Emerging Justice? Essays on Indigenous Rights in Canada and Australia

$45.00 Download Order Form Kent McNeil ISBN 0-88880-441-5 2001 532 pp. Softcover

This work, written by a leading Aboriginal law scholar, brings together, in one ideal convenient source, fifteen essays that examine the development of the law of Indigenous rights in both Canada and Australia, primarily since 1990. Focussing on the two broad topics of land rights and self-government, Kent McNeil shows how the law in these two countries has converged in certain respects, and diverged in others. The essays provide a penetrating analysis of judicial decisions involving Indigenous rights by pointing out strengths and weaknesses in the decisions, as well as suggesting ways in which some remaining gaps in the law can be filled. In these academically provocative essays, McNeil takes the debate on Indigenous rights beyond the bounds of current  judicial discourse. In particular, McNeil attempts to show that there is constitutional space for Indigenous governments within the legal systems of Canada and Australia.

Designed for ease of research, this work is conveniently organized into three parts, the essays are cross-referenced, and a comprehensive index is provided.

Part I groups together articles dealing with

• colonization of Canada
• treaties
• definition and proof of Aboriginal rights, including Aboriginal title to land

Part II is devoted to articles that focus on

• Aboriginal self-government
• constitutional jurisdiction over Aboriginal peoples
• constitutional protection of Aboriginal rights in Canada

Part III contains articles that examine

• nature and vulnerability of native title in Australia

Kent McNeil is a Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School. He is a former Research Director of the Native Law Centre.