Mitchell Hamline School of Law Mitchell Hamline Open Access Faculty Scholarship 2019 Envisioning Indigenous Community Courts to Realize Justice in Canada for First Nations Angelique EagleWoman Follow this and additional works at: https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/facsch Part of the Indian and Aboriginal Law Commons Publication Information 56 Alberta Law Review 669 (2019) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Mitchell Hamline Open Access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Mitchell Hamline Open Access. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Envisioning Indigenous Community Courts to Realize Justice in Canada for First Nations Abstract Through European colonization in North America, the time-honored rule of law, or good way of life, in Indigenous communities was displaced with external forums and processes, primarily from the British juridical traditions. In contemporary Canada, the use of external laws as a tool of colonization and the injustice experienced by Aboriginal peoples in Canadian courts has been the focus of media attention, policy papers, and legal reports for decades. The Canadian justice system is viewed by many as external and a means of subjugation for First Nation, Métis and Inuit peoples. As the Canadian government has attempted to come to terms with the long shadow cast by colonization, Indigenous peoples are consistently and increasingly calling for the ability to fully self-govern and reinstate Indigenous law and legal principles. This article will first discuss the current issues in the Canadian judiciary for Aboriginal peoples with a focus on criminal law and child welfare practices.