Aboriginal Law Powerpoint

Question 1

What is Aboriginal Law?

Answer 1

The body of law made by courts and legislatures that deals with constitutional rights of Aboirignal peoples and their relationship with the Crown

Question 2

What is the Royal Proclamation?

Answer 2

Document issued by King George III in 1763 to officially claim British territory in North America.

It set out guidelines for European settlement in North America

Question 3

What did the Royal Proclamation state about Aboriginal title?

Answer 3

That Aboriginal title has existed and continues to exist and that all land would be considered Aboriginal land until ceded by treaty.

It forbade settlers from claiming land until bought by Crown - only the Crown could buy land

Question 4

Is the Royal Proclamation still valid?

Answer 4

Yes, it is enshrined in Section 25 of the Constitution Act and states that nothing can terminate or diminish the Aboriginal rights outlined in the Proclamation

Question 5

What has the Province of BC maintained in regards to the Royal Proclamation?

Answer 5

That it does not apply to BC since it had not been settled by the British when it was issued in 1763

Question 6

What is the Indian Act?

Answer 6

• A Canadian federal law enacted in 1876 that governs in matters pertaining to Indian status, bands, and reserves.
• It authorizes the Federal Gov to regulate and administer in the affairs and day-to-day lives of registered Indians and reserve communities

Question 7

What is the range of authority of the Indian Act?

Answer 7

• Political control, such as imposing governing structures on Aboriginal communities
• Control over rights of Indians to practice their culture and traditions
• Authority to define who qualifies as Indian in the form of Indian status

Question 8

How is the Indian Act administered?

Answer 8

By INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada)

Question 9

What did the Indian Act originally intend to do?

Answer 9

It sought to assimilate Indian people in Canadian society by encouraging voluntary enfranchisement (terminating Indian status and conferring full Canadian citizenship)

Question 10

Did the Indian Act regard the interests of Aboriginal peoples?

Answer 10

No, it uniformly made them wards of the state

Question 11

What was the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869?

Answer 11

• It established the elective band council system that remains in the Indian Act
• Severlely restricted governing powers of band councils and alcohol consumption
• Established gender-based restrictions

Question 12

What does the Indian Act define an Indian as?

Answer 12

First: any male person of Indian blood reputed to belong to a band

Second: Any child of such person

Third: Any owman who is or was lawfully married to such person

Question 13

How were women treated in the definition of an Indian?

Answer 13

Their status depended entirely on marriage to a male.

If enfranchised (marrying a non-Indian male for example), they would be unable to pass along Indian status or remaining a part of their communities

Question 14

What was the Potlach Law?

Answer 14

A federal law in 1884 that banned potlaches, an important cermemony for coastal first nations

Question 15

What was Section 141 of the Indian Act?

Answer 15

It outlawed the hiring of lawyers and legal counsel by Indians

Question 16

What did the 1951 revisions to the Indian Act do?

Answer 16

• Made it no longer illegal for Indians to practice their customs and culture
• Allowed to gamble
• Allowed to appear off-reserve in ceremonial dress
• Allowed to ogranize and hire legal counsel
• Women could vote in band councils

Question 17

What was PM Trudeau’s White Paper proposal in 1969?

Answer 17

To abolish the Indian Act with the intention of Indians becoming like other Canadian citizens

Question 18

Did the Aboriginal people agree with the White Paper proposal?

Answer 18

No, they felt assimilating would not the means to equality, and that even the problematic Indian Act still provided them a legal distinction

Question 19

What was Bill C31?

Answer 19

• Women were greatly disadvantaged by Section 12 which would remove their status if they married a non-Indian man
• The UN identified this, and the Canadian government ammended the Indian Act in 1985 to allow those who lost status to regain it

Question 20

Why should the Indian Act not be abolished?

Answer 20

• It provides historical and legal significance for Aboriginal peoples
• It acknowledges and affirms the unique relationship Aboriginal peoples have with Canada

Question 21

What did Section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act in 1977 do?

Answer 21

It specifically prohibited First Nations people from filing an official complaint that the Indian Act was a human rights violation.

It was repealed in 2008 by Parliament

Question 22

What is Section 35 of the Constitution Act?

Answer 22

The part of the Constitution Act that affirms Aboriginal rights and recognizes them as “existing”

Question 23

What is unique about Section 35 of the Constitution Act?

Answer 23

It falls outside the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and is thereby exempt from the Notwithstanding Clause

Question 24

What are Aboriginal Rights?

Answer 24

• collective rights which flow from Aboriginal peoples’ continued use and occupation of certain areas
• inherent rights practiced before European contact
• Rights to land
• Rights to subsistence resources and activities
• Right self-determination and self government
• Right to practice one’s own culture and customs
• Right to enter into treaties

Question 25

What is Aboriginal Title?

Answer 25

Refers to inherent Aboriginal right to land or territory

Question 26

What was the first court case to acknowledge the continued existence of Aboriginal title?

Answer 26

The BC Calder decision of 1973