Sébastien Grammond

The Law of the Community and Community Rights: Implications for the Métis in Canada

This paper is based on the result of a qualitative content analysis of the transcripts of the Hirsekorn trial which took place from 4 May 2009 to 24 June 2010 before the Provincial Court of Alberta. The case was based on the framework established in the Powley case, handed down in 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada’s first decision on Metis rights. In defence, the accused asserted an aboriginal right to hunt protected by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 . Hence, the judges had to render a decision on the Metis identity of the accused and his membership in a rights-holding Metis community. The main question at issue then becomes the existence of such a community. In this paper, the authors analyze the concept of “community” as a legal category and as a holder of rights. They highlight the various definitions given to that concept by the Crown and the defence and their implications. This analysis follows the path of anthropological work regarding the concept of “community.”

Les enjeux de la recherche concernant l’enfance et la famille autochtones@@@Issues in research on Aboriginal children and families

Cet article fait le point sur les politiques coloniales qui ont eu des impacts devastateurs sur les enfants et les familles autochtones, dont la politique des pensionnats autochtones et l’application des regimes de protection de la jeunesse. Il examine les efforts qui sont deployes depuis une quarantaine d’annees pour adapter les institutions etatiques qui affectent les enfants et les jeunes autochtones. Enfin, il donne un apercu des enjeux culturels et identitaires auxquels font face les enfants, les jeunes et les familles autochtones, notamment concernant le territoire, les conceptions de la famille elargie et les pratiques parentales. Il poursuit par une reflexion sur la necessaire autodetermination des peuples autochtones dans les domaines lies a l’enfance et a la famille.