We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.
The study of Indigenous law is uniquely interdisciplinary. In addition to legal materials, a researcher must draw upon scholarship and research from many disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, history, political science, and from cultural and artistic works in order to effectively understand and address the legal issues. The Bora Laskin Law Library’s Indigenous Perspectives Collection provides access to books and audio-visual materials representing Indigenous perspectives across a number of disciplines. This broad collection allows scholars to work in one library with both the legal materials and the interdisciplinary scholarship that informs and interprets the legal materials.
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"Today the First Nations are demanding a new recognition of their place in Canada.
"The story of James Sewid, a twentieth-century Kwakiutl Indian Chieftain, brings to life the experience of one man caught in conflict as the traditional Kwakiutl culture gave way to the demands of an expanding Western society in British Columbia.
"In February 1992, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples issued a commentary entitled The Right of Aboriginal Self-Government and the Constitution.
"Since the 1950s the federal government has mounted a series of initiatives to address the social, economic, and political marginality of Canadian Natives.
"Peter Pitseolak, the first native Baffin Island photographer, was born in the eastern Canadian Arctic in 1902. As a child he lived the nomadic camp life his ancestors had known, but during his lifetime missionaries, fur traders, law, government, schools, and alcohol came to Baffin Island.
"Resource development and Aboriginal land rights are issues that have been prominent in law and policy in Australia for the last quarter century. The problem has been to achieve a resolution of the conflict that they have engendered.
"This paper was commissioned by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples to provide a summary of the proceedings of the National Round Table on Aboriginal Health and Social Issues, held in Vancouver March 10-12, 1993.
"In this book, author Brian Goehring introduces the Indigenous Peoples of the world, describing who they are, where they live, looking at similarities in their history and future challenges.
"Collection of 11 essays that examine the implications and ramifications of the Mabo decision on Australia and its law.
"This work brings together a collection of essays on the Mabo decisions. The essays presented here reflect a wide range of viewpoints and combine to provide a work that makes a significant contribution to the debate surrounding this important decision.
"The author challenges the myth of trade dependence which has pervaded histories of this period, by proving the superiority of native weapons over matchlock muskets. A fascinating argument on a contentious ethno-historical issue." -- Provided by publisher
"Recent media attention on the dire living conditions of the Innu in Davis Inlet, Labrador, has served as a stark reminder of the tragic outcome of Canadian government policy toward the Inuit in the eastern Arctic between 1939 and 1963.
"Under the editorial direction of Jack Woodward, this work continues to bring together a timely consolidation of the significant statutes, regulations and treaties that have an impact on the area of native law.
"Aboriginal Ontario: Historical Perspectives on the First Nations contains seventeen essays on aspects of the history of the First Nations living within the present-day boundaries of Ontario.
"Most Seneca and Tuscarora Indians today live in New York State the Senecas from time immemorial and the Tuscaroras since the late 1700s, when they moved north from North Carolina, forced out by whites. These two tribes are the westernmost members of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.
"Among the most dynamic Aboriginal peoples in western Canada today are the Ojibwa, who have played an especially vital role in the development of an Aboriginal political voice at both levels of government.
"On 1 November 1990, the government of Alberta enacted legislation to enable Métis ownership and government of Alberta's Métis settlement lands. This book explores the legislative history of the Métis settlements and constitutional issues arising from Alberta's initiative.
"For more than 300 years, the true Canadian North (north of the 60th parallel) was ruled either as a private fiefdom of the Hudson's Bay Company or as a far-off colony of Ottawa.
"Religious ceremonies were an inseparable part of Aboriginal traditional life, reinforcing social, economic, and political values.
"Pipemakers: The Story of Creating the Sacred Peace Pipes DVD is a 38-minute award-winning documentary of the few remaining Native Americans who create the sacred stone Peace Pipes. Digging through 12 feet of solid rock with hand tools they mine the sacred red pipestone.