Aboriginal Women, Justice and the Charter: Bridging the Divide?

This article focuses on the issue of victims' rights and addresses the extent to which the rights of Aboriginal women are protected when they are victims of violence. The article begins with a review of traditional Aboriginal systems of justice that addressed male violence against women and draws comparisons to the current practices in the Canadian judicial system. The article then moves to focus on the potential for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to protect victims' rights and reviews the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Canada on this issue. The author concludes that the equality provisions of the Charter would potentially not be necessary within an Aboriginal system of justice which offered greater protection to the rights of victims. [Descriptors: Indigenous Women, Canada]