To hear non-Indigenous people tell it, we’ve been teetering on the edge of extinction since not too long after Contact. That narrative hasn’t changed much over the years, though the cause of our cultural and perhaps even physical demise has varied somewhat in the details. There have been moments of colonial guilt over past policies,…
Category: Aboriginal law
Are you alarmed? You should be.
This won’t be a huge post, for once. The norovirus is wreaking havoc on my family and I’m the nurse, hoping I’m not felled in action. What I want to briefly talk about today are non-derogation clauses, and why they are important. A non-derogation clause in Aboriginal law generally reads like this: Nothing in this…
Hunters/gatherers to trappers/harvesters. Does it matter what they call us?
The Inuit make no bones about it. Theirs is a hunting culture; but what does that mean? Most Inuit still eat a solid diet of country food, which is just like it sounds, traditional foods such as caribou, whale, seal, fish and so on. Hunting remains a central practice in Inuit communities. So is that…
Treaty Talk With âpihtawikosisân
tânisi nitôtêmitik, welcome to Treaty Talk With âpihtawikosisân! In previous episodes, we’ve explored the way in which modern treaty making resembles the approach taken during the creation of the historical numbered Treaties. We’ve also looked at how ‘without prejudice’ agreements stall and perhaps undermine the maintenance and exercise of Aboriginal rights, as an alternative to…
Thinking about studying Law? Consider this.
I feel like over the past few months, I’ve written enough descriptions of my experience of law school to fill a novel. No, it hasn’t been on this blog (mostly), but rather via email to native and non-native students who have contacted me for ‘advice’ about going into Law. Mostly I ramble on at length…