Law, Justice & Indigenous - Assignment

Running head: LAW, JUSTICE & INDIGENOUS
Law, Justice & Indigenous
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Introduction
Indigenous or Aboriginal groups, individuals and countries include those who have a
historical steadiness with pre-invasion and pre-colonial civilizations that advanced on their areas,
contemplate themselves different from other divisions of the civilizations presently prevailing in
those areas or parts of them. In Canada, the expression Indigenous or aboriginal people include
First Nations, Metis and Inuit individuals. Presently, these individuals are the original residents
of the land of Canada (Kuokkanen, 2015). This paper mainly focuses on the discussion of the
rights of the aboriginal people of Canada. Modern laws related to aboriginal people provide
some justice to them, which was not provided to them before due to dispossession and
marginalization. While discussing the same, this paper also sheds light on the discussion of
whether the problems faced by the aboriginal people have been reduced after taking those steps
or not.
Discussion
In Canada, a diversity exists among the aboriginal group of individuals, such as First
Nations, Metis and Inuit and for this reason it is very problematic to simplify the definitions
related to the rights of aboriginals. This particular problem has been observed by numerous
scholars. For instance, as some treaties have been signed between the First Nations and the
federal government, therefore several definite rights and facilities relating to annual cash
disbursement have been enjoyed by the First Nations which other non-treaty nations cannot
enjoy. In this way, the court cases related to land claims won by the aboriginal countries might
apply more control over lands related to them and population than others. Thus, the rights of all

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aboriginal people may include entry to inherited resources and properties and the right of self-
governance (Asch, 2011).
It has been observed that certain rights related to land and resources are enshrined in the
treaties. Apart from that, rights of the aboriginal people are also protected by federal law, such as
the Constitution Act of Canada, 1982. The living rights of the people of First Nations were
protected by the Human Rights Act of Canada since 2008. Not only is that, but there are also
several Supreme Court cases available through which the aboriginal title or rights in relation to
customary areas have been explained. In 1997, it was observed in the Delgamuukw case that an
inherited right had been constituted by Aboriginal title which also had been protected by the
Constitution (Kulchyski, 2013).
The aboriginal rights are not enumerated in another federal law; namely, the Indian Act
and this Act has been recognized as historically oppressive by many scholars. However, this Act
also has a great impact on the rights of the aboriginal people. Some lawful categories, such as
Status and Non-Status Indians, creates division among the aboriginal people, and the Indian Act
is responsible for that. For instance, Status Indians enjoyed the right of not paying federal or
regional taxes on specific goods, but the same right is unavailable to the Non-Status Indians.
Nevertheless, aboriginal people representing both of these categories rejected to be demarcated
by this particular Act (Wilson & Macdonald, 2010). Several regional and local laws challenged
aboriginal rights. Numerous land claim contracts have been made and signed between First
Nations and federal and regional governments. As the aboriginal rights were challenged,
therefore the relations among the aboriginal communities became less harmonious. The claims
of aboriginal people in relation to the inherited lands had been ignored by local and regional