Case Law

Follows the case that questions the authority of North Dakota and the North Dakota Public Service Commission to regulate public utilities within the Fort Totten Reservation. The final ruling states that the Devils Lake Sioux have the right to contract for utility services on land owned by them, or held in trust, without regard to the regulations of the North Dakota Public Service Commission.

Issue looks at Commission's mediation services and reviews Supreme Court decisions that have impacted Aboriginal title and land claims. Complete issue on one pdf.

Press release gives brief overview of case. To access this article scroll down to page 35.

Case study of the issues surrounding Norwegian Supreme Court decision involving Sámi customary land use and ownership rights in the Manndalen valley.

Lavell challenged federal legislation, which controlled the legal rights and legal status of First Nation women who married men without "registered Indian" status.

Looks at the Supreme Court decision in Tsilhqot'in Nation v. British Columbia case which opted for a territorial concept rather than the usual theory of Aboriginal title.

Book review of: Law's Anthropology by Paul Burke. Scroll down to page 209 to read review.

Argues that since the theoretical underpinings of Canadian law are Western liberalism, there is a fundamental conflict with the viewpoint of Aboriginal people.

Examines the case in which three non-Aboriginal men were accused of sexually assaulting a twelve-year-old Aboriginal girl. Chapter from Sexual Assault in Canada: Law, Legal Practice and Women's Activism edited by Elizabeth A. Sheehy.

Launch of legal action by the Tsuu T'ina Nation against the Province of Alberta concerning the South Saskatchewan River Basin Water Management Plan.

Discusses a case where the plaintiffs are seeking Aboriginal constitutional rights to fish and sell fish.

Simplified explanation why Delgamuukw was a turning point in Treaty negotiations, having confirmed Aboriginal title exists in British Columbia, establishes rights to land, resources, and places a duty on the Crown to consult First Nations for actions effecting such rights.

Provides an overview of key events relating to residential schools, and discusses the issues determined by Canadian courts in four specific cases:Blackwater v Plint (No 1), Blackwater v Plint (No 2), and Mowatt and A(TWN) v Clarke.

Discusses history and evolution of the treaty process in British Columbia.

Report prepared identifies the needs specific to northern jurisdictions for the delivery of legal aid and related issues.

Website contains links to treaties covering the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet people in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. These treaties did not involve cession of land, but dealt with hunting, fishing, trading rights with the British, and continuation of customary and religious practices. The website also lists rulings by the Supreme Court for the period 1990-2000.

Discusses strategies of reducing social alienation by increasing legal alienation rights to land through land claims. Scroll down to page 69 to read article

Looks at the principle "unwritten" sources of Aboriginal land rights, and also discusses the significance of the main "written" source of Aboriginal title, the Royal Proclamation issued by the British Crown on October 7, 1763.

Survivors and their legal counsel were trying to access 40,000 pages of documentation of abuse which would have helped to corroborate their testimonies during the Independent Assessment Process. Canadian Federal Government had denied that there was any evidence of abuse. Website includes court transcripts of Ann Wesley case, in which former nun was charged with assault, assault causing bodily harm and administering a noxious substance.

Discusses Tsihqot'in decision where Aboriginal title was proved for an area of 200,000 hectors in British Columbia. Duration: 37:45.

History Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Kentucky, 1997.

Concludes that band councils cannot exclude off-reserve members from receiving their fair share of any per capita distribution of money. Entire issue on one pdf. Scroll to page 1 to locate article.

Looks at court cases about tribal gaming and policies that affect tribal governments trying to raise revenue for improvements to their reserves.

Discusses the National Indian Law Library (NILL) and how it is being developed by the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) as a clearinghouse for legal materials and resources.

Argues that whether the Treaties are valid in international law or municipal law their implementation will be determined by Canadian, and not the international, courts.

Traces significant legislation and court decisions from 1701 to 2020.

Argues that most of the state law concerning First Nations' are not valid and require reform to appropriately deal with the Haudenosaunee (the Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy).

Examines some of the difficulties Aboriginal people encounter when they rely on their oral histories.

Uses two court cases involving protection of the sacred San Francisco Peaks from ski-resort development to highlight how phrases in the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act lend themselves to judicial interpretations which undermine protection of sacred sites.

Bill modifies the Indian Act to comply with the British Columbia Court of Appeal's 2009 McIvor decision. Originally published Nov. 15, 2010.

Discusses the problems that arise when the rules governing private practice are applied to lawyers working in the public sector. As a case study uses the litigation over the government's non-disclosure, during settlement adjudication, of a report on investigations conducted by the Ontario Provincial Police into abuses committed at St. Anne's Residential School.

Political Science Thesis (M.A.)--University of Victoria, 1996.

Response to the article, ""Ethnicity, Not Culture? Obfuscating Social Science in the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill" which was in the American Indian Culture and Research Journal Vol. 19, No. 4, 1995, at pages 1-124. This response letter discusses the misconceptions in the original article.

Discusses the impact of the Boldt decision in the United States, which allocated Aboriginals a share of the salmon fishery, and what this may mean in Canadian terms.

Uses the cases Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) and Worcester v. Georgia (1832) to demonstrate how political issues, such state's rights, influenced judicial decisions.

Law Thesis (LL.M.)--The University of British Columbia (Vancouver), 2012.

Explores supreme court of Canada decisions from legal and Aboriginal perspectives. Duration: 44:54.

Canadian Studies Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1993.

Law Thesis (L.L.M.)--York University, 1998.

Discusses a confrontation between the Haida and loggers in British Columbia. Duration: 3:29

Discusses how the decision addresses sentencing of Aboriginal offenders, amendments to the Criminal Code and criminal legislation in Bill C-10.

"... this paper addresses community trauma produced through the sexism of federal law and its implications for exogamy and cultural genocide, as well as for land, housing, and other resources."

Links to twenty-two television and radio clips beginning with a report in March, 1955.