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Full-Text Articles in Law

Understanding The Progression Of Mi'kmaw Law, Jaime Battiste Oct 2008

Understanding The Progression Of Mi'kmaw Law, Jaime Battiste

Dalhousie Law Journal

Over the past 250 years, the recognition and implementation of the aboriginal and treaty rights of the Santi Mawio'mi of the Mi'kmaq has been a hard and bitter struggle for justice. Building on Mi'kmaw Aboriginal knowledge and legal traditions that inform their aboriginal and treaty rights, the Supreme Court of Canada has affirmed a Mi'kmaw right to hunt, fish, and gather in their traditional territory. The author focuses on the progression of Mi'kmaw law, drawing on the original teachings of the Mawio'mi embedded in Netukulimk and then shifting to the current legal strategy that creates a constitutional jurisgensis and a …


Colonialism And The Process Of Defining Aboriginal People, D'Arcy Vermette Apr 2008

Colonialism And The Process Of Defining Aboriginal People, D'Arcy Vermette

Dalhousie Law Journal

It is not uncommon for Aboriginal law students to experience discomfort in studying the law The discomfort is not unique to legal studies, but the law provides a venue where the effects of the imposition of colonial norms are starkly revealed. In law school the author had to confront how Canadian law has attempted to control Aboriginal identity, at first through legislation and then through the courts. While the locus and style of controlling Aboriginal identity has changed over time, the practice of controlling Aboriginal identity is ever present. This process of control dehumanizes individualsand peoples and continues into the …


Not Just The Peace Pipe But Also The Lance: Exploring Different Possibilities For Indigenous Control Over Criminal Justice, David Milward Jan 2008

Not Just The Peace Pipe But Also The Lance: Exploring Different Possibilities For Indigenous Control Over Criminal Justice, David Milward

Dr. David Milward

This article will exploring whether contrasts between restorative and punitive models of criminal justice inform an ideological struggle between Western and Indigenous approaches of criminal justice as Indigenous communities strive for greater control over criminal justice. The answer to this question will be examined in light of considerations for Indigenous control over justice. One concern by Western states is that Indigenous justice must strike the proper balance beteen community safety and offender healing. This paper contends that for self-determination to be effective, Indigenous leaders must include and consider the community at large when making decisions over criminal justice.