The Caveless Mountains

The Caveless Mountains: A Recovery Narrative explores the effect trauma has on a victim with family, friends and himself. My thesis covers growth and redemption in a cyclical world of falling and rising. Narrative voice becomes a primary tool used to map the development of character. The validity of memory is also addressed. Along with validity, my thesis challenges the gaps between what is nonfiction and fiction. Surrealistic visions similar involving animals help foreground the fictionalized parts. This surrealism is influenced by Native stories. While the thesis is grounded in non-fiction, the animal sections trouble the boundaries between non-fiction and fiction. The Trickster-like figure that serves as an interlude between hospital and flashback scenes helps ground the reader into an Indigenous author and character. Setting serves as an obstacle that prevents the protagonist, Texis’ growth. Being so close with a developing character helps illustrate how little ‘grown-ups’ listen to those deemed childish, whether children or someone with a learning disability. Having Indigenous elements in a contemporary era helps bridge the gap between cultures

Investigating protein sources that the land and water provide to the Nlaka'pamux People

A variety of factors have contributed to the decrease in the number of salmon available to the Nlaka’pamux People. This has meant we have needed to seek additional sources of protein when we can’t get the salmon we need. Ungulate populations of deer, moose, and elk also provide protein to our people but we have been needing to get more of them in recent years due to the lack of salmon. As Chief Fred Sampson commented, “When we can’t get enough fish, we hang more meat.” Yet, there are a number of issues that have been hindering many Nlaka’pamux Peoples’ ability to obtain enough ungulate meat in our own territory. My research used household surveys and interviews with community members and hunters from Nlaka’pamux communities to identify their households’ use of deer, moose, elk, and salmon, and their ability to get, process, and preserve enough of each species. Their responses could help the Bands work towards ensuring the availability and access to adequate numbers of ungulates for our Food, Social, and Ceremonial (FSC) needs. My research shows there are a lack of ungulates available to the Nlaka’pamux People in our own territory due, in part, to the presence of too many other hunters, and the loss of ungulate habitat. This is due, in part, to the Provincial Government underestimating First Nations’ FSC needs. This underestimation has resulted in the government increasing the number of registered hunters and their ungulate harvests, thus competing with our people to get our FSC needs met. However, since 2017 the province has been changing how they engage with First Nations regarding wildlife management through a number of ways including the Together for Wildlife initiative; the provincial government’s Bill 41 – 2019: Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act to implement the UN Declaration (UNDRIP); and the Bill 14 amendment to the Wildlife Act to “advance collaboration and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples”. This research can help guide those consultative processes and enhance understanding between First Nations and the provincial government.Land and Food Systems, Faculty ofGraduat

Bringing water to the land : re-cognize-ing indigenous oral traditions and the laws embodied within them

This is a study of whether, in the introduction of Indigenous oral traditions as evidence in court, they are being in the complex cultural interplay that occurs in courts, and whether, given the central role of oral traditions in Indigenous cultures, the nature of Indigenous Peoples are being transformed in the process when their rights are adjudicated before the courts. Chapter 2 discusses the ways that the Supreme Court of Canada has defined s. 3 5 Aboriginal Title, Rights and Treaty Rights (as unlimited or lawless and therefore a danger to general public interests; assimilated into Canadian sovereignty; removing the source of these rights from the land in their legal definition; and, removing Indigenous laws from their definition). Chapter 3 examines the role that history has played in the legal interpretation of oral traditions, and argues that a primarily historical consideration obscures the alive, legal, and dynamic elements of oral traditions. Chapter 4 discusses the ways in which a methodology of suspicion has operated to reduce and diminish Indigenous oral traditions when they are introduced as evidence in court (rating them as faulty, light weight historic evidence while obscuring their legal content) through a survey of cases that have considered oral traditions at the trial level. Chapter 5 explores the devaluation of the Indigenous laws contained in oral traditions through an acceptance of the common sense assumption that Canadian conservation and safety laws are both rational and necessary. Chapter 6 argues that recognition (or denial) of Indigenous laws is politically contingent, and that despite limited legal recognition (in cases such as Delgamuukw v. B.C. and R. v. Van der Peef), these laws have yet to flow back onto the land, and are yet to be invigorated in Canadian law. There remains a lack of recognition of the legal content of oral traditions, and Indigenous jurisprudences risk being subsumed and transformed when they are introduced as evidence in Canadian courts.Law, Peter A. Allard School ofGraduat

Bringing water to the land : re-cognize-ing indigenous oral traditions and the laws embodied within them

This is a study of whether, in the introduction of Indigenous oral traditions as evidence in court, they are being in the complex cultural interplay that occurs in courts, and whether, given the central role of oral traditions in Indigenous cultures, the nature of Indigenous Peoples are being transformed in the process when their rights are adjudicated before the courts. Chapter 2 discusses the ways that the Supreme Court of Canada has defined s. 3 5 Aboriginal Title, Rights and Treaty Rights (as unlimited or lawless and therefore a danger to general public interests; assimilated into Canadian sovereignty; removing the source of these rights from the land in their legal definition; and, removing Indigenous laws from their definition). Chapter 3 examines the role that history has played in the legal interpretation of oral traditions, and argues that a primarily historical consideration obscures the alive, legal, and dynamic elements of oral traditions. Chapter 4 discusses the ways in which a methodology of suspicion has operated to reduce and diminish Indigenous oral traditions when they are introduced as evidence in court (rating them as faulty, light weight historic evidence while obscuring their legal content) through a survey of cases that have considered oral traditions at the trial level. Chapter 5 explores the devaluation of the Indigenous laws contained in oral traditions through an acceptance of the common sense assumption that Canadian conservation and safety laws are both rational and necessary. Chapter 6 argues that recognition (or denial) of Indigenous laws is politically contingent, and that despite limited legal recognition (in cases such as Delgamuukw v. B.C. and R. v. Van der Peef), these laws have yet to flow back onto the land, and are yet to be invigorated in Canadian law. There remains a lack of recognition of the legal content of oral traditions, and Indigenous jurisprudences risk being subsumed and transformed when they are introduced as evidence in Canadian courts

Bringing water to the land : re-cognize-ing indigenous oral traditions and the laws embodied within them

This is a study of whether, in the introduction of Indigenous oral traditions as evidence in court, they are being in the complex cultural interplay that occurs in courts, and whether, given the central role of oral traditions in Indigenous cultures, the nature of Indigenous Peoples are being transformed in the process when their rights are adjudicated before the courts. Chapter 2 discusses the ways that the Supreme Court of Canada has defined s. 3 5 Aboriginal Title, Rights and Treaty Rights (as unlimited or lawless and therefore a danger to general public interests; assimilated into Canadian sovereignty; removing the source of these rights from the land in their legal definition; and, removing Indigenous laws from their definition). Chapter 3 examines the role that history has played in the legal interpretation of oral traditions, and argues that a primarily historical consideration obscures the alive, legal, and dynamic elements of oral traditions. Chapter 4 discusses the ways in which a methodology of suspicion has operated to reduce and diminish Indigenous oral traditions when they are introduced as evidence in court (rating them as faulty, light weight historic evidence while obscuring their legal content) through a survey of cases that have considered oral traditions at the trial level. Chapter 5 explores the devaluation of the Indigenous laws contained in oral traditions through an acceptance of the common sense assumption that Canadian conservation and safety laws are both rational and necessary. Chapter 6 argues that recognition (or denial) of Indigenous laws is politically contingent, and that despite limited legal recognition (in cases such as Delgamuukw v. B.C. and R. v. Van der Peef), these laws have yet to flow back onto the land, and are yet to be invigorated in Canadian law. There remains a lack of recognition of the legal content of oral traditions, and Indigenous jurisprudences risk being subsumed and transformed when they are introduced as evidence in Canadian courts

National Indigenous Justice Summit - Panel 1 - Policing Reform

The National Indigenous Justice Summit was held online on 7 – 8 July, 2020. Indigenous thinkers, community leaders and grassroots activists convened to call for justice reform in Canada. In this panel, the Hon Marion Buller (Chief Commissioner of the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls) provides a keynote address. This panel also includes Professor Naiomi Metallic (Self-determined Policing in Indigenous Communities), Kekinusuqs Dr Judith Sayers (Systemic Changes in Indigenous Policing and UNDRIP), and Scott Robertson (10 immediate calls for action). This panel was chaired by Ardith Walpetko We’dalx Walkem

National Indigenous Justice Summit - Panel 1 - Policing Reform

The National Indigenous Justice Summit was held online on 7 – 8 July, 2020. Indigenous thinkers, community leaders and grassroots activists convened to call for justice reform in Canada. In this panel, the Hon Marion Buller (Chief Commissioner of the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls) provides a keynote address. This panel also includes Professor Naiomi Metallic (Self-determined Policing in Indigenous Communities), Kekinusuqs Dr Judith Sayers (Systemic Changes in Indigenous Policing and UNDRIP), and Scott Robertson (10 immediate calls for action). This panel was chaired by Ardith Walpetko We’dalx Walkem