The management of native lands in New Zealand and Canada: a comparative study
Date
1981-10
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Journal ISSN
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ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
Any attempt to write in an area as volatile as native law faces
the danger of being overtaken by events. Indeed major developments
occurred after the writing of this thesis had begun. I was fortunate
enough to have contacts in New Zealand willing to send the details
over to Canada. Similarly,what appears to be a significant decision
concerning reserve land and the duties of the Minister in respect of
surrenders was delivered by the Federal Court in Vancouver in June. Unfortunately
efforts to obtain a copy of the decision proved unsuccessful.
However, I have endeavoured to stay abreast of developments in the field
of Maori and reserve land tenure and to make this study as up-to-date as
possible.
This study is primarily a legal one and despite the obvious relevance
of other disciplines, I have·attempted to keep within a legal
framework. Although mindful of Sutton's comment in his invaluable bibliography
𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑟𝑒
that the study of native land tenure is an
inter-disciplinary pursuit, I felt it best not to forage into sciences
with which I am unfamiliar. For instance, an interesting comparison could
be made of the different acculturation processes in New Zealand and Canada.
However that is a task more befitting an anthropologist so,accordingly,
I have been content to point to the cultural adaptations of the Maori
and Indian t.o the legislation affecting them and their land and have not
ventured into an analysis of these changes as examples of cultural dynamism.
My concern to keep a legal focus also kept me away from much of the
abundant polemical literature that exists in the area of native rights.
Such literature has been used as background in order to obtain a flavour
of the feelings that lie behind the native movements in New Zealand and
Canada. In any event, these polemical works are plentiful and keeping
track of them would have been well-nigh impossible. I found a better
grasp of native feeling was obtained through the publications of the
natives' national organizations, the Canadian National Indian Brotherhood
and New Zealand Maori Council. Whilst not always free of political
bombast and sloganeering,these bodies tended to be less intuitive about
the legislation than the popular statements of native feeling and endeavoured,
usually with success,- to translate emotive response into
reasoned argument.
The comparative nature of this study should be constantly borne in mind.
That fact has resulted in some areas being given only a brief discussion.
Examples in chapter three are the brief analysis of the equation of an
Indian 'band' with an·. unincorporated association and the factual· treatment
of the laws affecting Indian status. Lengthy analysis of those
two areas given above as examples would have produced detail superfluous
to a comparative study.
Finally, I feel obliged to express the frustration I encountered at
the absence of published data concerning on-reserve activity and the
current use of the provisions of the Indian Act. The frustration was
eased to a certain extent by reliance on interviews with Departmental
officials. That dependance necessarily lends an impressionistic element
to certain parts of this study and is, of course, a poor substitute for
statistics and published data. If this study were concerned solely with
the management of Indian lands the reliance in places on interviews with
knowledgable persons would be less acceptable. However,the information
gathered from these sources has been more than adequate for present
purposes.
Palmer-Patterson II and Sutton, to name but two writers, talk of the
development of aboriginal self-awareness which comes from the drawing of
what the former calls 'colonial parallels'. The aim of this study is
to make a contribution, however slight, towards that consciousness.
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Degree
Master of Laws (LL.M.)
Department
Law
Program
Law