Research Activities
The team’s work covers three complimentary areas of research:
- Domain 1: The study of current and future social, economic and cultural conditions of Indigenous power in light of legal system referents
- Domain 2: The study of the paradigmatic foundations of current and future legal normativity for Indigenous legal orders
- Domain 3: The study of current and future intellectual and normative foundations of relationships between indigenous and non-indigenous societies
Domain 1: The study of current and future social, economic and cultural conditions of Indigenous power in light of legal system referents
The first domain refers to issues surrounding relationships within Indigenous communities and nations as well as relations between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous societies by considering normative referential constraints. This part of the research raises the inherent problems with the institutionalisation of governance relations, i.e., the manner in which normativity determines social and political processes. Four working perspectives will thereby be defined dealing respectively with the recognition of Indigenous cultural specificity, the organization of political power, the conditions of economic autonomy and the management of social conflicts between and within the communities.
| Perspectives | Working Groups |
|---|---|
| Recognition of cultural specificity | Darlene Johnston Étienne Le Roy Michael Coyle Denys Delâge |
| Organization of power | Ghislain Otis Natalia Loukacheva Martin Papillon Gilles Bibeau Daniel Gendron |
| Conditions of economic autonomy | Marc-Urbain Proulx Gilles Bibeau Richard Janda Ysolde Gendreau Roderick Macdonald |
| Regulation of social conflicts | Mylène Jaccoud Daniel Thomas |
Domain 2: The study of the paradigmatic foundations of current and future legal normativity for Indigenous legal orders
The social, economic and cultural characteristics of Indigenous societies also find a place within the framework of legal relationships set in specific historic and social contexts. Researchers in this domain will work on paradigmatic references (the ideological postulates or implicit theoretical foundations, representations of the world) that frame the definition of legal relations between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous societies. This is where distinctions between colonialism, post-colonialism (section 2.3.1) and Indigenous perspectives (section 2.3.2) find their central importance. This domain is subdivided into four working groups that will respectively examine the intellectual, normative, identity-based and cosmological foundations of these referential paradigms.
| Perspectives | Working Groups |
|---|---|
| Intellectual | Michael Asch Gordon Christie Avigail Eisenberg |
| Normative | Kent McNeil Michel Morin Janna Promislow Patrick Macklem Val Napoléon |
| Identity-based | Larry Chartrand Roderick Macdonald |
| Cosmological | Bernard Saladin-d’Anglure Val Napoléon |
Domain 3: The study of current and future intellectual and normative foundations of relationships between indigenous and non-indigenous societies
Finally governance relationships can be approached as a "system of relations" between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous societies. The problems of governance are thus confounded with debates involving federalism, the system of citizenship, the structuring of negotiation relationships and the balance of powers and the implementation of policy for recognition between communities at issue (Webber, 1994; 1996). Their interactions also then become an issue of values and of different, and sometimes opposite, reference systems. In this way, the directly political and cultural aspects – rather than the strictly legal ones – of intercommunity relations may be addressed.
| Perspectives | Working Groups |
|---|---|
| Federalism | Jean-François Gaudreault-Desbiens Jean Leclair Ghislain Otis |
| The system of citizenship | Frances Abele Martin Papillon Daniel Salée Carole Lévesque Melissa Williams Annis May Timpson |
| Recognition policy | Jocelyn Maclure Pierre Noreau |
