Aboriginal Title and Indigenous Peoples

Delgamuukw. Mabo. Ngati Apa. Recent cases have created a framework for litigating Aboriginal title in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This book brings together distinguished scholars who show that our understanding of where the concept of Aboriginal title came from – and where it may be going – can also be enhanced by exploring legal developments in these former British colonies in a comparative, multidisciplinary framework.

Contributors trace the role that courts and legislatures played in the extinguishment and acquisition of Aboriginal title and land. They then establish that although each country’s development was distinctive, common issues shaped – and continue to inform – indigenous peoples’ struggle for recognition. This path-breaking book offers a perspective on Aboriginal title that extends beyond national borders to consider similar developments in common law countries.

Louis A. Knafla is a professor emeritus of the Department of History and director of socio-legal studies at the University of Calgary. Haijo Westra is a professor of Greek and Roman studies at the University of Calgary.

Contributors: Brian Ballantyne, Paul L.A.H. Chartrand, Peter W. Hutchins, Kenichi Matsui, Kent McNeil, Nicolas Peterson, Arthur Ray, Bruce Rigsby, Jacinta Ruru, and David Yarrow

This collection offers a welcome contribution to the growing literature on comparative Indigenous rights frameworks…it should help stimulate further thinking that crosses national and disciplinary borders while addressing issues of interest to the Great Plains. --- The book is a major contribution to the widespread controversies over how the contemporary state and minority peoples/nations within it can come to an enduring rapprochement…the editors and contributors have produced a volume that should be on the bookshelf of every serious scholar studying Aboriginal issues.