The Door Has a Tendency to Swing Shut: The Saga of Aboriginal Peoples' Equality Claims

Authors

Naiomi Metallic, Assistant Professor and Chancellor’s Chair in Aboriginal Law and Policy at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie UniversityFollow

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2014

Keywords

Aboriginal Peoples, Indigenous Peoples, Discrimination, Equality, Decolonization

Abstract

This paper tracks the history of Aboriginal peoples' equality complaints against the state. From the time Aboriginal people started to bring discrimination complaints before the courts, there have been significant obstacles that have operated to effectively — and sometimes even explicitly — prevent Aboriginal peoples from advancing pressing discrimination complaints against governments. Although there have been changes made in the law over time to attempt to eliminate such barriers, what we see is a pattern where new obstacles crop up to replace the old ones. Over and over, Aboriginal peoples see the door to equality open up only to have swing it shut again. This history puts the relationship of Aboriginal people and the state under the microscope and tell us something important about where we find ourselves in terms of reconciliation between Aboriginal people and Canada. The paper ends by providing recommendations on what can be done to address the current obstacles facing Aboriginal equality claims.

Comments

This paper is unpublished and should only be reproduced with the express permission of the author.

Recommended Citation

Naiomi Metallic, "The Door Has a Tendency to Swing Shut: The Saga of Aboriginal Peoples' Equality Claims" in Aboriginal Law Bench Book, 2nd ed (Ottawa: National Judicial Institute, 2017).