Hello Reader, this time Tabir Hukum will discuss about first nations rights in land and natural resources.
So far, we have been looking at land law as it developed in England, to help us understand land ownership in modern common law jurisdictions. We noted that English law was brought to the lands that we now call Canada with the first British settlers. But North America was already occupied by aboriginal peoples with their own political organizations, customs, and laws. We consider the continuing existence of aboriginal peoples' rights to land and natural resources.
Aboriginal and treaty rights are creatures of history, but with different sources : treaty rights are contained in solemn agreements negotiated between the Crown and various First Nations collectivities, while aboriginal rights derive from aboriginal peoples' occupation and use of the land when Europeans arrived, or when a European nation acquired sovereignty over an area in accordance with the principles of international law. Aboriginal and treaty rights are protected under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, which estates :
(1) The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.
(2) In this Act, "aboriginal peoples of Canada" includes the Indian, Inuit and Metis people of Canada.
THE "NUMBERED" TREATIES AND THEIR PRE-CONFEDERATION ANTECEDENTS
In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, British and then Canadian policy-makers entered into treaties with aboriginal peoples to clear them from land that the government wanted for European settlers. Between 1871 and 1921, the federal government negotiated eleven treaties, called the "numbered treaties", with the aboriginal peoples occupying land in what is now northwestern Ontario, the praire provinces, northeastern British Columbia and parts of the Yukon, the Northwest Territories Nunavut.
The numbered treaties were modelled on the earlier Robinson Treaties (1850) in what is now Ontario and the Douglas Treaties (1850-1859) on Vancouver Island. In these treaties, First Nations collectivities surrendered their rights to their land, in return for promises of reserve lands and provision of education and health care. Many of the treaties also recognized the right of First Nations peoples to continue to hunt, fish and gather on unoccupied land. The recognition and meaning of these treaties in the twenty-first century remains a matter of negotiation and, sometimes, litigation.
Umpteen posts of tabir hukum about first nations rights in land and natural resources, hopefully the writing of tabir hukum about first nations rights in land and natural resources can be beneficial.
Books : In Writing Tabir Hukum :
Alan M. Sinclair and Margaret E. McCallum, 2005. An Introduction to Real Property Law (Fifth Edition). LexisNexis : Canada.
 |
| Figure Property Law : First Nations Rights in Land and Resources in Property Law |
