Colonial oppression and the law: Myth, voice, culture and identity in Aboriginal rights discourse

This thesis begins with an examination of my struggles in law school. It was those struggles which motivated me to examine why I found the law so frustrating. To assist with interpretation of the case law, I have adopted a colonizer/colonized and oppressed/oppressor dynamic. This thesis is not meant to provide an internal analysis of legal rules. Instead, I see my writing as a form of resistance whereby I attempt to utilize "voice" rather than a particular disciplinary approach to the law. The debate is both legal and moral.; Aboriginal people experience many barriers when confronting Aboriginal rights discourse in the law. The first barrier is trying to overcome historical myths and contemporary legal fictions which stabilize the creation of Aboriginal rights within the law. This problem is created by and exacerbated by the lack of recognition that Aboriginal people's voice is given in legal disputes and in the structure of Canadian law.; Utilizing the themes of myth and voice, I undertake an examination of Aboriginal people's interaction with the law. My focus is on rights discourse in section 35 of the Canadian Constitution of 1982 but is not exclusive to this jurisprudence. An effort is made to show that Aboriginal rights discourse still embodies colonialism as its base of interpretation. To this end, I look at how Aboriginal culture and Aboriginal identity are put on trial.; This thesis does not conclude with specific solutions to the problems posed. Instead, the analysis in this thesis is offered as a contribution to a dialogue that is necessary to bring about liberation for Aboriginal people.