By Law or in Justice: The Indian Specific Claims Commission and the Struggle for Indigenous Justice by Jane Dickson (review)

This book provides a unique insight by someone deeply involved in the Indian Specific Claims Commission (ICC) in Canada. From 2002 to 2009 Jane Dickson was a commissioner of this body, which existed between 1991 and 2009. She provides a glimpse into the inner workings of the commission, and into the broader First Nation claims process that it was a part of. Dickson openly acknowledges that, like any body of its type, the commission had strengths and weaknesses, but she stresses the difference it tried to make in both approach and practice.

The ICC was established in the wake of the conflict and violence of the Oka Crisis of 1990, a stand-off between the Mohawk First Nation and the Canadian settler colonial state. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney called for the establishment of the ICC as a way to deal with the huge backlog of claims by First Nations and the perception that the Canadian settler colonial state was just interested in making the process as long and drawn-out as possible in the hope that claimants would abandon their claims. Dickson makes a very important point about the difference between law and justice. The law, which is usually written by the more powerful party–in the case of First Nations and the Canadian settler colonial state, the latter–is usually unsurprisingly in the favour of that party. Therefore justice for First Nations does not necessarily come from the law of the Canadian settler colonial state, rather from their own laws and traditions. This was something that Dickson believes the ICC did make a difference with: its willingness to listen to First Nations' arguments of how the Canadian settler colonial state had abrogated the laws of those First Nations in its dealings with them. However, the ICC ultimately was disbanded by the Conservative government of Stephen Harper in 2009 as it did not believe in its mission and held to the long-standing belief by the Canadian settler colonial state that any claims by First Nations must be dealt with in the context of Canadian jurisprudence solely. So what became of the ICC does not exactly instill you with confidence for the future. However, the shift in the discussion surrounding the relationship between First Nations and the Canadian settler colonial state since the end of the Harper government, to that of nation-to-nation relations, and Aboriginal laws and traditions being respected and treated on an equal basis, does offer some hope for the future.

I very much enjoyed reading this book, even though the various machinations by the Canadian settler colonial state to limit the ability of First Nations to pursue claims is quite depressing. But because these machinations are laid bare by someone who saw everything first-hand, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to readers, both expert and general, and especially to all Canadians.