Indigenous Law and Legal Issues

Questions: 1. a) What is Indigenous law? b) There are many ways to approach the question of reconciliation and no clear answer of what reconciliation means. Justice Murray Sinclair recommendschoosing one of the 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and incorporating that into your life. Choose one of the 94 Calls to Action and explain how you could use that in an effort to achieve reconciliation.2.Choose 2 (two) of the following questions and answer that question in full sentences. Each answer should engage with the material covered during lectures and discussed in the readings. Each answer is worth a total of ten points. Be sure to indicate the question you are answering by putting the number at the beginning of your answer.a) Compare and contrast the different ways of understanding treaties.b) Choose one of the sources of Indigenous law and explain that source and how it contributes to or the role it plays in Indigenous law and legal orders.c) In his lecture on revitalizing Indigenous law, John B orrows highlights a number of similarities between Indigenous law and western law. Is this a good approach? Why or why not?3.Elaborating and Explaining Issues (25 points)In a recent issue, the editors of the Globe and Snail asked their readers to highlight issues relating to Truth and Reconciliation and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Using what we discussed in class, choose one of the issues (Truth and Reconciliation OR Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls) and write a letter to the editor of the Globe and Snail, highlighting what you believe the issues are in relation to that specific topic.4. Methodologies: Determining Legal Principles (15 points)Many revitalization projects face the issues of how to find sources of Indigenous law and how to best elaborate and define legal principles. One method thats been identified is the case brief method, which draws on stories and uses a case brief method to determine larger legal principles. Answers: 1. a) Indigenous law refers to the rules, legislations, bye laws and regulations made in order to deal with a number of matters which are related to the indigenous or the aboriginal people of a country. This law provides rights to land, to the individuals, as well as, the right to traditional practices and also protects the indigenous people from any discrimination. b) The adoption, along with the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the federal, municipal, provincial, and territorial governments as the framework for reconciliation, could help in abridging any variances in the present laws and the declaration and provide clarity (TRC, 2015). 2. a)There are two main ways of understanding the treaties. The Government way of Treaties and the First Nations View of Treaties. The Canadian government considered the treaties as a medium of legalizing the ceding of the Indian land so as to clear the path for settlement, railways, as well as, mining. The First Nations had a different view and treated the treaties as solemn pacts for establishment of future base of relations between their people who considered Canada as their ancient homeland and the new Canadian government and its people (First people of Canada, 2007). b) One of the sources of Indigenous law in Canada is the Constitution Act of 1867. this act, through its section 31(24) provided the Federal Parliament the exclusive powers so as to legislate the matters which were related to the Indians, and such lands which had been reserved for the Indians. As per this power, the Indian Act, the First Nations Land Management Act, along with some other acts was enacted by the legislative body (Smith, 1999). The treaty and land rights were further recognized by Part II of the Constitution Act of 1982. 3. November 10, 2016 Lee Gordon Editor Globe and Snail Toronto, Canada Sub: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Mr. Gordon, This is with reference to the aforementioned subject. Through this letter the issues related to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls have been highlighted. The social issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls has received a lot of attention from the government, as well as, from the media, in Canada. The exact number of such women that have went missing or who have been murdered in the country, during the last 30-40 years is disputed, but the estimates suggest that this number is over 500 and other stating that this number is 1100. Information on 582 cases has been gathered by the Native Womens Association of Canada, and they believe that the actual number of such cases is a lot higher (BBC, 2016). There has been a lack of established criteria so as to determine if a particular case has to be included or excluded while collecting such stats. Further, the activist working in this regard have emphasized that the percentage of the indigenous women who have been murdered is highlight disproportionate to the overall percentage within the general population. Delivering on the key election promise, Justin Trudeaus government has appointed a five member inquiry commission so as to study about the abundant cases of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Freeman, 2016). The national inquiry is focused on finding the origin cause of this disparity in the rates of crimes against the indigenous women. The need to take the necessary action so as to end such incidents was also the focal point of this inquiry. Carolyn Bennett, who is the minister of Aboriginal Affairs, considered this a significant step in the journey of reconciliation with the Canadian indigenous people (Narine, 2016). The need for such measures highlights the severity of the social issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which has gained the popularity, not only due to abundance of such cases in the past, but also the recent ones, including that of the 15 year old girl in Summer of 2014. Yours Sincerely, Harvey Trent 4. Nanabushu and the Cranberries Facts of the case: Nanabushu came across a brook and saw high bush cranberries and desired to eat them. When he looked at the stream, he saw a reflection of this bush and jumped in the water to eat them. Since it was a reflection he could not find any berries and got injured in process. When he was crying, the high bush rubbed his eyes, which he ate and left. Issue: Whether he was right in jumping in the stream and eating the berries? Application: Here, it is not given if the stream and berries belonged to any entity, be it indigenous or otherwise. The ownership of both of this is not mentioned. Conclusion: He did not violate any law by jumping in the stream and eating the berries, as the ownership was not disputed. References BBC. (2016). Questions over number of missing indigenous women in Canada. Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35590442 First people of Canada. (2007). What Are the Treaties? Two Different Views. Retrieved from: https://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_treaties/fp_treaties_two_views.html Freeman, A. (2016). The mystery of 1,000 missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/08/04/the-mystery-of-1000-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-in-canada/ Narine, S. (2016). Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Retrieved from: https://www.ammsa.com/content/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-and-girls TRC. (2015). Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action. Retrieved from: https://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf Smith, D. E. (1999). The Republican Option in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 16.