This thesis argues that the Ned'u'ten, an indigenous people, have the right to decolonize and self-determine their political and legal status at the international level. The Ned'u'ten are currently negotiating a new relationship with Canada and are considering various treaty models to achieve this goal. This thesis advocates principles for a peace treaty model that accomplishes both Ned'u'ten decolonization and self-determination. The first chapter of this thesis demonstrates that indigenous perspectives in legal culture are diverse and not homogeneous. My Ned'u'ten perspective on treaty-making contributes to these perspectives. The second chapter challenges the legitimacy of the Canadian state, over Ned'u'ten subjects and territories. This is accomplished through the rejection of dispossession doctrines that Canada has used to justify colonial and oppressive practices against the Ned'u'ten. Decolonization principles are prescribed in this chapter. The third chapter takes a historical view of the right to self-determination and shows how state practice, indigenous peoples' participation, and international scholars have attempted to articulate the scope and content of this right in the contemporary context of indigenous self-determination. A Ned'u'ten self-determination framework is proposed based on indigenous formulations of the right to self-determination. Self-determination principles are also prescribed in this chapter. The final chapter compares two cases where indigenous peoples in Canada are attempting to create a new relationship with the state: the James Bay Cree and "First Nations" in the British Columbia Treaty Commission Process. This comparison will show that the degree of participation that indigenous peoples have in implementing their rights to self-determination, will determine the parameters of any new relationship that indigenous peoples create with the state. Negotiating principles are prescribed for a Ned'u'ten-Canada relationship as well as a peace treaty process to accomplish this goal. It is my thesis that the Ned'u'ten and Canada can achieve a peaceful and balanced relationship through the peace treaty model I propose.

This thesis argues that the Ned'u'ten, an indigenous people, have the right to decolonize and self-determine their political and legal status at the international level. The Ned'u'ten are currently negotiating a new relationship with Canada and are considering various treaty models to achieve this goal. This thesis advocates principles for a peace treaty model that accomplishes both Ned'u'ten decolonization and self-determination. The first chapter of this thesis demonstrates that indigenous perspectives in legal culture are diverse and not homogeneous. My Ned'u'ten perspective on treaty-making contributes to these perspectives. The second chapter challenges the legitimacy of the Canadian state, over Ned'u'ten subjects and territories. This is accomplished through the rejection of dispossession doctrines that Canada has used to justify colonial and oppressive practices against the Ned'u'ten. Decolonization principles are prescribed in this chapter. The third chapter takes a historical view of the right to self-determination and shows how state practice, indigenous peoples' participation, and international scholars have attempted to articulate the scope and content of this right in the contemporary context of indigenous self-determination. A Ned'u'ten self-determination framework is proposed based on indigenous formulations of the right to self-determination. Self-determination principles are also prescribed in this chapter. The final chapter compares two cases where indigenous peoples in Canada are attempting to create a new relationship with the state: the James Bay Cree and "First Nations" in the British Columbia Treaty Commission Process. This comparison will show that the degree of participation that indigenous peoples have in implementing their rights to self-determination, will determine the parameters of any new relationship that indigenous peoples create with the state. Negotiating principles are prescribed for a Ned'u'ten-Canada relationship as well as a peace treaty process to accomplish this goal. It is my thesis that the Ned'u'ten and Canada can achieve a peaceful and balanced relationship through the peace treaty model I propose. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

Neither currently prevalent justifications of punishment, nor a modified, contractarian version of a justification that I develop here, can be used to justify actual state punishment, even if some forms of punishment may remain legitimate. I argue in this thesis that alternative punitive practices such as developed by some Canadian aboriginal communities are more likely to conform to the criteria of punitive justice developed by standard justifications, as well as being more likely to conform to criteria developed in feminist ethics.

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This thesis analyses the past and present realities of the rights of Indigenous peoples in Chile and Canada from a comparative perspective. In Chapter I, the author explains the international human rights and Indigenous peoples' law that provide the theoretical framework behind this study. The political and territorial rights that different international forums have acknowledged to these peoples in recent years are identified. The methodology used in the elaboration of this study, which includes the analysis of documentary data, the case study and the interview methods, is explained. The author describes the objective of this study, characterizing it as applied social research aimed at providing information that can be useful for the transformation process in which the peoples that are subject of this study are involved. In Chapters II and III, the author analyses the rights of Indigenous peoples in Chile and Canada respectively from pre-contact until today. The central aspects of their pre-contact cultures and organizations are described. The author also describes main characteristics of the relationships that were established with Indigenous peoples by the Spanish in Chile and by the French and the English in Canada, and later by the states in the two contexts. Special importance is given to those changes recently introduced in the Indigenous-state relationship in both contexts, focusing on their implications for these peoples' rights. In Chapter IV, the author attempts to expand upon the past and present situation of the Indigenous peoples who live in what is now Canada and Chile by including a case study related to each context: the Pehuenche people of the Alto Bio Bio in Chile and the Nisga'a people of the Nass Valley in Canada. In the last Chapter of this thesis (V) the author concludes that, notwithstanding the changes introduced in recent years in the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Chilean and Canadian states, many and significant problems still impede their ability to enjoy the rights they claim. The author acknowledges, nevertheless, that Indigenous peoples in Canada, through different means, including negotiation and litigation, have achieved a much broader recognition of their political and territorial rights today than have the Indigenous peoples in Chile. The legal, political, cultural and economic factors that explain these differences are also highlighted in this final Chapter.

This thesis analyses the past and present realities of the rights of Indigenous peoples in Chile and Canada from a comparative perspective. In Chapter I, the author explains the international human rights and Indigenous peoples' law that provide the theoretical framework behind this study. The political and territorial rights that different international forums have acknowledged to these peoples in recent years are identified. The methodology used in the elaboration of this study, which includes the analysis of documentary data, the case study and the interview methods, is explained. The author describes the objective of this study, characterizing it as applied social research aimed at providing information that can be useful for the transformation process in which the peoples that are subject of this study are involved. In Chapters II and III, the author analyses the rights of Indigenous peoples in Chile and Canada respectively from pre-contact until today. The central aspects of their pre-contact cultures and organizations are described. The author also describes main characteristics of the relationships that were established with Indigenous peoples by the Spanish in Chile and by the French and the English in Canada, and later by the states in the two contexts. Special importance is given to those changes recently introduced in the Indigenous-state relationship in both contexts, focusing on their implications for these peoples' rights. In Chapter IV, the author attempts to expand upon the past and present situation of the Indigenous peoples who live in what is now Canada and Chile by including a case study related to each context: the Pehuenche people of the Alto Bio Bio in Chile and the Nisga'a people of the Nass Valley in Canada. In the last Chapter of this thesis (V) the author concludes that, notwithstanding the changes introduced in recent years in the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Chilean and Canadian states, many and significant problems still impede their ability to enjoy the rights they claim. The author acknowledges, nevertheless, that Indigenous peoples in Canada, through different means, including negotiation and litigation, have achieved a much broader recognition of their political and territorial rights today than have the Indigenous peoples in Chile. The legal, political, cultural and economic factors that explain these differences are also highlighted in this final Chapter. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

In this work, I introduce the concept of identity, outline its importance, and argue in favour of a post-modem conception of identity, underpinned by the principles of contestation, anti-essentialism and hybridity. This notion of identity, which is supported by both theoretical and case evidence, is in tension with the practices of the courts, which are often asked to make determinations that impact identities. The court's conventions and practices privilege a modernist notion of identity; given these restrictions, how are post-modern identities, such as the Metis, to be recognized? Using the case ofK v. Powley, / explore the possibilities and openings for a post-modern concept of identity to be realized in the courts. While there are conflicts and restrictions, judges, courts and the law demonstrate sufficient flexibility to allow for post-modern principles to be realized. I conclude by arguing that the courts should go further in developing a post-modern conception of identity in their work, and explore the issues and implications of doing so. I also reflect on the broader question this work presents, namely the role of the law and the possibilities for change therein. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The aim of this thesis is to reveal the need for a principled framework that would establish an effective implementation of the aboriginal peoples' right to self-government in Canada. In recent decades, many agreements instituting the right to self-government of First Nations have been concluded between the federal and provincial governments and aboriginal peoples. It then becomes important to evaluate the attempts of the two existing orders of government and the courts of Canada as regards the right to self-government and assess the potential usefulness of the two's efforts at defining and implementing the right. Firstly, the importance and legitimacy of the right to self-government is recognized through its beginnings in the human right norm of self-determination in international law to the establishment of the right in Canadian domestic law. Secondly, an evaluation of the principal attempts, on behalf of the governments and the courts, to give meaning and scope to the aboriginal right to self-government, which culminate in the conclusion of modern agreements, reveals their many inefficiencies and the need for a workable and concrete alternative. Lastly, the main lacunae of the negotiation process, the main process by which the right is concluded and implemented, and the use of the courts to determine the scope and protection of the right to self-government, are revealed. An analysis of European initiatives to entrench the right to self-government, mainly the European Charter of Self-Government and its established set of principles that guide the creation of self-government agreements, are also used in order to propose a viable option for the establishment of a principled framework for the aboriginal right to self-government in Canada.

This paper discusses the legal principles which are relevant in determining the appropriate level of compensation for infringements to aboriginal and treaty rights. This issue has been left open by the Supreme Court of Canada in the seminal case of Delgamuukw. The nature of aboriginal and treaty rights as well as the fiduciary relationship and duties of the Crown are briefly described. The basic constitutional context in which these rights evolve is also discussed, including the federal common law of aboriginal rights and the constitutional position of these rights in Canada. Having set the general context, the paper then reviews the legal principles governing the infringement of aboriginal and treaty rights, including the requirement for just compensation. Reviews of the legal principles applicable to compensation in cases of expropriation and of the experience in the United States in regards to compensation in cases of the taking of aboriginal lands are also carried out. Six basic legal principles relevant for determining appropriate compensation in cases of infringement to aboriginal and treaty rights are then suggested, justified and explained. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)