Resource Law

"In the late nineteenth century, to the alarm of government conservationists, the North American plains bison population collapsed. Yet large herds of other big game animals still roamed the Northwest Territories, and Aboriginal people depended on them for food and clothing.

"In Our Nationhood, Aboriginal filmmaker and artist Alanis Obomsawin chronicles the determination and tenacity of the Listuguj Mi'gmaq people to use and manage the natural resources of their traditional lands. Our Nationhood provides a contemporary perspective on the Mi'gmaq people's ongoing struggle and ultimate success, culminating in the community receiving an award for Best Managed River from the same government that had denied their traditional rights." -- Provided by filmmaker

"Kiumajut [Talking Back]: Game Management and Inuit Rights 1900-70 examines Inuit relations with the Canadian state, with a particular focus on two interrelated issues. The first is how a deeply flawed set of scientific practices for counting animal populations led policymakers to develop policies and laws intended to curtail the activities of Inuit hunters. Animal management informed by this knowledge became a justification for attempts to educate and, ultimately, to regulate Inuit hunters. The second issue is Inuit responses to the emerging regime of government intervention.

"During the winter since times predating agriculture, the Cree of Mistassini have gone to the bush of the James and Ungava Bay area to hunt. Three hunting families agreed to meet an NFB crew, who filmed the building of the winter camp, the hunting, the relationship to the land, and the rhythms of Cree family life. This sensitive film expresses Cree beliefs and the ecological principles that are the foundation of their lives." -- Back cover

"The James Bay Cree lived in relative isolation until 1970, when Northern Quebec was swept up in the political and cultural changes of the Quiet Revolution. The ensuing years have brought immense change for the Cree, who now live with the consequences of Quebec’s massive development of hydroelectricity, timber, and mineral resources in the North.

"Power Struggles: Hydro Development and First Nations in Manitoba and Quebec examines the evolution of new agreements between First Nations and Inuit and the hydro corporations in Quebec and Manitoba, including the Wuskwatim Dam Project, Paix des Braves, and the Great Whale Project. In the 1970s, both provinces signed so-called “modern treaties” with First Nations for the development of large hydro projects in Aboriginal territories.

"The First Nations who have lived in the Great Lakes watershed have been strongly influenced by the imposition of colonial and national boundaries there. The essays in Lines Drawn upon the Water examine the impact of the Canadian—American border on communities, with reference to national efforts to enforce the boundary and the determination of local groups to pursue their interests and define themselves.

"Landing Native Fisheries reveals the contradictions and consequences of an Indian land policy premised on access to fish, on one hand, and a program of fisheries management intended to open the resource to newcomers, on the other. Beginning with the first treaties signed on Vancouver Island between 1850 and 1854, Douglas Harris maps the connections between the colonial land policy and the law governing the fisheries.

"A collaborative effort from attorney general offices faced daily with legal questions involving state and tribal relations, the American Indian Law Deskbook, Fourth Edition is an up-to-date, comprehensive treatise on Indian law. The Deskbook provides readers with the necessary historical and legal framework to understand the complexities faced by states, Indian tribes, and the federal government in Indian country.

Included are:

"The first in-depth, interdisciplinary study of Native water rights issues in Canada.
Economic developments in irrigation, agriculture, and hydroelectric power generation in western Canada at the turn of the last century challenged the way Native peoples had traditionally managed the watershed environment. Facing rapidly expanding provincial and federal power as well as private industries, Native peoples saw opportunities to protect their self-governing rights and explore reserve-based economy.