The Tricksters Speak: Klooscap and Wesakechak, Indigenous Law, and the New Brunswick Land Use Negotiation
In 2015, the University of New Brunswick hosted the Kawaskimhon Talking Circle Moot. The moot problem was based on the case of Buctouche First Nation v. New Brunswick. The applicant First Nation applied to the courts for an injunction opposing the New Brunswick government’s forest strategy. The fore...
| Published in: | McGill Law Journal |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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McGill Law Journal / Revue de droit de McGill
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.7202/1038494ar http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1038494ar |
| Summary: | In 2015, the University of New Brunswick hosted the Kawaskimhon Talking Circle Moot. The moot problem was based on the case of Buctouche First Nation v. New Brunswick. The applicant First Nation applied to the courts for an injunction opposing the New Brunswick government’s forest strategy. The forest strategy increased the annual harvesting of softwood timber while reducing the area of Crown-protected conservation forest.Participants were assigned clients and asked to represent these clients’ interests and perspectives. This article presents the argument made on behalf of the Council of Traditional Elders and Chiefs of the Mi’kmaq peoples. Their interests consist of protecting the traditional lands of the Mi’kmaq people while recognizing that the Mi’kmaq have a legal duty to the forests upon which they depend. The argument is presented as a dialogue between two Indigenous tricksters—Klooscap (a Mi’kmaq trickster) and Wesakechak (a Cree trickster). The tricksters advance their position using Mi’kmaq law. In particular, the tricksters focus on the environmental and constitutional principle of netukulimk. Netukulimk is a theory of sustainability that is offered as an alternative framework to the colonial laws that currently dominate Canadian Aboriginal legal issues. The use of Mi’kmaq law presents opportunities for self-governance by recognizing and applying Mi’kmaq legal obligations to the natural world.This article concludes with a brief commentary on the application of Indigenous law in this fictionalized context and its future as an influence on and alternative to Canadian Aboriginal law. Le concours de plaidoirie Kawaskimhon fut tenu en 2015 à l’Université du Nouveau-Brunswick. La trame factuelle s’inspirait d’une affaire réelle: Buctouche First Nation v. New Brunswick. La Première nation requérante appliquait aux tribunaux pour obtenir une injonction opposant la stratégie forestière du gouvernement du Nouveau-Brunswick ayant augmenté la récolte annuelle de bois d’oeuvre et réduit la superficie des aires de ... |
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