Overview

Based on extensive fieldwork and oral history, The Terms of Our Surrender is a powerful critical appraisal of unceded indigenous land ownership in eastern Canada. Set against an ethnographic, historical and legal framework, the book traces the myriad ways the Canadian state has successfully evaded the 1763 Royal Proclamation that guaranteed First Nations people a right to their land and way of life. Focusing on the Innu of Quebec and Labrador, whose land has been taken for resource extraction and development, the book strips back the fiduciary duty to its origins, challenging the inroads which have been made on the nature and extent of indigenous land tenure-arguing for preservation of land ownership and positioning First Nations people as natural land defenders amidst a devastating climate crisis. It offers a voice to the Innu people, detailing the spirituality practices, culture and values that make it impossible for them to willingly cede their land. The text is intended to bridge the gap in knowledge between legal practitioners and those working at the intersections of human rights, social work and public policy. The book offers a potent template for how we can use the law to fight back against the indignities suffered by all indigenous peoples.

Full Product Details

Author:   Elizabeth Cassell (Visiting Fellow, University of Essex (United Kingdom))
Publisher:   Institute of Commonwealth Studies
Imprint:   Institute of Commonwealth Studies
ISBN:  

9781912250455

ISBN 10:   1912250454
Pages:   371
Publication Date:   01 October 2021
Audience:   General/trade ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Part 1: The InnuChapter 1: Innu/Canadian Relations In Their Social ContextChapter 2: The Innu left to their fate in Schefferville Chapter 3: Matimekush Lac John Today Chapter 4: Legacies of the Past: Barriers to Effective Negotiation Chapter 5: Racis Part 2: The Royal Proclamation and Questions of Trust Over Indigenous LandChapter 6: Historical Background Chapter 7: The Personal Fiduciary Duty Chapter 7: Bending the Law to the Needs of Settlement Chapter 8: The Honour of the Crown, the Duty to Consult and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Part Three: The Modern Treaties and Canada's Comprehensive Claims PolicyChapter 9: The James Bay Project: The Plot to Drown the Northern Woods Chapter 10: The Malouf Judgment - Chief Robert Kanatewat et al v La Societe de Daveloppement de la Baie James et al et La Commission Hydro-Electrique de Quebec [1974] RP 38Chapter 11: Negotiating the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement Chapter 12: The Aftermath of Signing the James Bay Agreement Chapter 13: The Comprehensive Land Claims Policy Part Four: The Innu Experience of the Comprehensive Land Claims ProcessChapter 14: All that is Left to Us is the Terms of our Surrender: Negotiations to Recover Lost Innu Lands Chapter 15: The New Dawn Agreement Chapter 16: The Position of the Innu Who Live in Quebec Chapter 17: Construction and Protest at Muskrat Falls Part Five: Citizens Plus or Parallel Paths?Chapter 18: Academic Solutions Chapter 19: Indigenous Solutions Chapter 20: Citizens Plus or Parallel Paths?

Reviews

Joining together robust historical and socio-legal research with an activist spirit, 'The Terms of Our Surrender' brings fresh understanding to ongoing colonialism in North America. The scrupulous documentation and argument in this book will help correct any misapprehensions about the benign nature of Canada's treatment of indigenous peoples. -Professor Colin Samson (author of The Colonialism of Human Rights: Ongoing Hypocrisies of Western Liberalism)

Author Information

Elizabeth Cassell is a lawyer, a former university lecturer and practitioner in Property & Trusts law who has travelled extensively in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic and who believes that the law is not enough to reconcile the issues of indigenous land rights in Canada. Through oral history, she gives voice to those deeply affected by the Canadian land claims process.

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