This thesis argues that globalization is creating increased need and opportunities for Indigenous rights advocacy/participation within emerging institutions of global governance and analyzes the possibilities and limitations of Indigenous advocacy at the WTO, drawing on the experiences of First Nations from the Interior of British Columbia.
It begins by examining how governance is shifting in the context of globalization, pointing to the emergence of an integrated global economy, the rise of supranational regulatory regimes such as the WTO, and the increased power and significance of non-state actors.within the global political-legal arena. It then analyzes how globalization is affecting Indigenous peoples and moreover, how Indigenous peoples have been responding to this through transnational advocacy efforts. The author argues that given the shifting nature of governance, and the growing significance of intergovernmental organizations (i.e. the WTO), it is prudent for Indigenous rights advocates to expand the parameters of their advocacy - to seek out non-traditional spaces at both local and global levels to assert Indigenous voices where they have traditionally been rendered absent.
Adopting Boaventura de Sousa Santos' subaltern cosmopolitan legality perspective, the author then turns to examine how First Nations from the Interior of BC have used a multiplicity of legal techniques and strategies across a "plural legal landscape" to simultaneously assert their Indigenous rights over their forest resources and to challenge the dominant neoliberaI conception of economy. The author examines the political and legal mobilization of BC Interior First Nations from local acts of resistance against BC government forest policies to global acts of resistance vis a vis the submission of amicus curiae briefs to the WTO in the Canada-United States Softwood Lumber Dispute. In analyzing this struggle the author illustrates how globalization has created the need and opportunity for BC First Nations to locate new directions of advocacy, and how they have reinvented law to fit their objectives and enable their access to traditionally "closed" political-legal arenas.
Upon conducting an examination of the BC Interior First Nations' experiences, the author then critically evaluates the possibilities and limitations of Indigenous advocacy at the WTO. The author finds that while amicus curiae submissions provide some possibility to strengthen Indigenous rights by raising awareness about the linkages between international trade and Indigenous rights within the international trade arena, there are significant limitations that must be considered in pursuing such advocacy. The author concludes with recommendations concerning how Indigenous rights advocacy may be approached in the context of shifting governance relations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/2146 |
| Date | 03 February 2010 |
| Creators | Sankey, Jennifer |
| Contributors | Borrows, John, Webb, Michael C. |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
Page generated in 0.0016 seconds