To What End the Dialogue?

In 2004 and 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada’s decisions on Aboriginal consultation set in motion significant changes to Aboriginal-Crown interactions and relations. In 2010, the Court had three opportunities to add greater texture to the duty to consult. In the result, the Court confirmed that the long-term objective of reconciliation is to foster the ability of Aboriginal communities to participate within the mainstream legal system “with its advantages of continuity, transparency, and predictability”. The approaches to this fundamental conclusion by Binnie and Deschamps JJ., however, exposed some significant differences in perspective and raise some deeper questions about the objectives of dialogue and reconciliation. The paper asks whether in the Court’s view reconciliation and dialogue is intended to make some room for Aboriginal participation in Canada’s overall socio-economic growth, or whether it is intended to promote a more profound constitutional restructuring of the Crown-Aboriginal relationship