Aboriginal Law & Indigenous Laws

This book explores the concept of justice through the eyes of six Omushkegowuk (Swampy Cree) Elders indigenous to northern Manitoba. The author presents a model of restorative justice based on the educational ideas, principles and practices of his people. The knowledge, philosophy, values and experience of the Omushkegowuk is succinctly drawn out, and espoused, by use of the Medicine Wheel, the character Wasekechak, narrative, and with reference to a holistic interpretation of life based upon interconnectedness and healing.

Drawing on the insights of Indigenous feminist legal theory, Emily Snyder examines representations of Cree law and gender in books, videos, graphic novels, educational websites, online lectures, and a video game. Although these resources promote the revitalization of Cree law and the principle of miyo-wîcêhtowin (good relations), Snyder argues that they do not capture the complexities of gendered power relations. The majority of these resources either erase women’s legal authority by not mentioning them, or they diminish their agency by portraying Cree laws and gender roles in inflexible, aesthetically pleasing ways that overlook power imbalances and other forms of oppression.

Also available at W.D. Jordan in Special Collections.
This graphic novel, a composite of true situations, is the tale of the trial of a Cree man by a 19th-century Alberta court after carrying out an execution ordered by his Cree community. A contingent of 21st-century Indigenous lawyers travels back in time to intervene and apply aspects of Indigenous law not originally presented.

Also available in print at KE7749.C74 M33 2015 LAW.
Traditionally, nêhiyaw (Cree) laws are shared and passed down through oral customs — stories, songs, ceremonies — using lands, waters, animals, land markings and other sacred rites. However, the loss of the languages, customs, and traditions of Indigenous peoples as a direct result of colonization has necessitated this departure from the oral tradition to record the physical laws of the nêhiyaw. McAdam, a co-founder of the international movement Idle No More, shares nêhiyaw laws so that future generations, both nêhiyaw and non-Indigenous people, may understand and live by them to revitalize Indigenous nationhood.

While Dr. Hansen provides a narrative and comparative understanding of Indigenous justice based upon the Omushkegowuk experience, its message will resonate with other Indigenous groups as they deal with Western justice systems based upon retribution and punishment as such adversarial systems tends to be divisive for the community, ostracizing for the offender, and ignoring of victim needs.

In Algonquian folklore, the wetiko is a cannibal monster or spirit that possesses a person, rendering them monstrous. In The Wetiko Legal Principles, Hadley Friedland explores how the concept of a wetiko can be used to address the unspeakable happenings that endanger the lives of many Indigenous children.