This seminar will consider the legal treatment of Indigenous peoples of Canada in the broader historical and geographic context of European imperial rule. We will consider the different forms of colonialism to identify the significance of law in Canada’s dispossession, administration and assimilation of Indigenous peoples. Law both shaped and gave effect to the belief systems that accompanied these processes, from the era of aggressive imperial conquest, through times of changing emphasis on development, decolonization, and reconciliation. Students will examine the differences between legal and historical reasoning. We will see how historical investigation can be used to strengthen legal argument, and how legal reasoning can illuminate historical analysis. Previous background in history is desirable but not required. Prerequisite(s) or Corequisite(s): LAW 232.3.
This seminar will consider the legal treatment of Indigenous peoples of Canada in the broader historical and geographic context of European imperial rule. We will consider the different forms of colonialism to identify the significance of law in Canada’s dispossession, administration and assimilation of Indigenous peoples. Law both shaped and gave effect to the belief systems that accompanied these processes, from the era of aggressive imperial conquest, through times of changing emphasis on development, decolonization, and reconciliation. Students will examine the differences between legal and historical reasoning. We will see how historical investigation can be used to strengthen legal argument, and how legal reasoning can illuminate historical analysis. Previous background in history is desirable but not required. Prerequisite(s) or Corequisite(s): LAW 232.3.
