Reading Lists

This reading list is also available as a PDF.

Please consider ordering from independent bookstores offering local delivery across the country at this time.

1. ABORIGINAL AND INDIGENOUS LAW

Introductory text on Aboriginal law in Canada

• Jim Reynolds, Aboriginal Peoples and the Law: A Critical Introduction (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2018)

History and analysis of Aboriginal and Treaty rights in Canadian law

• Bruce McIvor, Standoff: Why Reconciliation Fails Indigenous People and How to Fix It (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2021)
• Gordon Christie, Canadian Law and Indigenous Self‐Determination: A Naturalist Analysis (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019)
• Joshua Nichols, A Reconciliation without Recollection? An Investigation of the Foundations of Aboriginal Law in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019)
• Kent McNeil, Flawed Precedent: The St. Catherine's Case and Aboriginal Title (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2019)
• Jim Reynolds, From Wardship to Rights: The Guerin Case and Aboriginal Law (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2020)
• Felix Hoehn, Reconciling Sovereignties: Aboriginal Nations and Canada (Saskatoon: University of Saskatchewan Native Law Centre, 2012)
• Hamar Foster, Heather Raven & Jeremy Webber, Let Right Be Done: Aboriginal Title, the Calder Case and the Future of Indigenous Rights (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007)
• John Borrows and Michael Coyle, eds., The Right Relationship: Reimagining the Implementation of Historical Treaties (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017)
• Michael Asch, On Being Here to Stay: Treaties and Aboriginal Rights in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014)
• Harold Johnson, Two Families: Treaties and Government (Saskatoon: Purich Publishing, 2007)
• Chartrand, Paul L.A.H., ed., Who Are Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples? Recognition, Definition, and Jurisdiction (Saskatoon: Purich Publishing, 2002)

International, Indigenous and Canadian law

• John Borrows, Larry Chartrand, Oonagh E. Fitzgerald and Risa Schwartz, eds., Braiding Legal Orders: Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Waterloo: Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2019)
• Karen Drake and Brenda L. Gunn, eds., Renewing Relationships: Indigenous Peoples and Canada (Saskatoon: Native Law Centre, University of Saskatchewan, 2019)
• Sara Mainville, "Hunting Down a Lasting Relationship with Canada—Will UNDRIP Help?" (2020) 57:1 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 98
• Sarah Morales and Joshua Nichols, "Reconciliation beyond the Box: The UN Declaration and Plurinational Federalism in Canada" (Waterloo: Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2018)
• Sheryl Lightfoot, Global Indigenous Politics: A Subtle Revolution (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016)
• Jackie Hartley, Paul Joffe, and Jennifer Preston, eds., Realizing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010)

Indigenous law and legal pluralism

• John Borrows, Canada’s Indigenous Constitution (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010)
• Angela Cameron, Sari Graben and Val Napoleon, eds., Creating Indigenous Property: Power, Rights, and Relationships (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020)
• Hadley Friedland, The Wetiko Legal Principles: Cree and Anishinabek Responses to Violence and Victimization (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018)
• Sylvia McAdam (Saysewahum), Nationhood Interrupted: Revitalizing nêhiyaw Legal Systems (Saskatoon: Purich Publishing, 2015)
• Aimée Craft, Breathing Life Into the Stone Fort Treaty: An Anishnabe Understanding of Treaty One (Saskatoon: Purich Publishing, 2013)
• John Borrows, Freedom and Indigenous Constitutionalism (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016)
• Val Napoleon, Ayook: Gitksan Legal Order, Law, and Legal Theory (University of Victoria: PhD Dissertation, 2009)
• Aaron Mills, Miinigowiziwin: all that has been given for living well together: one vision of Anishinaabe constitutionalism (University of Victoria: PhD Dissertation, 2019)
• Alan Hanna, "Reconciliation through Relationality in Indigenous Legal Orders" (2019) 56:3 Alta L Rev 817
• Alan Hanna, "Spaces for Sharing: Searching for Indigenous Law on the Canadian Legal Landscape" (2018) 51:1 UBC L Rev 105
• Alan Hanna, "Making the Round: Aboriginal Title in the Common Law from a Tsilhqot'in Legal Perspective" (2013) 45:3 Ottawa L Rev 365
• John Borrows, "Indigenous Legal Traditions in Canada" (2005) 19 Wash U JL & Pol'y 167
• Antonia Mills, Eagle Down Is Our Law: Witsuwit'en Law, Feasts, and Land Claims (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1994)

Aboriginal law case summaries and commentary

• First Peoples Law, Indigenous Peoples and the Law in Canada 2023: Cases and Commentary (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2022)
• John Borrows and Leonard Rotman, Aboriginal Legal Issues: Cases, Materials & Commentary, 5th Edition (Toronto: LexisNexis, 2018)
• Jonathan Rudin, Indigenous People and the Criminal Justice System: A Practitioner's Handbook (Toronto: Emond Publishing, 2018)

Policy analysis

• Yellowhead Institute, Land Back: A Yellowhead Institute Red Paper (Toronto: Yellowhead Institute, 2019)
• Yellowhead Institute, Cash Back: A Yellowhead Institute Red Paper (Toronto: Yellowhead Institute, 2021)
• Marc Kruse, Carrie Robinson, Yellowhead-SSHRC researchers, Injunctions by First Nations: Results of a National Study (Toronto: Yellowhead Institute, 2019)
• Shalene Jobin and Emily Riddle, A Special Report: The Rise of the First Nations Land Management Regime in Canada: A Critical Analysis (Toronto: Yellowhead Institute, 2019)

2. CANADIAN COLONIAL HISTORY

Truth and Reconciliation Commission Final Report

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume One, Summary: Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future (Toronto: James Lorimer & Company Ltd., 2015)

National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Final Report

• National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019)

Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples

• Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (Ottawa: The Commission, 1996)

Foundational works of Indigenous anticolonialism in Canada

• George Manuel and Michael Posluns, The Fourth World: An Indian Reality (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1974/2019)
• Lee Maracle, Bobbi Lee: Indian Rebel (Toronto: Women’s Press, 1975/1990)
• Harold Cardinal, The Unjust Society: The Tragedy of Canada's Indians (Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre, 1969/1999)
• Maria Campbell, Halfbreed (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1973/2019)
• Howard Adams, Prison of Grass: Canada from a Native Point of View (Markham: Fifth House Books, 1975/1989)
• Patricia Monture-Angus, Thunder In My Soul: A Mohawk Woman Speaks (Toronto: Brunswick Books, 1995)
• Lee Maracle, I am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism (Vancouver: Press Gang Publishing, 2003)

Contemporary histories of Indigenous rights and political activism in Canada

• Arthur Manuel, The Reconciliation Manifesto: Recovering the Land, Rebuilding the Economy (Toronto: Lorimer, 2017)
• Bev Sellars, Price Paid: The Fight for First Nations Survival (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2016)
• Pamela Palmater, Indigenous Nationhood: Empowering Grassroots Citizens (Winnipeg/Black Point: Fernwood Publishing, 2015)
• Arthur Manuel, Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-Up Call (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2015)
• Kino-nda-niimi Collective, The Winter We Danced: Voices from the Past, the Future, and the Idle No More Movement (Winnipeg: ARP Books, 2014)

History and analysis of the Indian Act

• Bob Joseph, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality (Brantford: Indigenous Relations Press, 2018)
• Mary-Ellen Kelm and Keith D. Smith, Talking Back to the Indian Act: Critical Readings in Settler Colonial Histories (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018)

Introductory histories of Indigenous-Crown relations in Canada

• Whose Land is it Anyways? A Manual for Decolonization (Vancouver: Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC, 2017)
• Thomas King, The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America (Toronto: Anchor Canada, 2013)
• Harold Johnson, Peace and Good Order: The Case for Indigenous Justice in Canada (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2019)
• Bob Joseph, Indigenous Relations: Insights, Tips & Suggestions to Make Reconciliation a Reality (Brantford: Indigenous Relations Press, 2019)
• John Ralston Saul, The Comeback: How Aboriginals are Reclaiming Power and Influence (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2015)

Histories of settler colonial law

• Brenna Bhandar, Colonial Lives of Property: Law, Land, and Racial Regimes of Ownership (Durham: Duke University Press, 2018)
• Lindsay G. Robertson, Conquest by Law: How the Discovery of America Dispossessed Indigenous Peoples of their Lands (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007)
• Chartrand, Paul L.A.H., Manitoba’s Metis Settlement Scheme of 1870 (Saskatoon: University of Saskatchewan Native Law Centre, 1991)
• Jean Teillet, The North-West Is Our Mother: The Story of Louis Riel's People, the Métis Nation (Toronto: Harper Collins, 2019)
• Andrew Crosby and Jeffrey Monaghan, Policing Indigenous Movements: Dissent and the Security State (Winnipeg/Black Point: Fernwood Publishing, 2018)
• James Daschuk, Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life (Regina: University of Regina Press, 2013)
• Nick Claxton et al, Challenging Racist British Columbia: 150 Years and Counting (Victoria/Vancouver: University of Victoria/Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2021)

Graphic novel histories

• Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm et al, This Place: 150 Years Retold (Winnipeg: HighWater Press, 2019)
• Gord Hill, The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2002)
• UVic Indigenous Law Research Unit, Mikomosis and the Wetiko (University of Victoria: Indigenous Law Research Unit, 2013)

3. INDIGENOUS RESURGENCE AND RECONCILIATION

Essay collection on Indigenous resurgence and reconciliation in Canada

• Michael Asch, John Borrows, James Tully, eds., Resurgence and Reconciliation: Indigenous-Settler Relations and Earth Teachings (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018)

Indigenous resurgence and Canadian settler colonialism

• Leanne Simpson, As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2017)
• Audra Simpson, Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States (Durham: Duke University Press, 2014)
• Glen Sean Coulthard, Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014)
• Elaine Coburn, ed., More Will Sing Their Way to Freedom: Indigenous Resistance and Resurgence (Winnipeg/Black Point: Fernwood Publishing, 2015)
• Joyce Green, ed., Making Space for Indigenous Feminism (Winnipeg/Black Point: Fernwood Publishing, 2017)
• Leanne Simpson, Dancing on our Turtle’s Back: Stories of Nishnaabeg Re-Creation, Resurgence, and a New Emergence (Winnipeg, Arbeiter Ring Press, 2011)
• Priscilla Settee and Shailesh Shukla, eds., Indigenous Food Systems: Concepts, Cases, and Conversations (Toronto: Canadian Scholars, 2020)
• Taiaiake Alfred, Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005)

Settler decolonization in Canada

• Paulette Regan, Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian Residential Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011)
• Emma Battell Lowman and Adam J. Barker, Settler: Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada (Winnipeg/Black Point: Fernwood Publishing, 2015)
• Eva Mackey, Unsettled Expectations: Uncertainty, Land, and Settler Decolonization (Winnipeg/Black Point: Fernwood Publishing, 2016)
• Scott Lauria Morgensen: Spaces Between Us: Queer Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Decolonization (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011)
• Lynne Davis, ed., Alliances: Re/Envisioning Indigenous-non-Indigenous Relationships (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010)

4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Indigenous legal research methodologies

• Val Napoleon and Hadley Friedland, “Gathering the Threads: Developing a Methodology for Researching and Rebuilding Indigenous Legal Traditions” (2015) 1:1 Lakehead LJ 16
• Val Napoleon and Hadley Friedland, "An Inside Job: Engaging with Indigenous Legal Traditions Through Stories" (2016) 61:4 McGill Law Journal 725
• John Borrows, "Heroes, Tricksters, Monsters and Caregivers: Indigenous Laws and Legal Education" (2016) 61 McGill Law Journal
• Sarah Morales, “Locating Oneself in One's Research: Learning and Engaging with Law in the Coast Salish World” (2018) 30 Can J Women & L 144
• Darcy Lindberg, "Miyo Nehiyawiwin (Beautiful Creeness): Ceremonial Aesthetics and Nehiyaw Legal Pedagogy" (2018) 16 Indigenous LJ 51
• Robert YELḰÁTŦE Clifford, “Listening to Law” (2016) 33:1 Windsor Y B Access Just 47
• Sarah Morales, “Stl’ul nup: Legal Landscapes of The Hul’qumi’num Mustimuhw” (2016) 33:1 Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice 103
• John Borrows, "Outsider Education: Indigenous Law and Land-based Learning" (2016) 33:1 Windsor Y B Access Just 1

Indigenous research methodologies

• Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples (London: Zed Books, 2012)

• Shawn Wilson, Research is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods (Winnipeg/Black Point: Fernwood Publishing, 2008)

We have provided a list of resources below for anyone looking to get informed about the truth of Residential Schools shared by Survivors across the country. It is not meant to be an exhaustive list. We would welcome any feedback or recommendations. Send us your suggestions here.

Warning: these resources contain content Survivors and their families may find distressing.

National Residential School Crisis Line (24-hours/day): 1-866-925-4419

KUU-US Crisis Line Society (24 hours/day): 1-800-588-8717

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Executive Summary

• Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
• Executive Summary Web Version (with section-by-section video readings)

Volumes

• The History, Part 1 Origins to 1939
• The History, Part 2 1939 to 2000
• The Inuit and Northern Experience
• The Métis Experience
• Missing Children and Unmarked Burials
• The Legacy
• Reconciliation

Further TRC Reading

• A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential Schools from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada | Phil Fontaine, Aimée Craft and the TRC
• They Came for the Children: Canada, Aboriginal Peoples, and Residential Schools
• The Survivors Speak: A Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
• What We Have Learned: Principles of Truth and Reconciliation
• Calls to Action

Memoirs

• Theodore Fontaine, Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools: A Memoir (2010)
• Bev Sellars, They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School (2012)
• Edmund Metatawabin with Alexandra Shimo, Up Ghost River: A Chief's Journey Through the Turbulent Waters of Native History (2015)
• Joseph Auguste (Augie) Merasty, The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir (2015/2017)
• Isabelle Knockwood, Out of the Depths: The Experiences of Mi’kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia (1992/2015)

Film & Other Media

• Residential Schools Film Collection | Indigenous Cinema | National Film Board
• The reckoning: Secrets unearthed by Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc | Fifth Estate | CBC News
• Picking Up the Pieces: The Making of the Witness Blanket (2018) | Carey Newman & Cody Graham
• Remembering the Forgotten Children (2017) | Graham Constant
• In Jesus' Name: Shattering the Silence of St. Anne's Residential School (2017) | Susan Enberg
• Holy Angels (2017) | Jay Cardinal Villeneuve
• From Up North (2016) | Trudy Stewart
• Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013) | Jeff Barnaby
• We Were Children (2012) | Tim Wolochatiuk
• Videos | National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation | YouTube
• Residential Schools podcast series | Historica Canada | Hosted by Shaneen Robinson-Desjarlais
• Kuper Island | CBC Podcasts | CBC Listen

Resource Centres & Other Organizations

• National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
• Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre
• Indian Residential School Survivors Society
• Legacy of Hope Foundation
• Legacy Schools Resources | Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund

To accompany our readings lists, we thought it would be useful to share a list of multimedia resources for anyone looking to learn more about Indigenous rights in Canada through podcasts, videos and other media.

Podcasts

Here's a list of excellent podcasts covering a variety of important topics.

• Warrior Life Podcast

• Porcupine Podcast
• RAVEN DeBriefs
• Red Man Laughing
• mediaINDIGENA
• The Red Road Podcast
• One Dish One Mic
• 2 Crees in a Pod
• The Secret Life of Canada
• All My Relations
• The Henceforward
• The Red Nation Podcast
• Indigenous Action Podcast
• This Land
• Coffee with My Ma
• New Fire
• Warrior Kids Podcast
• Wampum.Codes
• Spirit Bear Podcast | First Nations Caring Society
• Indigenous-themed podcasts offer richness, diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Métis cultures | CBC News

First Peoples Law's Bruce McIvor has been a guest on a couple of them.

• Lifting the Lie of Denial: RAVEN DeBriefs with Bruce McIvor
• Indigenous Law, Consent, and Reconciliation with Bruce McIvor - Porcupine Podcast

Check out our own podcast featuring conversations on the defence of Indigenous rights!

• First Peoples Lawcast

Film & Video

Check out the National Film Board's Indigenous cinema collection.

Here are some of our personal recommendations.

• Dancing Around the Table
• Colonization Road
• INVASION
• Treaty Talk: Sharing the River of Life
• Doctrine of Discovery: Stolen lands, Strong Hearts
• Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
• nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up
• Supreme Law

Check out these informative channels on YouTube.

• Yellowhead Institute - Critical policy perspectives in support of First Nation jurisdiction
• Pam Media - Insight and Analysis on Current Issues in Indian Country
• University of Victoria Indigenous Law Research Unit
• Revitalizing Canada's Indigenous Constitution (UNDRIP): Centre for International Governance Innovation
• Anishinabek Nation

Indigenous Foundations also offers lots of valuable resources developed by the First Nations Studies Program at UBC, including a video lecture series on governance and land claims.

Truth & Reconciliation

Here are some helpful resources relating to the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including a video reading of the TRC Final Report.

• Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future, Summary of the TRC Final Report: Web Version

• Beyond 94: Truth and Reconciliation in Canada
• National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation - YouTube
• Truth and Reconciliation: My Action Plan | Sarah Robinson | Rainwatch Advising
• Reconciliation Syllabus: a TRC-inspired gathering of materials for teaching law

Lectures & Courses

Here are a few online history and law courses.

• Indigenous Canada: Open Online Course on Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada | University of Alberta

• Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education: A 6-Week Massive Open Online Course | University of British Columbia

• Law 340: Indigenous Lands, Rights and Governments | University of Victoria | Professor John Borrows 

• Indigenous and Canadian Histories 101: what you didn't learn in high school | Rainwatch Advising | Sarah Robinson

Lastly, here is the syllabus for Bruce McIvor's previous course on current issues in Aboriginal law at UBC, including some additional resources like lecture presentations and YouTube clips.

Indigenous Peoples around the world continue to call on governments and courts to repudiate the doctrine of discovery.

We thought it would be useful to provide a list of resources for anyone wanting to learn more about the doctrine of discovery and support Indigenous Peoples’ calls to reject it. 

It is not a comprehensive list. We would welcome any feedback or recommendations. 

Here is a video introduction to the doctrine created by Anna Socha with audio from a Globe and Mail podcast interview with Bruce McIvor.

Other videos 

• The Walrus, “Discovery: The Lawful Conquest of Indigenous People Through Magic | Harry Laforme | Walrus Talks” (7 May 2014), oneline (video): YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HC1pCLNpco>. 
   

• 7GenFund, “Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery - Professor Robert J. Miller” (20 April 2013), online (video): YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qO6JoqcrgQ>.
   

• TonaTierra, “North American Caucus Statement on the Doctrine of Discovery” (8 May 2012), online (video): YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p4j--YEiaM>. 
   

• The Anglican Church of Canada, “Doctrine of Discovery: Stolen lands, Strong Hearts” (11 April 2019), online (video): YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQwkB1hn5E8>. 

Podcasts 

• Should the Pope reverse a 500-year-old Church law on his trip to Canada? - The Globe and Mail 

Posts 

• What is the Doctrine of Discovery? | Bruce McIvor | First Peoples Law LLP  
   

• Residential Schools and Reconciliation: A Canada Day Proposal | Bruce McIvor | First Peoples Law LLP 
   

• Why revoking the papal bulls is necessary | Bruce McIvor | CBA National
   

• Robert J. Miller, “The Ten Legal Dimensions of the Doctrine of Discovery: The International Law of Colonialism” (26 September 2022), online (blog): Doctrine of Discovery <https://doctrineofdiscovery.org/the-doctrine-of-discovery-the-international-law-of-colonialism/>. 
   

• North American Indigenous Peoples Caucus, “North American Indigenous Peoples Caucus Statement” (8 May 2012), online (blog): UNPFIP Network <http://unpfip.blogspot.com/2012/05/north-american-caucus-statement-on.html>. 

Articles 

• John Borrows, “The Durability of Terra Nullius: Tsilhqot’in Nation v British Columbia” (2015) 48:3 UBC L Rev 701 
   

• Karen Drake, “The Impact of St Catherine's Milling” (2018) Osgoode Digital Commons Articles & Book Chapters 2682. 
   

• Kent McNeil, “The Doctrine of Discovery Reconsidered: Reflecting on Discovering Indigenous Lands: The Doctrine of Discovery in the English Colonies, by Robert J Miller, Jacinta Ruru, Larissa Behrendt, and Tracey Lindberg, and Reconciling Sovereignties: Aboriginal Nations and Canada, by Felix Hoehn” (2016) 53:2 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 699. 
   

• Kent McNeil, “The Source, Nature, and Content of the Crown’s Underlying Title to Aboriginal Title Lands” (2018) 96:2 Canadian Bar Review 273, 2018 CanLIIDocs 176. 
   

• Robert J. Miller, “The Doctrine of Discovery: The International Law of Colonialism” (2019) 5:1 The Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture & Resistance 35 (eScholarship). 
   

• Robert J. Miller, “The International Law of Colonialism: A Comparative Analysis” in Symposium: The Future of International Law in Indigenous Affairs: The Doctrine of Discovery, the United Nations, and the Organization of American States (Symposium: Lewis & Clark Law Review, 2011) 847. 

Books 

• Peter P. D’Errico, Federal Anti-Indian Law: The Legal Entrapment of Indigenous Peoples (Westport: Praeger, 2022). 
   

• Kent McNeil, Flawed Precedent: The St. Catherine’s Case and Aboriginal Title (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2019). 
   

• Robert J. Miller, Jacinta Ruru, Larissa Behrendt, and Tracey Lindberg, Discovering Indigenous Lands: The Doctrine of Discovery in the English Colonies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010). 
   

• Lindsay G. Robertson, Conquest by Law: How the Discovery of America Dispossessed Indigenous Peoples of their Lands (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) 

Reports 

• The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Canada’s Residential Schools: Reconciliation, vol 6 (Toronto: James Lorimer & Company Ltd., 2015) 
   

• Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples: Looking Forward, Looking Back, vol 1 (Ottawa: The Commission, 1996). 
   

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Calls to Action, 45-47 and 49 (2015). 

Court cases 

• Johnson & Graham's Lessee v. McIntosh, 21 U.S. 543 (1823) 
   

• St. Catherine’s Milling and Lumber Company v. The Queen (1888), 14 App. Cas. 46 (P.C.) 
   

• R. v. White and Bob, 1964 CanLII 452 (BC CA) 
   

• Calder et al. v. Attorney-General of British Columbia, 1973 SCR 313 
   

• Guerin v. The Queen, [1984] 2 SCR 335 
   

• R. v. Sparrow, [1990] 1 SCR 1075 
   

• R. v. Van der Peet, [1996] 2 SCR 507
   

• Mitchell v. M.N.R., [2001] 1 SCR 911 
   

• Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia, 2014 SCC 44 
   

• Thomas and Saik’uz First Nation v Rio Tinto Alcan Inc., 2022 BCSC 15 

Legislation 

• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, S.C. 2021, c. 14 

With so much media coverage of the Wet'suwet'en standoff prior to COVID-19, we thought it would be helpful to collect various articles, blog posts, interviews, case comments, and other resources in one location. We hope it will be a useful tool for anyone wanting to learn more about the situation in Wet'suwet'en territory and Indigenous Peoples’ ongoing struggle for justice in Canada.

Check out our new e-book and podcast episode on our Wet'suwet'en essay series.

• Reconciliation on Trial: Wet'suwet'en, Aboriginal Title and the Rule of Law
• First Peoples Lawcast: Reconciliation on Trial with Bruce McIvor and Kate Gunn

Here is an article by First Peoples Law's Bruce McIvor published in 2019 following the RCMP raid at Gidimt’en.

• Why Canadian Law Should be on the Side of the Wet’suwet’en in the Pipeline Confrontation | First Peoples Law

Lawyers and legal scholars across the country have called on governments to uphold Indigenous rights and open a nation-to-nation dialogue with Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs.

• Open Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau and Premier Horgan Re: Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs’ Opposition to Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project | First Peoples Law
• Settler governments are breaking international law, not Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, say 200 lawyers, legal scholars - The Star

Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada has published a legal brief on Canada’s failure to abide by international legal obligations and its own rule of law. 

• Canada: International law obligations to suspend construction of pipeline and stop use of force against Wet’suwet’en | Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada

First Peoples Law's Kate Gunn and Bruce McIvor were interviewed by various media outlets about the legal context surrounding the standoff.

• First Nations legal expert says its time for the federal government to get more involved in Wet'suwet'en blockades | CBC Listen
• Whose rule of law? Indigenous law part of Canadian legal system, says lawyer - Energi Media
• Power Play: Indigenous land rights - CTV News
• Understanding the Wet'suwet'en struggle in Canada - Aljazeera
• Growing support for Wet’suwet’en land defenders shakes Canadian politics - Nation News
• Ottawa’s offer to recognize Wet’suwet’en land rights could be a game-changer for Canada. Here’s how - The Star
• How the B.C. government approached Indigenous land rights after major court ruling - The Star
• B.C.’s John Horgan faces a Wet’suwet’en firestorm sparked by some very national issues - The Star
• Wet’suwet’en Crisis: Whose Rule of Law? | The Tyee
• How a landmark B.C. court case set the stage for Wet'suwet'en anti-pipeline protests | CBC News

Here is an excellent “Wet’suwet’en Supporter Toolkit” with lots of great resources for anyone looking to show their solidarity.

• Wet'suwet'en Supporter Toolkit 2020 - Unist'ot'en Camp

Here is the most recent injunction decision issued by the BC Supreme Court, along with the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs’ response and some helpful analysis of injunction law more generally.

• Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. v. Huson, 2019 BCSC 2264
• Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs Reject the BC Supreme Court Decision to Criminalize Wet’suwet’en Law - Unist'ot'en Camp
• Injunctions as a Tool of Colonialism by Kate Gunn - First Peoples Law
• Injunctions by First Nations: Results of a National Study - Yellowhead Institute
• Legal experts say injunctions not effective in Indigenous-led land disputes - National Post
• Injunctions have only served to prove the point: Canada is a smash-and-grab country for industry - Globe and Mail

Here is some legal analysis of the relationship between Indigenous and Canadian law at the centre of the standoff.

• The invisible thread? The Coastal GasLink decision and why we must do more to recognize the application of Indigenous law - West Coast Environmental Law
• Colonialism is Alive and Well in Canada – Slaw
• Coastal GasLink dispute rooted in conflicts over title, governance: legal experts - The Lawyer's Daily
• Indigenous law experts weigh in on the Wet'suwet'en protests - Canadian Lawyer Magazine

Check out these pieces on the legal history of Aboriginal title and Wet’suwet’en law. 

• The Delgamuukw decision: When the ‘invisible people’ won recognition - APTN News
• ‘We Have to Stand Together’: A Tale of Two Nations | The Tyee
• Industry, government pushed to abolish Aboriginal title at issue in Wet’suwet’en stand-off, docs reveal | The Narwhal

Here is a summary of new and ongoing litigation.

• Stand Strong for Wet'suwet'en Yintah - RAVEN
• Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs launch court challenge to CGL Environmental Approval - Office of the Wet'suwet'en
• Unist’ot’en Files Legal Action Against Coastal GasLink Archaeological Plan - Unist'ot'en Camp
• B.C. failed to consider links between ‘man camps,’ violence against Indigenous women, Wet’suwet’en argue | The Narwhal

There is no shortage of insightful commentary on the “rule of law" invoked during this standoff.

• The rule of law is ‘racist’ says Mohawk law professor Beverly Jacobs - APTN News
• Hiding Behind the Myth of One ‘Rule of Law’ | The Tyee
• The breathtaking hypocrisy of the howls for “rule of law” - Policy Options
• Pipeline protests and the rule of law - Vancouver Sun
• What is happening on Wet’suwet’en territory shows us that reconciliation is dead - Globe and Mail
• What's really illegal? The defence of unceded Wet'suwet'en territory or provincial permits for Coastal GasLink pipeline? - Georgia Straight
• 'Reconciliation cannot be achieved at gunpoint': B.C. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip on Wet'suwet'en stand-off | CBC Radio
• How the Wet’suwet’en crisis could have played out differently | The Narwhal

Check out this film and podcast interviews on Wet’suwet’en law and Indigenous resistance.

• INVASION - Unist'ot'en Camp
• Hundreds sign letter demanding public inquiry into deaths of Indigenous people in N.B.
• #WetsuwetenStrong w/ Karla Tait - The Red Nation
• Molly Wickham on Gitdimt'en Yintah Access - Warrior Life
• Indigenous Law, Consent, and Reconciliation with Bruce McIvor - Porcupine Podcast

Here are two publications on Wet’suwet’en law and governance.

• Eagle Down Is Our Law - Witsuwit'en Law, Feasts, and Land Claims - Antonia Mills
• Niwhts'ide'nı̈ hibi'it'ën = The ways of our ancestors: Witsuwit'en history & culture throughout the millennia - Mélanie Morin

Lastly, these are both powerful photo essays from the frontlines.

• In photos: Wet’suwet’en matriarchs arrested as RCMP enforce Coastal GasLink pipeline injunction | The Narwhal
• Photos: Singing in Defiance of Arrest at the Last Wet’suwet’en Post | The Tyee
   

Photo by Jeff Nicholls [Tsimshian]

With so much media coverage of Mi'kmaq Treaty rights following our client Sipekne’katik First Nation's launch of its lobster fishery in September 2020, we thought it would be useful to provide a list of resources for anyone wanting to learn more about this important topic and the ongoing situation in Mi'kma'ki.

Overview

In the following explainer, Angela D'Elia Decembrini clarifies common misconceptions about Mi’kmaq commercial fishing rights.

• The Marshall Decision and Mi’kmaq Commercial Fishing Rights: An Explainer by Angela D'Elia Decembrini | First Peoples Law

Here is an open letter signed by settler and Indigenous academics and legal professionals across Canada urging immediate action to recognize and uphold Sipekne’katik’s Treaty right to a moderate-livelihood fishery.

• Open Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau and Premier McNeil Re: Sipekne’katik Treaty-Based Fishery

In the following post, Kate Gunn gives an update on current developments regarding Treaty rights in Mi’kma’ki and across the country.

• Treaty Implementation: The Crown’s Ongoing Failure by Kate Gunn | First Peoples Law

Podcasts & Films

Here are some informative multimedia sources regarding Mi’kmaq Treaty rights.

• The fishy fight against Mi’kmaq rights | MEDIA INDIGENA
• Lobster Politics | CANADALAND
• Mi’kmaw Fishing Rights Archives | APTN News
• Is the Crown at war with us? | Alanis Obomsawin | National Film Board

First Peoples Law in the News

Angela D’Elia Decembrini spoke to students and faculty at the University of Toronto as part of its Indigenous Initiatives Office Speaker Series.

• All Eyes on Mi'kma'ki | Indigenous Initiatives Office | YouTube

Kate Gunn was interviewed by the National Post.

• Fighting for a moderate livelihood: How Ottawa failed both Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishers | National Post

Additional Resources

Check out these additional articles for further insight.

• Netukulimk: Our way forward | The Signal
• The history of the Mi'kmaw lobster fishery in the Atlantic region | CBC News
• Canada’s actions around the Mi’Kmaq fisheries rest on shaky legal ground | Policy Options
• First Nations have their own legal authority to regulate their fishing rights | Policy Options
• Conservation important but who gets to regulate is key legal issue | Opinion | The Chronicle Herald
• Colonizers Being Colonizers: Lobster Fishing & the Continued Oppression of L’nu’k in Mi’kma’ki | Melkita'n | Yellowhead Institute
• Mi’kmaw treaty rights, reconciliation and the ‘rule of law’ | Canadian Dimension
• Mi'kmaq tackle decades-old standstill on fishing rights with historic, self-regulated lobster fishery | CBC News