Acceso usuarios
Larry Chartrand
This paper discusses the nature of Indigenous peoples’ social order systems and highlights some fundamental “legal” principles that perhaps exemplify many Indigenous nation’s legal traditions to a greater or lesser degree depending on the particular nation. They are:
The Principle of Progress as Renewal, The Principle of Balance, The Principle of Life-Wide Legal Agency Equality, and The Principle of Decentralized Normativity and Decision-making.
In discussing these principles, the author through his own personal experiences and connection to traditional teachings, reveals the interconnectedness of indigenous legal thought and spirituality and how there is really no essential distinction between the two concepts. The point is also made that the legal cultures of Indigenous and Western societies may be different in nature, process and structure than European-based social order systems, but they were and are no less effective. In addition, the paper discusses issues concerning the right to assert control over justice and legal order within Indigenous communities. It identifies concerns with a domestic Aboriginal rights approach and prefers to ground the claim in the paradigm of international human rights instruments which are significantly less colonial and discriminatory than Canada’s Aboriginal rights jurisprudence. The paper ends with some thoughts on strategies for renewal of Indigenous legal thought, principles and processes so that the Eagle can fly freely once more.
