On the breach: Identifying infringements of section 35 rights

Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, the Supreme Court of Canada has said, protects existing Aboriginal and treaty rights from unjustified infringement at the hands of federal and provincial legislatures and governments. To give meaningful effect to section 35’s protection, we need, therefore, to understand what counts as infringement of such rights and why. The Supreme Court’s own jurisprudence to date on this question, alas, disappoints; it does not withstand close critical scrutiny. This article calls attention to several shortcomings and inconsistencies in that jurisprudence and proposes for initial consideration a more inclusive approach to infringement identification, one that draws a sharper distinction between the infringement and justification inquiries. Adoption of such an approach, however, could have unwelcome substitution effects, prompting cautious courts to be more selective when asked to authenticate future claims of Aboriginal right, more penurious when construing the constitutionally protected scope of particular treaty or Aboriginal rights and/or more generous to governments during the justification inquiry. If the goal is to optimize the protection that Canadian constitutional law affords to treaty and Aboriginal rights, we shall need to be mindful of the interdependence among the authentication, infringement, and justification inquiries, and we shall need to understand much more clearly than we currently do just where the outer limits are beyond which mainstream Canadian law cannot, or will not, countenance Indigenous ways and why.

NO CLOUD WITHOUT SKY: SPECTRUM SOVEREIGNTY AND ETHEREAL REFUSAL

This paper will present the theoretical frameworks, research questions, and preliminary findings from $2 , a new study of movements for spectrum sovereignty. This foundational overview is a preliminary step toward a multi-year, international survey and case-study based project that aims to convene a space for the advancement of decolonized internet and communications networks predicated on the production of relational knowledges and the promotion of international solidarities. Centering the materiality of cyberspace necessarily reveals the relationships between the internet and settler colonialism. Such an acknowledgement is foundational to a decolonialist ethical point of view from which I argue for an understanding of space as relational practice, as resource, and as source of identity. A genuinely decolonized cyberspace that promotes the independence of colonized peoples is one that is subject to Indigenous spatial practices including territorial claims and treaty rights and so is one that is recognized as existing within space in a material way.

Review of the book Educators on Diversity, Social justice, and Schooling: A Reader

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) recognizes aboriginal and treaty rights (section 25), official bilingualism (sections 16-20), and multiculturalism (section 27). The Charter also protects citizens from discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, or disability (Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982). The spirit and values instilled by the Charter are significant to the field of education mission statements and policies endorsing diversity, inclusion and equity. Combined with different communities’ advocacy for social change, teachers are increasingly called to impart equal opportunities for all children in increasingly diverse classrooms with equitable curricular and pedagogical practices. In that context, Educators on Diversity, Social Justice and Schooling: A Reader provides insight for practitioners. This book is edited by Sonya E. Singer and Mary Jane Harkins, with each chapter’s authors representing various theoretical and methodological approaches. The book is organized in three thematic sections: diversity, social justice, and schooling.

What I Should Have Learned In School : Making The Connection Between Land Use Planning & The Duty To Consult

This major research paper examines whether land use planning in Canada incorporates Aboriginal and treaty rights into its processes, by way of integrating the duty to consult, as well as to examine whether planning education teaches students about these issues. By examining literature and policy, and conducting interviews with planners, planning faculty, archaeologists and legal practitioners, this research sheds light on where the duty to consult First Nations intersects with land use planning in Ontario. The paper concludes with two recommendations: first, changes must be made to municipal land use planning in Ontario, and by extension the rest of Canada; second, foundational planning curriculum must provide planning students with knowledge of Aboriginal and treaty rights and land use planning.

What I Should Have Learned In School : Making The Connection Between Land Use Planning & The Duty To Consult

This major research paper examines whether land use planning in Canada incorporates Aboriginal and treaty rights into its processes, by way of integrating the duty to consult, as well as to examine whether planning education teaches students about these issues. By examining literature and policy, and conducting interviews with planners, planning faculty, archaeologists and legal practitioners, this research sheds light on where the duty to consult First Nations intersects with land use planning in Ontario. The paper concludes with two recommendations: first, changes must be made to municipal land use planning in Ontario, and by extension the rest of Canada; second, foundational planning curriculum must provide planning students with knowledge of Aboriginal and treaty rights and land use planning.

Review of the book Educators on Diversity, Social justice, and Schooling: A Reader

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) recognizes aboriginal and treaty rights (section 25), official bilingualism (sections 16-20), and multiculturalism (section 27). The Charter also protects citizens from discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, or disability (Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982). The spirit and values instilled by the Charter are significant to the field of education mission statements and policies endorsing diversity, inclusion and equity. Combined with different communities’ advocacy for social change, teachers are increasingly called to impart equal opportunities for all children in increasingly diverse classrooms with equitable curricular and pedagogical practices. In that context, Educators on Diversity, Social Justice and Schooling: A Reader provides insight for practitioners. This book is edited by Sonya E. Singer and Mary Jane Harkins, with each chapter’s authors representing various theoretical and methodological approaches. The book is organized in three thematic sections: diversity, social justice, and schooling.

Review of the book Educators on Diversity, Social justice, and Schooling: A Reader

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) recognizes aboriginal and treaty rights (section 25), official bilingualism (sections 16-20), and multiculturalism (section 27). The Charter also protects citizens from discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, or disability (Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982). The spirit and values instilled by the Charter are significant to the field of education mission statements and policies endorsing diversity, inclusion and equity. Combined with different communities’ advocacy for social change, teachers are increasingly called to impart equal opportunities for all children in increasingly diverse classrooms with equitable curricular and pedagogical practices. In that context, Educators on Diversity, Social Justice and Schooling: A Reader provides insight for practitioners. This book is edited by Sonya E. Singer and Mary Jane Harkins, with each chapter’s authors representing various theoretical and methodological approaches. The book is organized in three thematic sections: diversity, social justice, and schooling.

Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution Act and Indigenous Self-Determination in Canada

This research paper analyzes the impacts of Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution on the enhancement of Indigenous rights in Canadian politics. As outlined in Section 35, Indigenous rights are recognized as pre-existing prior to the Constitution Act of 1982 and the identity of Aboriginal, Inuit and Métis peoples are defined. Academic literature, television broadcasts, and personal accounts of the implementation and effects of Section 35 were used to conduct this research and investigate the origins of this section in the Constitution. Notably, this analysis demonstrated that the inclusion of Section 35 in the Constitution has led to more public discussion and court cases to claim treaty rights by Indigenous peoples. The effect of including Indigenous rights in the Canadian Constitution has expanded the role of the courts in adjudicating relations between the Canadian government and Indigenous people, effectively expanding the accountability of the Canadian government to upholding treaty rights. Overall, the findings of this paper were that Section 35 plays a large role in promoting awareness of reconciliation to the Canadian public, however, it stops short of including Indigenous people as meaningful participants in their own self-determination.