Aboriginal Law

The new issue of the University of Toronto Law Journal (Volume 68 Issue 3, summer 2018 ) is a special issue on Indigenous Law. The four articles in this special feature include Prof. Douglas Sanderson's "The residue of imperium: Property and sovereignty on Indigenous lands."

The Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto is developing a comprehensive response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.  Recognizing that there is no single response to the Calls to Action, we are implementing a multifaceted approach.

In a commentary in the Globe and Mail, Amanda Carling, manager of the Indigenous Initiatives Office, highlights the issue of innocent people – a disproportionate number of them First Nations, Inuit and Métis people – pleading guilty to crimes they did not commit ("Pleading guilty when innocent: A truth for too many Indigenous people," May 23, 2018).

Read the full commentary on the Globe and Mail website, or below.

In a commentary in Policy Options, Prof. Douglas Sanderson says that in the future, Indigenous confederacies that exercise self-government and have taxation power could also be part of the larger equalization system ("A federal equalization program that includes First Nations," May 16, 2018).

In a commentary in the Ottawa Citizen, Prof. Kent Roach argues that the federal government's proposal in Bill C-75 to eliminate peremptory challenges in jury selection is an important first step towards ensuring representative juries ("Ending peremptory challenges in jury selection is a good first step," April 2, 2018).

Read the full commentary on the Ottawa Citizen website, or below.