Introduction[1]

Canada's law accepts that aboriginal peoples have occupied its territory. That territory has been the subject of European settlement for over 400 years. Its institutional history runs back in an unbroken line to the medieval constitution of England. A flurry of constitutional change occurred in Canada just over two decades ago. Part of that change, driven by early litigation relating to aboriginal rights, was the decision to recognize and affirm aboriginal and treaty rights in the Constitution of Canada. In doing so, Canada, knowingly or otherwise, accepted that its law would ...