Constitutionalizing (In)justice: Treaty Interpretation and the Containment of Indigenous Governance

Abstract

To state that the Canadian criminal justice system has historically failed to provide adequate measures of justice for Indigenous peoples would be both an understatement and a mischaracterization. Canadian institutions of justice have not merely failed Indigenous peoples but were not designed to protect Indigenous interests to begin with. Designed by and for European newcomers who sought to institute their own legal orders, the justice system has functioned as an integral part of the structure of settler colonialism in Canada.