Keeping Promises: The Royal Proclamation of 1763, Aboriginal Rights, and Treaties in Canada ed. by Terry Fenge and Jim Aldridge (review)

This book is an edited collection based on a public symposium organised by the Land Claims Agreements Coalition held to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The book includes addresses by the Governor-General of Canada, the Right Honourable David Johnston, leading constitutional scholars, and legal practitioners who deal with negotiating and putting into effect current treaties between Indigenous nations and the Canadian state. It is this unique combination of perspectives that is one of the undeniable strengths of the book. In their introduction to the book, Fenge and Aldridge emphasise that the Royal Proclamation is not a historical artefact to be studied but very much a live document that still influences treaties and relations more broadly between Indigenous groups and the state to this day. They also point out that even though they expect scholars and students to make use of the book, the primary intended audience was the public, and so the book is written in a very clear and readable style. Due to limited space in this review I will focus on one chapter by a constitutional scholar, Brian Slattery, and one by a legal practitioner, Terry Fenge.

Brian Slattery's 'The Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the Aboriginal Constitution' quite adroitly outlines the origins of the Royal Proclamation and explores its major features. He emphasises that one of the key themes in the third section of the proclamation, which dealt with Indigenous nations, was that the Crown should deal 'honourably' with them. This is one of the lasting legacies of the proclamation, which can be seen in treaties negotiated to this day. Slattery also points out that the proclamation made clear that Indigenous nations had not ceded their territory to the Crown, but through the course of the Seven Years' War the British Empire had gained territories from the former French and Spanish North American Empires which contained various Indigenous nations which exercised self-government.

'Negotiation and Implementation of Modern Treaties between Aboriginal Peoples and the Crown in Right of Canada' by Terry Fenge takes a much more contemporary perspective, as he focuses on the negotiation of treaties between Indigenous nations and the Canadian state from the early 1970s to 2015. One of the overarching themes of his chapter is that the policy of the Canadian state was very much dictated by whatever political party was in power at the time federally, either the Liberals or the Conservatives. Fenge highlights several instances where the Canadian government at the time was criticised by Auditor-Generals or others for not acting in the spirit, or sometimes even in the letter, of Land Agreements signed with various Indigenous nations.

This is an extremely important book, which will be of interest to scholars, students, policy practitioners, but also to the general public, its primary intended audience. It is part of an excellent 'Native and Northern' series and is highly recommended.