Miranda Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- October 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190600020
- eISBN:
- 9780190600051
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190600020.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
Chapter 3 examines the first collective land claim by Dene people in Canada’s Northwest Territories in 1973. Threatened by a proposed oil and gas pipeline, Dene people pursued land rights in a period ...
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Chapter 3 examines the first collective land claim by Dene people in Canada’s Northwest Territories in 1973. Threatened by a proposed oil and gas pipeline, Dene people pursued land rights in a period of rapid social and economic change. Drawing on historical treaties, they tried to push the state into negotiating with them as coeval partners with aboriginal title rights. When this strategy failed, they had to go to court where a sympathetic judge drew on the precedent established in the Gove land rights case to admit their histories into court. The case was hugely significant for Dene people and their struggle for self-determination. It also showed how risky legal strategies could be for indigenous peoples, particularly in terms of how their history as peoples of the land would be measured according to notions of authenticity they did not define.Less
Chapter 3 examines the first collective land claim by Dene people in Canada’s Northwest Territories in 1973. Threatened by a proposed oil and gas pipeline, Dene people pursued land rights in a period of rapid social and economic change. Drawing on historical treaties, they tried to push the state into negotiating with them as coeval partners with aboriginal title rights. When this strategy failed, they had to go to court where a sympathetic judge drew on the precedent established in the Gove land rights case to admit their histories into court. The case was hugely significant for Dene people and their struggle for self-determination. It also showed how risky legal strategies could be for indigenous peoples, particularly in terms of how their history as peoples of the land would be measured according to notions of authenticity they did not define.