Power, resistance and the law in a British Columbia land title trial ...

• Main Author: Solnick, Tim
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2008
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0086646; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0086646

In Canada the law and the law courts have played and continue to play a prominent part in First Nations struggles for self-government and for their land. As such, the role of law demands assessment. Is the legalization of these struggles working to diffuse the efforts of the First Nations? Or do the law and the courts facilitate the process of decolonization in Canada? In this thesis, I investigate these questions with respect to a 1992 British Columbia Supreme Court trial, Delgamuukw v. Province of British Columbia and the Attorney-General of Canada. In this case, the Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en First Nations sued the province of British Columbia for ownership and jurisdiction of their territories. Analysing this trial, I suggest first, that the practices and procedures of the legal process reinforced colonialist power relations. The decision to the trial configures strategies of colonization with legal knowledge practices, and re-writes the Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en struggle for their land into legal question ...