Overview
This research guide is intended for students and faculty to use and locate resources to further their understanding of Indigenous traditional governance.
It complements the following existing guides:
First Nations & Indigenous Studies
This guide focuses on Indigenous traditional governance, rather than Indian Act governance or treaties, although those topics are included as they intersect with traditional governance.
What is traditional governance?
"This video is of an interview with Dr. John Borrows, Anishinaabe, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law, University of Victoria. The interview was done as part of a larger project to create three video shorts about Indigenous law."
- A Brief History of our Right to Self-GovernanceKent McNeil for the Centre for First Nations Governance, 2022. " Explore the unbroken history of First Nations right to self-governance, a right rooted in our occupation and our own jurisdiction over the land before contact. In recent years aboriginal and treaty rights and title have been addressed by Canadian courts and, for many First Nation citizens, the movement for self-governance is a way to reaffirm authority in relation to the land."
- Jagged Worldviews Colliding - Little Bear, Leroy. 2000.This essay by Dr. Leroy Little Bear outlines the differences between a Eurocentric worldview and an Indigenous (specifically Plains Cree) worldview, as it impacts all aspects of life, including governance.
- Elder Knowledge database: The National Centre for Collaboration in Indigenous Education (NCCIE)"The internet is filled with videos of Elders, Knowledge Holders, and Indigenous scholars sharing some of their knowledge and wisdom. NCCIE has created this catalogue, which is a sampling of what is on the world wide web. Over 200 videos pertaining to more than twenty First Nations, Métis, and Inuit ways of knowing and being from across Canada."