Aboriginal Property Rights

It amuses me to read the Right Whing whiners who complain about Aboriginal protests and land claims while they are quick to defend property rights of local landowners. What about the property rights of the First Nations who did not cede their territory to the State. Or leased it to the the State, such as the current situation in Caledonia. Hmm. What about their property rights?

Property as Ontology: On Aboriginal and English Understandings of Ownership

Before Canada was a country Britain recognized that aboriginal people living here had title to land: the Royal Proclamation of 1763 declared that only the British Crown could acquire land from First Nations, and that was typically done through treaties. In most parts of Canada, the British Crown established treaties with First Nations before Confederation. The new Dominion of Canada continued this policy of making treaties before the west was opened for settlement, but in BC, this process was never completed. Aboriginal Rights: The Issues: BC Treaty Commission

EconPapers: Aboriginal Property Rights in Canada: A Contractarian View

ABORIGINAL PEOPLE:
HISTORY OF DISCRIMINATORY LAWS

Prepared by:
Wendy Moss, Elaine Gardner-O'Toole, Law and Government Division
November 1987
Revised November 1991

It is worth noting that, before Confederation, race relations in the territories that eventually formed Canada began with slavery, primarily involving Indian slaves (called "Panis" or "Pawnees").(3) While in the 1790s legislative action in Upper Canada and judicial action in Lower Canada signalled the end of slavery, it was not until 1833 that the Act of the Abolition of Slavery finally abolished slavery in the British Empire.(4) Paradoxically, however, the colonial period brought an important shift in the non-native perception of Indians: from being viewed as independent and (arguably) sovereign peoples sought after as allies in colonial wars, Indian nations began to be viewed as dependent groups of Crown subjects in need of protection and "civilization."

And if you think land claims are complicated wait till we start discussing intellectual property.


Also See:

Noble Savage

Liberal Genocide; The Lubicon

Link Byfield Historical Revisionist

Rebel Yell

Kelowna Accord

A History of Canadian Wealth, 1914.

Slavery in Canada

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