History: the First Nation People Essay

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Demographic shifts and political changes played a critical role in shaping the social status of the First Nation people. Most of the historical events took place during the 19th century.

It is prudent for the Crown to get back to the roots of the challenges facing the First Nation people instead of merely relying on the legislative agenda of the Canadian parliament. From the early beginning, the First Nation people believed that the government was mandated to perform certain roles on their behalf.

Important rulings made by the Canadian Supreme Court are largely not in favor of the First Nation people. The fiduciary principles in place are apparently not clear in regards to the aspirations of the aboriginal people. Needless to say, consulting the First Nation people should not be perceived as a privilege to this group since they also have their constitutional rights and freedoms.

The issue of land as a major resource of the aboriginal people has been a controversial subject for long. Whereas the Supreme Court boasts of being a chief law interpreter in the country, the aboriginals are yet to enjoy the benefits of most rulings made by this court. The aboriginals have always claimed that they do not have express rights to some of their resources.

It is the fiduciary duty of the Crown to investigate and act on the recommendations of such claims. For example, the Nechako River in British Columbia triggered a lot of conflict between the First Nation people and the Canadian government during the 1950s. The government built a major hydroelectric dam across this river without consulting the aboriginal people.

The group claimed that their source of livelihood was significantly affected since the river was their only source of fishing and other daily upkeep activities. An effective dispute resolution mechanism should be adopted in such cases.

Better still, the government of Canada was supposed to make prior consultations with the First Nation people even before planning the construction of the dam. Unfortunately, similar disregards have been taking place for several decades in the presence of a functional judiciary.

In 2004, the Supreme Court made a landmark ruling on the Haida Nation v. British Columbia case. According to the contents of the case, the Crown was supposed to either concur or refute that it had full knowledge of the rights and freedoms of the First Nation people. A constructive knowledge was also supposed to be considered in the contents of the case. Second, the contemplated conduct of the Canadian government by that time was also queried.

Finally, it was asserted that the claim of right by the First Nation people was highly likely to be affected by the contemplated behavior of the Crown. The three elements adopted in the Supreme Court proceedings were a clear illustration that the Canadian government was not sincerely interested in the constitutional rights and freedoms of the aboriginal people.

As it stands now, major strides have already been made in regards to the consultation role of the fiduciary. It is vital to understand that consultation is a constitutional process and not merely a matter of legislation.

Consultation should also seek a compromise between the concerned parties. In other terms, the interests of both the aboriginals and the Crown should be catered for whenever a compromise is reached during the process of consultation.

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IvyPanda. 2020. "History: the First Nation People." March 16, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/history-the-first-nation-people/.

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