Walters

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article examines the eighteenth century case of Mohegan Indians v. Connecticut in order to determine its significance for arguments about the legal status of Aboriginal customary law and government in British North America. The article concludes that the Mohegan case confirms that in certain circumstances native nations on reserved lands in British colonies were subject, not to colonial jurisdictions established for settlers, but to their own traditional customs and institutions. It also concludes that the case is less clear than some recent commentators have suggested about whether British law recognized such nations as having rights of sovereignty.


Provincial Fiduciary Obligations To First Nations: The Nexus Between Governmental Power And Responsibility, Leonard I. Rotman Oct 1994

Provincial Fiduciary Obligations To First Nations: The Nexus Between Governmental Power And Responsibility, Leonard I. Rotman

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The Canadian Crown's fiduciary duty to First Nations is entrenched in Canadian Aboriginal rights jurisprudence. More than ten years after the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Guerin, however, yet to be ascertained are the various emanations of the Crown bound by that duty. This paper argues that both federal and provincial Crowns are properly bound by fiduciary obligations to First Nations. It also suggests that the basis of this assertion may be found in existing jurisprudence, the Canadian Constitution, the spirit and intent of Indian treaties, and in Aboriginal understandings of "the Crown."


A Genealogy Of Law: Inherent Sovereignty And First Nations Self-Government, John J. Borrows Apr 1992

A Genealogy Of Law: Inherent Sovereignty And First Nations Self-Government, John J. Borrows

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

First Nations self-government in Canada has often been regarded as extinguished or delegated from the British Crown or the Canadian federal government. First Nations self-government among the Chippewas of the Nawash Band in southern Ontario has not been extinguished or delegated, but continues to exist as an inherent exercise of community sovereignty. The idea of existing Aboriginal self-government in modern-day Ontario contrasts with many prevailing notions about Native society in Canada today. The inherent and unextinguished nature of self-government among the Nawash Band is demonstrated by examining the events of the author's ancestors and community in their interactions with foreign …