First Nation Sovereignty Movements ( C anada)
Abstract Most of British Columbia is Aboriginal territory. It is Aboriginal territory because indigenous peoples have never ceded their land or rights via treaties. According to the 1763 Royal Proclamation, treaty‐making is the only way the crown (or government) can acquire territory. Despite this l...
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| Format: | Other/Unknown Material |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2013
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470674871.wbespm287 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9780470674871.wbespm287 |
| Summary: | Abstract Most of British Columbia is Aboriginal territory. It is Aboriginal territory because indigenous peoples have never ceded their land or rights via treaties. According to the 1763 Royal Proclamation, treaty‐making is the only way the crown (or government) can acquire territory. Despite this legal rule, the government in British Columbia has sold Aboriginal land, and rights to the resources contained on this land, to third party interests, with the justification that this land is “crown” land. The ongoing situation in British Columbia provides one example of the grievances of First Nations peoples in Canada. Elsewhere in the country, both federal and provincial governments have also sold indigenous people's land and resources to third‐party interests, expropriated land for roads, military bases, and military training exercises, failed to provide adequate compensation for land use, as well as failed to provide sufficiently for housing, health, and education as spelled out in the terms of the Indian Act. Indeed, since 1973 although hundreds of claims have been formally submitted to the federal Claims Commission, an average of only four per year are settled (Ramos 2006). |
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