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Articles on Indigenous law

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Establishing Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, like the Thaidene Nëné National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories, while respecting original treaties can help Canada meet its international conservation commitments. (Iris Catholique)

An attack of Indigenous rights is an attack on nature conservation

To address the climate and biodiversity crises, we must stop criminalizing Indigenous Peoples for exercising their treaty rights and start upholding them instead.
Prince Misuzulu, second from the left, attends the provincial memorial service for his mother, the late Mantfombi Dlamini, at the Khangelakamankegane Royal Palace in Nongoma, in May 2021. AFP via Getty Images

What the Zulu kingship judgment tells us about the future of South African customary law

When judges, legislators, and policymakers neglect the foundational dynamics of indigenous customs, they worsen conflict between indigenous laws and state laws.
Former Gov. Gen. Julie Payette invests Jeanette Corbiere Lavell, from Wikwemikong First Nation, Ont., as a Member of the Order of Canada outside Rideau Hall in Ottawa in September 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

The search for a new governor general is tough in a disparate nation like Canada

Canada’s new governor general will have to fuse the British, French, American and Indigenous elements of Canada that together are the core of the country.
Supporters of the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs who oppose the Coastal GasLink pipeline set up a support station at kilometre 39, just outside of Gidimt'en checkpoint near Houston B.C., on January 8, 2020. The Wet'suwet'en peoples are occupying their land and trying to prevent a pipeline from going through it. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Indigenous land defenders: Don’t Call Me Resilient EP 6 transcript

Indigenous land defenders: Don’t Call Me Resilient EP 6 transcript.
Supporters of the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs who oppose the Coastal GasLink pipeline set up a support station near Gidimt'en checkpoint near Houston B.C., in January 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Coastal GasLink and Canada’s pension fund colonialism

The fact that so many Canadian pension funds are tied to oil and gas companies is a deeply structural form of racialized oppression and a denial of Indigenous rights.
A man carries an eagle feather as police prepare to enforce an injunction against protesters who were blocking a road used to access to the Port of Vancouver during a demonstration in support of Wet'suwet'en Nation hereditary chiefs on Feb. 25, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Indigenous civil rights blockades should be met with a new diplomacy, not violence

Canada is at a critical crossroads. The Wet’suwet’en conflict brings us to a deciding moment in Canada, one that will shape the future of the nation.
The system of ‘birth alerts’ across Canada perpetuates the removal of children from Indigenous families begun by residential schools. Pictured here: a historical report on residential schools released by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

British Columbia’s ban on ‘birth alerts:’ A guiding light on the road to reconciliation

To make meaningful progress on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, all provinces and territories should promptly follow B.C. and ban discriminatory ‘birth alerts.’
The government intends to destroy Djab Wurrung sacred trees and sites to upgrade the Western Highway at the same time as it seeks heritage status for the Eastern Freeway. Allies Decolonising/gofundme

What kind of state values a freeway’s heritage above the heritage of our oldest living culture?

The Victorian government plans to destroy trees and sites sacred to Djab Warrung people to make way for the Western Highway at the same time as it seeks heritage listing for the Eastern Freeway.
Treaty 4, which covered present-day southern Saskatchewan and a small part of western Manitoba was negotiated and signed at Qu'appelle Lakes. Here Saulteux from Upper Assiniboine River, Oct. 16, 1887 were promised for every ‘man, woman and child $1,200 …blankets and other articles.’ (Library and Archives Canada/Natural Resources Canada fonds/PA-050799).

Historical lawsuit affirms Indigenous laws on par with Canada’s

A recent historical win for Ontario First Nations against the government of Canada is as significant for the legal process, which took into account Anishinaabe law, as it is for the win itself.
Steve Courtoreille, chief of the Mikisew Cree First Nation, is seen on Parliament Hill in January 2013 after speaking about legal action against the federal government. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled against the First Nation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

What the Supreme Court ruling means for Indigenous consultation

The headlines suggest the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled against Indigenous consultation. But its recent ruling is much more nuanced and complex than that.
Debbie Baptiste, mother of Colten Boushie, is seen here in the House of Commons in February 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

I am a Mi’kmaq lawyer, and I despair over Colten Boushie

Indigenous people are seriously questioning whether Canada is truly changing following the acquittal of the man accused of killing Colten Boushie. A Mi'kmaq lawyer explains the despair.

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