LAW590
Indigenous Peoples and the Law
(Macias Gimenez)
Prerequisite courses:
Prerequisite for:
Instructor(s): Rebeca Macias Gimenez
Course credit: 3
Method of presentation: Lecture
METHOD OF EVALUATION
Mid-term paper/project – 30%
Final examination – 70%
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course situates how Canadian state law affects Indigenous peoples in a legal and political context. It is designed to focus on issues that will be useful to lawyers who practice in a variety of areas. Although current issues and attempts at their resolution are focused on throughout the semester, the materials will emphasize historical patterns of settler colonialism. A survey of the law of Aboriginal rights and title, including issues surrounding Crown and Indigenous sovereignty will be considered as we navigate historical and modern treaties, Crown-Indigenous nations relationships, treaty processes and interpretation. Other relevant subject matter, such as constitutional recognition of Aboriginal hunting and fishing rights, Indigenous self-governance, and First Nations, Métis and Inuit identity and citizenship, and the Indian Act(s), are a few of the important topics that will be covered.
SPECIAL COMMENTS
Description updated 2022-23. Please contact the instructor for any specific questions you may have related to this particular course section.
REQUIRED TEXTS (IF ANY):
John Borrows and Leonard Rotman, Aboriginal Legal Issues: Cases, Materials and Commentary, 5th Edition (Toronto: LexisNexis Canada Inc., 2018).