Thesis--Auburn University, 2009. / Abstract. Includes bibliographic references (p.82-87).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis ( LLD) --University of Pretoria, 2008. / Includes abstract in English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Theses (Dept. of History) / Simon Fraser University. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Theses (Dept. of History) / Simon Fraser University. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--McGill University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references.

In much of Canada, Aboriginal rights – including land rights – were never extinguished by treaty, and presumptively continue to exist. Jurisprudence has established that in Aboriginal groups' traditional territories, they will have Aboriginal title – the right to exclusive use and occupation - in those areas where they can demonstrate both occupation and exclusivity at the date of the assertion of Crown sovereignty, and that they will have hunting and fishing rights in areas where they can demonstrate occupation but not exclusivity. This leaves open the question of what right they have in areas where they can demonstrate exclusivity but not occupation. This thesis argues for the existence in such areas of a right that has not previously been recognized in Canada, namely a right to prohibit resource use or extraction. This right – here termed “Aboriginal dominion” – is argued to be analogous to a negative easement in European property law systems. Even drawing such an analogy, however, requires a level of analysis that has been lacking with regard to Aboriginal property rights in Canada, since courts have insisted that such rights are sui generis, unique. This insistence is here called into question, and an approach that analyzes property rights as being responsive to the needs of human beings in particular times and places is urged instead. To the extent that such analysis results in the recognition of new Aboriginal rights, including Aboriginal dominion, it may help to bring Canada in line with international norms, as embodied in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other instruments, and may contribute to achievement of the ultimate goal of Canadian Aboriginal law: reconciliation.

New directions contained in section 2(2) of the Canada National Parks Act 2000 and section 4 of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Conservation Act 1987 pose a strong challenge to the 21st century concept of the national park. Section 2(2) states: “For greater certainty, nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to abrogate from the protection provided for existing aboriginal or treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada by the recognition and affirmation of those rights in section 35 of the Constitution Act 1982”. Section 35 reads: “The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.” In Aotearoa New Zealand, section 4 of the Conservation Act 1987 (the umbrella statute to the National Parks Act 1980) states: “This Act shall so be interpreted and administered as to give effect to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi”. These sections demand respect for Indigenous peoples and their relationships with land encased in national parks. This challenge frames the primary questions explored in this study. They are: if there is a new commitment to recognising Indigenous peoples in law, what ought this to mean in the context of owning and managing national parks? Or, to situate the question more theoretically, and examine it through the lens of law and geography: if law made colonial space permissible, what are the implications if contemporary law recalibrates its orientation to space and belatedly recognises Indigenous place? Interwoven into exploring these core questions are themes of national identity, peoples’ connections to land, the resilience of Indigenous laws, and the power of state law to re-imagine its foundations. Legislation, case law, and national park policy plans constitute the mainstay of the primary sources for this study. This thesis concludes by observing that while significant legislative and policy movement has occurred in recognising the special relationship Indigenous peoples have with lands within national parks, the process of reimagining healthier relationships has only just begun. Law needs to shift significantly more towards recognising Indigenous place and, in turn, Indigenous knowledge systems to achieve full and final reconciliation. / Graduate

This study offers an exploration of the drama which contains Aboriginal people's effort to attain a visible reality based on cultural and political rights. It is also a deeper understanding of the empowering and disempowering Indigenes in the discursive domain as well as in the existential reality. Though the study considers a large number of playtexts written by the Indigenous playwrights from 1970s to the present, it explores playtexts written by non-Indigenous playwrights as well. Here, the chief concern is to explore the discursive features of the texts, the items both linguistic and dramatic that tend to place or exclude Aboriginal people from discourses. Such a consideration may very well go beyond the periodic consideration of the plays. The Aboriginal theatre movement started in the 1970s serves as the complete reconceptualisation of Aboriginality in terms of centering Aboriginal Identity and culture in the dominant discursive domain. Such an intervention may involve the recovery of Aboriginal history from the dominant history of Australia and infusing positive attributes to Indigenes' identity. It also provides force in their existential reality. Freed from submission to the dominant's prescription, the drama appears as an alternative formula, but a rigorously vibrant medium of contestation in which history, identity, culture, politics and reality are endlessly expressive and persuasive. Keeping with the need to expose the complexity of the process of empowering and disempowering Indigenes, I read the discursive strategies employed in a selection of playtexts. The empowering drama adds dignity to Aboriginal people's gesture of friendship and goodwill and contrasts with the representation of aggressive colonial one. The drama exposes the encounter between negative and positive features in the representation of Aboriginality, thereby suggesting fighting against the authoritative design involves the representation of Indigenes in their terms. The most significant element the empowering drama contributes is its ability to capture the experience of the struggle of Indigenes to survive since colonisation. Aboriginal drama focuses more on the strategies to unsettle the dominant system than on the social order and the context. The final paradox is the act of inclusion and exclusion of Indigenes to/from the dominant theatrical discourses that indicate a fine line between empowerment and disempowerment.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-130). Also available via the World Wide Web.