Library Guides: Comparative Indigenous Law: Books &amp; Journals

Indigenous Law Journals

Individual journals on Canadian Indian Law to which we have access include:

Finding Journal Articles

Journal articles on Canadian Aboriginal law may be written in general law journals, by non-Canadian authors and in non-Canadian journals. To find scholarly articles on your Canadian Aboriginal Law topic, irrespective of the journals in which they appear, refer to the following guides. The journal databases recommended in these guides will help you search hundreds of journals at the same time.

Books

First Nations Authors

The Oxford Handbook of the Canadian Constitution by Peter Oliver, Patrick Macklem & Nathalie Des Rosiers (eds)
Call Number: E-book
Publication Date: OUP, 2017
See Part III: Indigenous Peoples and the Canadian Constitution
Indigenous Legal Traditions by Law Commission of Canada (Editor); Law Commission of Canada (Editor)
Call Number: KM 208,431 F1 INDI
ISBN: 9780774813709
Publication Date: UBC Press, c2007

Ally Authors

Indigenous justice : true cases by judges, lawyers & law enforcement officers by Lorene Shyba PhD & Raymond Yakeleya (eds) Indigenous Justice is Book 10 in the Durvile True Cases series. In the spirit of truth and reconciliation, judges, lawyers, and law enforcement officers write about working with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Peoples through their trials and tribulations with the criminal justice system. The stories are a mix of previously published essays from the True Cases anthologies with an equal number of new chapters by legal and law enforcement professionals including Justice Thomas Berger (posthumous), Justice Nancy Morrison, Justice John Reilly, Senator Kim Pate, lawyers Eleanore Sunchild, Brian Beresh, and John L. Hill, and parole and police officers Doug Heckbert, Ernie Louttit, Val Hoglund, and Sharon Bourque.
Call Number: KM 590 Q43 F1 INDI
Publication Date: 2023
Strategies of Justice: Aboriginal Peoples, Persistent Injustice, and the Ethics of Political Action by Burke A Hendrix
Call Number: E-book
Publication Date: OUP, 2019
Aboriginal Law by Thomas Isaac
Call Number: KM 208.431 F1 ISAA
Publication Date: Thomson Reuters, 2016
The Land Is Our History: Indigeneity, Law, and the Settler State by Miranda CL Johnson
Call Number: E-book
Publication Date: OUP, 2016
Bad Medicine: : a judge's struggle for justice in a First Nations community by John Reilly
Call Number: E-book
Publication Date: Rocky Mountain Books, 2010
Hunger, Horses, and Government Men: Criminal Law on the Aboriginal Plains, 1870-1905 by Shelley A.M. Gavigan
Call Number: KM 570 Q43 F1 GAVI
ISBN: 9780774822527
Publication Date: UBC Press, c2012
Aboriginal Law Handbook by Olthuis, Kleer, Townshend ; Nancy Kleer ... [et al.], contributors.
Call Number: KM 209.431 F1 OLTH
ISBN: 9780779851119
Publication Date: Carswell, c2012
The Perils of Identity: Group Rights and the Politics of Intragroup Difference by Caroline Dick
Call Number: Bail 323.171 DICK
ISBN: 9780774820622
Publication Date: UBC Press, c2011
Aboriginal Title and Indigenous Peoples by Louis A. Knafla (Editor); Haijo J. Westra (Editor)
Call Number: KN 72.4 ABOR
ISBN: 0774815604
Publication Date: UBC Press, c2010

Articles & Book Chapters

First Nations Authors

Metallic, Naiomi Walqwan, 'The Relationship Between Canada and Indigenous Peoples: Where Are We?' in Canada at 150: The Charter and the Constitution (Irwin Law, 2017) This paper examines six major milestones that mark what the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) has called the era of ‘Renewal and Renegotiation’ (1951 to the present). This includes: (1) amendments to the Indian Act in 1951; (2) the 1969 White Paper Policy; (3) the 1973 Calder Decision; (4) Section 35 of Constitution Act, 1982; (5) the 1992 Charlottetown Accord; and (6) the 1996 RCAP Report itself. This examination shows how these events were improvements over the previous era, which RCAP called the era of ‘Domination and Assimilation’, but also to draw attention to the fact that significant problems in the relationship between Canada and Indigenous peoples remain to be addressed. These shortcomings point us in the direction we need to be going on the path to decolonizing and achieving meaningful reconciliation.

Ally Authors

Onele, Joseph, 'Impact and Benefit Agreements and the Protection of Indigenous Peoples Rights: Any New Lessons from Canada?' Cork Online Law Review [2017] 16 COLR 27 In recent times, there has been agitation for legislative recognition of indigenous land rights across different parts of the globe. There seems to be an awakening that mere reliance on the cooperation and goodwill of companies, without more, does not offer a lasting solution to calming the fear of indigenous peoples. This article, therefore, considers the proposition that indigenous groups benefit more from resource extraction with a solid legal framework. This article aligns with this proposition and argues that entrenching the rights of indigenous people as well as making an Impact and Benefit Agreement (IBA) a statutory requirement to extracting mineral resources would go a long way in further protecting the indigenous peoples rights in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), and other international human rights instruments. The article argues that the relative success of IBAs in Canada and some other jurisdictions notwithstanding, there is still more that can be done to ensure that IBAs not only address the ‘resource curse’ in countries blessed with mineral resources, but also become tools in empowering the indigenous peoples and protecting their rights as affirmed under relevant international legal instruments.
McMahon, Thomas, 'The Supreme Court's Indian Residential Schools Cases: The Beatings Continue' (February 27, 2018) The Supreme Court of Canada has been asked to rule on 8 cases involving Indian Residential Schools to date. One criminal case, five civil cases (of which it only agreed to hear three of them) and two cases involving the administration of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (one of which has not yet been argued). This paper provides a summary of these cases, plus another Supreme Court case relevant to Indian Residential Schools dealing with whether the Roman Catholic Church is a legal entity. In every case, the Supreme Court has found imaginative and numerous ways to harm the victims of Indian Residential Schools in the name of "law". If the only court decisions you read about Canada's Indian Residential Schools are the Supreme Court decisions, let this paper be your guide.
Oguamanam, Chidi and Vipal Jain, 'Access and Benefit Sharing, Canadian and Aboriginal Research Ethics Policy after the Nagoya Protocol: Digital DNA and Transformations in Biotechnology' (2017) 3 (1) Journal of Environmental Law and Practice 79-112 Across the world, the manner in which researchers access genetic resources and associated knowledge of Indigenous and Local Communities (ILCs) is perceived to be problematic. This is due to inequitable practices that implicate asymmetrical power relations between researchers and other stakeholders with these communities. Not only are indigenous knowledge appropriated, ILCs’ conservation ethics in dealing with genetic resources are unrequited. Consequently, a responsive system for equitable access and benefit sharing (ABS) over the utilizations of genetic resources as a combination of economic, conservation and social justice strategy coalesced in the 2010 Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Article focuses on the ABS dynamic in the context of Aboriginal related research to determine whether extant Canadian research ethics framework requires recalibration pursuant to the emergent global ABS regime mainly symbolized in the Nagoya Protocol and the new challenges posed by current advances in biotechnology with specific regard to the digital DNA phenomenon. While both regimes do not directly pre-empt digital DNA and the malleability of data in research contexts, we conclude that they recognize the evolutionary character of research and knowledge transformations. We argue that they can be interpreted to accommodate the ABS imperatives in these and other emergent contexts. We shed light on how Canadian researchers can effectively navigate the research ethics framework in the Aboriginal contexts given regard to the global ABS regime and the transformations in biotechnology in the post-Nagoya ABS landscape.