Gordon Christie

For centuries, Canadian sovereignty has existed uneasily alongside forms of Indigenous legal and political authority. Canadian Law and Indigenous Self-Determination demonstrates how, over the last few decades, Canadian law has attempted to remove Indigenous sovereignty from the Canadian legal and social landscape. Adopting a naturalist analysis, Gordon Christie responds to questions about how to theorize this legal phenomenon, and how the study of law should accommodate the presence of diverse perspectives. Exploring the socially-constructed nature of Canadian law, Christie reveals how legal meaning, understood to be the outcome of a specific society, is being reworked to devalue the capacities of Indigenous societies.

Addressing liberal positivism and critical postcolonial theory, Canadian Law and Indigenous Self-Determination considers the way in which Canadian jurists, working within a world circumscribed by liberal thought, have deployed the law in such a way as to attempt to remove Indigenous meaning-generating capacity.

Reviews
"Thought-provoking and robust, Canadian Law and Indigenous Self-Determination is likely to be a flag-ship in theorizing on indigenous-state relations. Gordon Christie situates himself squarely within the debates he describes and critiques, something that few legal theorists attempt. This book is remarkable in its originality and in my view a triumph." - Kirsty Gover, Melbourne School of Law, The University of Melbourne

"Clearly and carefully argued, Canadian Law and Indigenous Self-Determination is an original, analytically incisive, and important contribution to our understanding of the development of Aboriginal rights by the courts since 1982." - James Tully, Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Law and Philosophy, University of Victoria

Educator Information
Table of Contents
Introduction: A Journey in Making Sense

1. Setting the Stage
2. Canadian Law and Its Puzzles
3. Differing Understandings and the Way Forward
4. Remarks on Theorizing and Method
5. Problems with Theorizing About the Law
6. Liberal Positivism and Aboriginal Rights: Defining and Establishing ‘Existing’ Rights
7. Liberal Positivism and Aboriginal Rights: Making Sense of the Place of Aboriginal Rights in Canada
8. Postcolonial Theory and Aboriginal Law

Conclusion

Bibliography
Texts
Articles

Additional Information
528 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"