Who doesn't long for the days of Stone Age jurisprudence?:
Blacklock's Reporter says the study examined First Nations in four provinces that already enforce local bylaws on traffic, waste management, retail operations, and landlord-tenant disputes.
(Sidebar: by-laws similar to those existing in other municipalities. The above article is setting up an imagined, amalgamated legal body over Western law with no evidence to suggest that it is fair, impartial or effective.)
The report highlighted a key challenge: a lack of recognition for First Nations laws and bylaws from provincial governments, courts, the federal government, external police services, and even some members of Indigenous communities.
It emphasized that First Nations justice systems do not handle criminal cases, which remain under provincial jurisdiction.
“Given that all First Nations have distinct legal traditions, cultures, histories and languages, the First Nations’ representatives explained from their perspective that federal, provincial and territorial government should recognize the needs of First Nation justice systems are distinct from one Nation to another,” said the report, What We Learned: Discussions With Four First Nations About The Administration And Enforcement Of Their Laws And Bylaws.
The findings were based on records from the Tsawwassen First Nation in British Columbia, Tsuut’ina Nation in Alberta, Whitecap Dakota Nation in Saskatchewan, the Attorney General of Saskatchewan, and the Mohawks of Akwesasne in Québec.
The research aimed to explore ways to lower indigenous incarceration rates.
“When asked what their justice systems could look like outside of a Western context, representatives indicated the importance of the communities having control of their own justice systems with the autonomy to make decisions,” the report stated.
It also stressed the role of elders, culture, and language in indigenous justice.
A 2018 justice department report previously found indigenous Canadians were jailed at disproportionately higher rates, in part due to wrongful convictions and pressures to plead guilty. Many indigenous defendants pled guilty simply to resolve their cases quickly, particularly when denied bail.
Canadians remain divided on whether First Nations should administer their own justice systems, according to federal surveys.
A 2024 study found that 45% of respondents supported indigenous-run legal systems. Support was higher among indigenous respondents, including 70% of First Nations people and 57% of Métis, compared to 44% of white respondents.
Let us also remember the conquered tribes who couldn't be with us today ... :
There is no doubt that Indigenous groups have an interest in learning about ancient peoples who lived in the areas they currently inhabit, even if those ancestors may be separated in time by hundreds of generations. But so does society in general; any knowledge that results from unearthing ancient human remains and artifacts is a gift for all of humanity. Denying that gift because a group with a marginally larger genetic connection to ancient artifacts, which are likely to be also genetically connected at some level to a far larger part of the human population, is inappropriate.
None of this is to suggest that we should ignore past mistreatment of Indigenous groups. The Mi’kmaq culture began to be supplanted on Prince Edward Island beginning around the 1700s; we can and should bemoan the fact that they were not treated better.
But that does not justify creating a mythology and special recognition that may have no basis in fact. We need to respect history, even as we work to provide equal opportunities for everyone in this country, within a realistic 21st-century context.
The goal was always creating a mirage.
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