No abstract

Recent global initiatives such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples have brought the issues facing and needs of indigenous peoples to the forefront of international attention. While underscoring respect for traditional practices, these initiatives have yet to appreciate fully the extent to which indigenous peoples’ practices engage ways of being, living and believing that encompass a holistic understanding of the relations between humans and all facets of their ecosystem. The Mi’kmaq, the indigenous people of Maritime Canada, capture and express their holistic understanding through the concept of Netukulimk. In this essay we review core attributes of Netukulimk. We also review key moments in the colonialization assault on Netukulimk as a primary means for subordinating and marginalizing the Mi’kmaq. We close the essay with an overview and discussion of recent developments wherein the Mi’kmaq are working to revitalize the place of Netukulimk in treaty-based rights and Mi’kmaq law-ways, particularly within self-governance and resource stewardship initiatives. The Mi’kmaq experiences provide insights regarding the challenges and requirements for achieving respect for traditional practices as key to affirming the rights of indigenous peoples.

In 1996 a provincial court was established at Eskasoni Mi'kmaq Community in Nova Scotia, Canada, in response to overwhelming evidence confirming the failures of the Canadian legal system to provide justice for Indigenous peoples, and as a specific recommendation of the Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall, Jr., Prosecution. Marshall, a Mi'kmaq wrongfully convicted of murder, served eleven years of a life sentence before proving his innocence. The importation of provincial legal culture into an Indigenous community creates tensions and contradictions surrounding the legitimacy, authenticity, and efficacy of Indigenous laws. The ontological conflicts that arise from the imposition of a justice system integrally linked with colonization, criminalization, and assimilation cannot be resolved through indigenization of court staff and administrative conveniences. The Mi'kmaq continue to assert their laws and articulate their legal consciousness against the co‐optation of dominant system, with mixed results.

Th e Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, and other Indigenous nations in Atlantic Canada were never idle; they have resisted colonial oppression for centuries. Prior to Confederation, they signed peace and friendship treaties. Post-Confederation, they petitioned the Crown to protect their treaty rights. 2 Th roughout the 1980s, Grand Council members made appeals to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. 3 Th en, the explosive Supreme Court of Canada decision in R v Marshall affi rmed Mi'kmaq treaty rights, a decision that sparked racist public outrage. 4 In response, Indigenous peoples and allies across Canada marched and organized protest fi sheries, but even now, fi ft een years later, the struggles for sovereign resource management and appropriate accommodation are yet to be resolved. Today, in a signifi cant return to matriarchal roots that were largely marginalized by colonialism, Indigenous women and their allies are on the front lines of political and cultural activism, shining light on critical social justice issues through peaceful protest. Th is comment explores the advent and actions of Idle No More in Atlantic Canada and pays particular attention to the role of women. Despite Supreme Court recognition of treaty rights, Indigenous nations of eastern Canada, in order to bring attention to the denial of hunting and fi shing rights and, more generally, of self-determination, have had to organize protest moose hunts, create blockades to protect sacred territories against unethical development, and shut down highways. 5 Th ese actions represent only a small sampling of all those that constitute the Idle No More (INM) legacy of resistance to injustice. Idle No More activities protect

No abstract