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Aboriginal Law Bulletin

Aboriginal Law Bulletin (ALB)
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Lavery, Daniel --- "Update: International Symposium of the Commission on Folklaw and Legal Pluralism" [1991] AboriginalLawB 13; (1991) 1(49) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 2


International Symposium of the Commission on Folklaw and Legal Pluralism

by Daniel Lavery

The International Symposium of the Commission on Folklaw and Legal Pluralism was held in Ottawa, Canada over four days from 14th to 18th August 1990. It was the sixth such conference for the Commission. It was hosted by the University of Ottawa and partially funded by the Native Council of Canada.

Some 1100 delegates attended from around the world including Brazil, the Netherlands, Japan, the U.S., and a large contingent from across Canada. Australia and New Zealand were well represented.

The themes of the conference were threefold: Theme I was a perspective on indigenous self-determination and legal pluralism, Theme II concentrated on indigenous ethnic minority law, with Theme III centring on legal pluralism in decolonized Third World countries.

Twenty-five papers were delivered on the first theme by lawyers (both practising and academic), anthropologists and activists on the issue of self-determination of Aboriginal people in many countries. Professor Denmai Ueda of Japan spoke of the Ainu, the indigenous people of Hokkaido; Dr. Tom Svenson related the experience of the Saami; others of the struggle of the indigenous peoples of Brazil and Venezuela for mere survival; and Canadian practitioners and activists spoke of the. complex and dynamic situations involving the Indian, the Metis and the Inuit in Canada. Recently the failure of the Meech Lake Accord and the Oka, Quebec impasse involving the Mohawk Warriors have forced aboriginal rights to the very top of the Canadian domestic agenda (see [1991] AboriginalLB 4; 2(48)pg6). Australian issues were not neglected: the Mabo litigation (including the video featuring Justice Moynihan of the Queensland Supreme Court in mufti), the interface between the mining industry and traditional owners/land councils in the Northern Territory, and the awakening of the Rainbow Serpent in Perth, were all examined.

What was striking about the papers was the similarity in the issues faced by these seemingly diverse peoples: dispossession in the physical or legal sense, cultural distress with all attendant woes and, then, a fight for the retrieval of subjugated rights. What was disappointing about the conference was that very few indigenous people were represented. There were no Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander members or interested observers present. In plenary session the Commission expressed regret at the low number of indigenous members and resolved to attempt to remedy this situation.

One method is increased publicity of the Commission's activities in the right quarters and another allocation of funds to allow indigenous members to attend at future conferences.


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