Beyond the Nass Valley: National Implications of the Supreme Court's Delgamuukw Decision

David Mardiros is a lawyer and anthropological consultant in Terrace,
British Columbia.

Although the Marshall case concerning aboriginal fishing rights has been
the subject of much academic and public comment of late, the Supreme
Court of Canada’s Delgamuukw decision, from 1997, will probably have a
greater long-term impact on Native rights in Canada. Whenever an issue
arises over the use and development of lands over which aboriginal
peoples have an unextinguished interest, Delgamuukw will have a profound
impact. With this decision the Supreme Court has, for the first time,
held that aboriginal peoples’ association with the land, based on
historical association or occupation, gives rise to proprietary rights
that must be considered when the lands are alienated or developed.

Some of the profound implications of this dramatic change in the rules
of engagement are set out in this edited volume containing the views of
a variety of contributors, including lawyers, academics, politicians and
aboriginal leaders. Aside from the breadth of perspective brought by its
diverse contributors, this book is notable for the range of regional
viewpoints represented. Delgamuukw originated in British Columbia, the
only province where the interests of aboriginal peoples were, until 10
years ago, never the subject of treaty negotiations. This volume
discusses the broad ramifications that the decision will have for other
regions of the country—the Prairies, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic
Canada. As the contributors set out, Delgamuukw—with its direction to
courts and policymakers that oral history must be considered when
interpreting the intentions of the aboriginal signatories to historical
treaty negotiations—opens up a range of issues that were long thought
to have been settled by the historical treaties negotiated in these
regions of Canada.

With the publication of this book, The Fraser Institute continues to
broaden its appeal for a general readership and away from its origins as
a conservative think tank with a limited, and predictable, perspective.
The contributors in this volume—ranging from a deputy minister of the
former British Columbia Social Credit government to one of the principal
litigants in the Delgamuukw court case—bring a range of perspectives
and opinions to bear on very difficult, and potentially divisive,
questions—questions that are likely to occupy Canadians for many years
to come.