Documenting how the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug's traditional territory was threatened by mining exploration in 2006, this chronicle reveals how the people followed their traditional duty to protect the land, asking the mining exploration company to leave. The company leftand then sued the remote First Nation for $10 billion, and the ensuing legal dispute lasted two years only to result in the jailing of community leaders. This book argues that, although this imprisonment was extraordinarily punitive and is indicative of continuing colonialism within the legal system, some aspects of the case demonstrate the potential of Canadian law to understand, include, and reflect Aboriginal perspectives. Connecting scholarship in Aboriginal rights, Canadian law, traditional Aboriginal law, social change, and community activism, this history explores the twists and turns of this legal dispute in order to gain a deeper understanding of the law's contributions to and detractions from the process of reconciliation.
Keeping the Land : Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, Reconciliation and Canadian Law