Nov 9-15, 2020

By Bruce McIvor and Cody O'Neil

This week's edition includes land defence, colonial surveillance, racist policing, housing rights, water rights, Treaty rights and more.

 

IN THE NEWS


Colonial surveillance of Indigenous land defenders was front and centre

 

 

Racist policing was back in the spotlight

 

 

COVID-19 topped headlines in Nunavut and Manitoba

 

 

Housing and land protection were hot topics in the Yukon and Northwest Territories

 

 

The decades-long water crisis continues at Neskantaga First Nation

 

 

Land defence is ongoing at 1492 Land Back Lane

 

 

A healing foundation is under way for Sixties Scoop survivors

 

 

In case you missed it, check out our latest blog post on Treaty rights implementation in Mi’kma’ki and across the country by Kate Gunn

 

 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK


“Being under police and security surveillance has caused harm to my family relationships, and I and others have paid a high price to support frontline Indigenous nations and fight for Indigenous rights and climate justice. The RCMP’s surveillance must be exposed, but we are still waiting to receive the report into their spying activities. This is a slap in the face of Canadian democracy and the legal nation-to-nation relationship between us as Indigenous peoples and Canada.”

- Clayton Thomas-Müller, Indigenous rights advocate

 

OFF THE BOOKSHELF


“To be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, transformation of ourselves and the world--and, at the same time, that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, everything we are.”

- Marshall Berman, All That is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity (1982)

First Peoples Law is a law firm dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. We work closely with First Nations to defend their Aboriginal title, rights and Treaty rights, uphold their Indigenous laws and governance and ensure economic prosperity for their members.
Check out our latest podcast episode "Reclaiming the Law: Indigenous Law Students in Conversation."
My colleague Kate Gunn and I recently had the honour of representing the Indigenous Bar Association on their intervention in the Desautel appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada. Check out my blog post on our submissions, including a video recording.
Check out our latest e-book Reconciliation on Trial: Wet'suwet'en, Aboriginal Title and the Rule of Law.
Looking to learn more about Indigenous rights in Canada?
In case you missed it, meet the recipient of our 2020 Indigenous Law Student Scholarship.
Your weekly news update from First Peoples Law.
Bruce McIvor, lawyer and historian, is principal of First Peoples Law Corporation. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Allard School of Law where he teaches the constitutional law of Aboriginal and Treaty rights. Bruce is a proud Métis from the Red River in Manitoba. He holds a Ph.D. in Aboriginal and environmental history and is a Fulbright Scholar. A member of the bar in British Columbia and Ontario, Bruce is recognized nationally and internationally as a leading practitioner of Aboriginal law in Canada.