Not long after I became a lawyer, I found myself one sunny day in a standoff on the edge of the Thompson River in Nlaka’pamux territory in the interior of British Columbia. Two clients and I were toe to toe with three government officials. No one spoke. The only sounds were the rushing water of the river in freshet and a woodpecker’s hammering on a nearby tree.
While the anger and frustration engulfing our small group was palpable, stronger still was my clients’ resolve. It was their land. It was their responsibility to care for the river, the fish, the birds and the plants. Regardless of what happened in that moment, they would not concede, they would not back down.
Writing the essays in this book has been my attempt to use the development of the law around Indigenous rights in Canada over the last ten years to capture that moment in time, to help explain the legal and historical forces that created it and, hopefully, to suggest a way forward based on honesty and respect. Although all the essays are grounded in my knowledge of Canadian constitutional law and Canadian history, they are written for non-lawyers. Most began as opinion pieces and case comments I shared with clients, colleagues and a wider audience across Canada and around the world.
When I set out to put together this collection, I considered rewriting many of these essays with the benefit of hindsight. But I quickly realized this would deprive them of their value. By respecting their historical embeddedness and adding short addendums where helpful, I hope these essays capture how the development of Canadian Aboriginal law over the last ten years has simultaneously supported and thwarted the recognition of Indigenous rights and legal orders.
I have always believed there is much more to being an Indigenous rights lawyer than arguing cases in court. Being part of the national dialogue is just as important. This collection is my contribution to that dialogue. I hope all readers, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, find in it a moment that resonates with their personal history, with their values and aspirations, with their conscience and responsibilities. The possibility of resolving the standoff is born in that moment.