Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2016
Keywords
Land Claim Settlements, Canada, Arctic, Aboriginal Title
Abstract
In Canada, comprehensive land claims based on Aboriginal title can be pursued through either litigation or negotiation. Generally, the relationship between litigation and negotiation of these claims is understood as one where the Supreme Court of Canada initially prodded the Canadian state to action, and then in a series of decisions developed the legal parameters within which the political realities of negotiation occur. Thus, settlement tends to follow and be shaped by the contours of the legal doctrine. However, settlement of land claims in Canada’s Arctic moved ahead of the case law in two key areas, as manifested in: (a) the negotiation of claims based on attenuated physical occupation of the lands in question; and (b) the application to waters and ice of principles developed in relation to terrestrial land. I argue below that this willingness to move beyond the precedents reflects both pragmatism and an instrumentalist approach to land claims in the Arctic.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Diana Ginn, "Land Claim Settlement in Canadian Arctic: Pragmatism and Instrumentalism at Work" in Timo Koivurova & Waliul Hasanat, eds, Current Developments in Arctic Law, Vol 4 (Rovaniemi: Arctic Law Thematic Network, 2016) 11.
Included in
Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law Commons, Property Law and Real Estate Commons, Public Law and Legal Theory Commons
