Who can credibly speak for a First Nation? A contentious question, but an important one to answer in Canada as disputes over governance, land rights, and infrastructure projects are persistent.
Authors Malcom Lavoie and Moira (Wolstenholme) Lavoie of the University of Alberta explore this question of constitutional law in their paper Indigenous Institutions and the Rule of Indigenous Law.
The early-2020 Wet’suwet’en dispute over the Coastal GasLink pipeline is taken as a case study to explore Indigenous institution building in the wake of colonialism.
And while the complete elimination of disputes over resource development or other issues isn’t a realistic outcome, the paper’s authors believe that building up effective and legitimate Indigenous governance institutions will at least provide clear parameters to how an effective resolution may be achieved.
The alignment of Indigenous values with robust governance institutions is crucial so that Indigenous law may be integrated effectively into the Canadian legal heritage. What this means in practice may vary from community to community. There is no one-size-fits all approach that will be effective.
As the authors state: “The rule of Indigenous law will look different from one community to the next. But Indigenous led institution-building aligned with Indigenous values will ultimately benefit all Canadians.”
