Locating Aboriginal peoples in Canadian law: One Aboriginal woman's journey through case law and the Canadian constitution

This thesis has three principal goals. The first goal is the most onerous. It is to examine the degree to which Aboriginal Peoples' experience, knowledge systems, traditions and ways of being can be held within the existing boundaries of Canadian law. This first goal is narrowed and shaped by the second which is to examine the way gender impacts on the first question. Women's roles and responsibilities, as well as the exclusion of women's experience, is a theme which is woven throughout the entire thesis. The third goal is methodologically based. This thesis offers up one example of the way in which Aboriginal practices and traditions can be united with conventional Canadian legal practices. This last goal requires that this thesis is written in plain language that is accessible to people without access to technical and sometimes complicated "law talk".;This thesis is a journey of one Mohawk woman through Canadian legal relationships. The journey is an idea that is common among many Aboriginal traditions and ways. This concept as well as the practice of story telling is used to trace the author's progress from law student to law teacher as the vehicle through which the above goals are met. It is, as well, an examination of legal concepts such as discrimination, rights (both individual and collective) and equality. This specific examination is complemented by discussions of oppression and colonization. The conclusion which examines what is Aboriginal justice, is offered to provide one opportunity to begin to consider how Aboriginal laws can be balanced with Canadian law.