After Delgamuukw, Aboriginal Oral Tradition as Evidence in Aboriginal Rights and Title Litigation

grantor: University of TorontoThe integration of Aboriginal oral tradition within many academic disciplines, legal cases and land-use disputes means that Euro-Canadian institutions now have to examine their relationship to and their understanding of Aboriginal oral tradition. Both the legal and the contextual issues involved in cross-cultural interpretation of oral and written historical materials have implications for how Aboriginal communities may chose to share, validate and evaluate their oral traditions. As well the identification of these issues have implications for how Euro-Canadian institutions may choose to approach Aboriginal oral tradition as evidence. The eight people interviewed gave their thoughts and opinions about the use of Aboriginal oral tradition as evidence, using the Supreme Court recommendations in 'Delgamuukw' (1997) as a focus. The interviewees had either; (a) given evidence in the form of Aboriginal oral histories in a court case; (b) been involved in a court case where Aboriginal oral histories were called upon as evidence; or (c) done research/writing in the area of Aboriginal oral histories. Their opinions represent a particular segment of informed opinion post-'Delgamuukw' (1997). The combination of the issues that emerged from the legal research and the interviews contributes to two main bodies of research and literature: (1) Aboriginal rights and title litigation: systemic barriers were identified that make it difficult for Aboriginal oral histories to be evaluated equally alongside written historical evidence. A number of issues such as testing for Aboriginal rights, frozen rights, how rights can be extinguished by the Crown and how the Crown rationalizes assertions of sovereignty, emerged as systemic barriers within Aboriginal rights and title litigation. (2) Cross-cultural communication: issues such as interpretation, evaluation and comparison of Aboriginal oral histories alongside of written historical documents were identified as some of contextual issues that need to be dealt with. These issues have more to do with the nature, the content and the role that Aboriginal oral histories play not just in the courts, but in other forums where Aboriginal oral histories are being evaluated and compared in cross-cultural contexts.Ph.D