Aboriginal Law Report

In the News

After six court days, the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline hearing wrapped up in Vancouver.

• West Coast Environmental Law's day-by-day account of the Enbridge hearing
• How Harper triggered a First Nations legal war over Northern Gateway
• Environmental groups in federal appeal court in Vancouver to oppose Northern Gateway pipeline
• Judges reserve decision on Northern Gateway pipeline approval

As part of its election platform, the federal Conservative party promised to introduce legislation creating private property in reserve lands one First Nation at a time.

• Tories promise law for private land ownership on B.C. reserve

First Nations in the Nicola Valley and the British Columbia provincial government reached agreement on a process to assess the application of sewer sludge.

• First Nations and Province Reach Agreement in Biosolids Dispute
• Biosolids agreement signed - Nicola Valley

Indigenous people continued to disagree about proposed pipelines.

• Group of Lax Kw’alaams chiefs clashes with LNG protest camp in B.C.
• First Nations push back against Eagle Spirit pipeline

Shoal Lake #40 First Nation, which has been on a water advisory for nearly 20 years, is taking its case to the United Nations.

• Isolated First Nation reserve with no clean water to make case before UN

Diamond exploration in northern Ontario raises concerns.

• Cree community looks on warily as De Beers scours North for diamonds

With the British Columbia treaty process stalled, the provincial government continues to sign interim agreements with First Nations.

• Les Leyne: ’Namgis logging deal seen as triple win

Two British Columbia films about Aboriginal rights and title and treaty rights were featured at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

• Fractured Land selected as Best B.C. Film at VIFF
• Jumbo Glacier controversy emblematic of larger debates

A new Indigenous history of the United States tackles the issue of reparations while a new book on Indigenous people in Canada looks for good news.

• Land Claims: An Indigenous People's History of the United States
• Quietly, change has arrived in Aboriginal Canada

From the Courts

The Daniels appeal was heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.

• Supreme Court tackles thorny question of who qualifies as a ‘status Indian’
• Metis, non-status Indians push for 'equality and clarity' at Supreme Court
• What the Daniels case means for Alberta Métis

The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador released a decision on the admissibility of expert evidence in a class action case involving Aboriginal children at provincial boarding schools.

• Anderson v. Canada, 2015 NLTD(G) 138

Off the Bookshelf

Indigenous laws "have long been suppressed by the West because they deny the underlying legal legitimacy and moral foundation of the West's continual colonial hegemony over indigenous tribal peoples."

Robert A. Williams, Jr., Linking Arms Together: American Indian Treaty Visions of Law and Peace, 1600-1800 (1999)