Aboriginal Law Report

Canada abandoned its remaining opposition to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

• Canada says it will support UN indigenous rights declaration
• Canada now full supporter of UN Indigenous rights declaration
• Canada drops opposition to UN indigenous rights declaration
• Trudeau government eyeing NWT’s ‘collaborative consent’ model as part of UNDRIP implementation
• Canada must reform laws to adopt UN Indigenous rights declaration, AFN chief says
• Putting Ottawa’s commitment on indigenous rights to the test: Editorial
• Liberals must give indigenous people ‘right to say no,’ AFN chief says
• UN indigenous rights declaration: 5 things
• Putting Ottawa’s commitment on indigenous rights to the test
• Canada supports UN Indigenous rights declaration: Now what?
• Could the UN declaration spell the end for Energy East?
• Peace area First Nations call feds UNDRIP adoption "hypocrisy" while Site C proceeds
• Liberals may use former AFN chief’s input on UN indigenous rights document
• On Inuit rights, Liberals offer “little change,” ITK says
• Editorial: UN declaration raises questions for the future
• Doug Cuthand: UN declaration helps to forge new relationship

On Vancouver Island, non-Indigenous people continued to oppose the establishment of an Indian reserve.

• Regional directors withhold support of reserve citing lack of information

In Manitoba, a First Nation blocked access to three Manitoba Hydro sites.

• First Nations group blocks Manitoba power site after sacred land damaged
• Blockade remains as Hydro CEO, band talk
• Blockade ends after Hydro, band reach agreement

The fight against an LNG facility on British Columbia's north coast was taken to the United Nations.

• B.C. First Nations appeal to United Nations to help stop LNG plant

Opposition to proposed pipelines continued.

• Anti-pipeline activists paddle to protest Kinder Morgan expansion project
• Opinion: If he allows pipelines, Trudeau can't keep climate promises
• Anti-pipeline group targets Kinder Morgan shareholders

The federal government still has an opportunity to halt the construction of the Site C dam on the Peace River.

• New fisheries permits will force Trudeau government's hand on Site C

The British Columbia Auditor-General's report on the province's failure to properly monitor mining companies led to calls for greater First Nation involvement.

• Comment: First Nations can lead in monitoring mines

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal's recent ruling continued to make the news.

• Ottawa says it met human rights tribunal’s Jordan’s Principle deadline
• Facts about Jordan's principle, a driving force in aboriginal health needs
• Respecting human-rights commitments only strengthens democratic accountability

Calls continued for an Indigenous appointment to the Supreme Court.

• Indigenous jurist should head the line, advocates say

There were calls for a reconsideration of the scope of the residential schools agreement.

• First Nations leaders want to rethink residential schools agreement
• 'I want to start my life all over': Hope, as residential school lawsuit returns to St. John's court

Pundits continue chip away at the Canadian creation myth.

• The roadblock to reconciliation: Canada’s origin story is false

With the federal government moving towards election reform, the effect on First Nations was in the news.

• Nation-to-nation recognition, not electoral reform, key to increasing Indigenous voter turnout

Not everyone is enamoured with the federal government's supposed new relationship with Indigenous Peoples.

• Trudeau cloaks continued attack on First Nations sovereignty with charm

From the Courts

Several Mi'kmaq First Nations filed a lawsuit against New Brunswick's forestry legislation.

• Mi'kmaq chiefs sue province over forest strategy

First Nations in British Columbia were awarded $230,000 in court costs based on their successful challenge to the province's environmental assessment equivalency agreement with the federal government.

• B.C. Government, Enbridge Ordered to Pay $230,000 in Court Costs to First Nations for Failed Consultation
• Coastal First Nations v. British Columbia (Environment), 2016 BCSC 804

The Provincial Court of Nova Scotia recommended that a portion of a fine levied against a pulp mill go to a local First Nation.

• Pictou Landing First Nation to get $75K of Northern Pulp fine
• R. v. Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corporation, 2016 NSPC 29

Quote of the Week

“The first element of truth and reconciliation is truth. The undeniable truth is that the experience of the Pictou Landing First Nation has been one of subjugation and suppression under the Canadian federation."

The Honourable Judge Del W. Atwood

Off the Bookshelf

"I foresee strange storms; perhaps, in fifty years' time, the world will have no further use for idlers."

Stendhal, The Charterhouse of Parma (1839)

Bruce McIvor, lawyer and historian, is principal of First Peoples Law Corporation.  Download Bruce's bio.

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