Aboriginal nationhood and the inherent right to self-government : Identité nationale des Autochtones et le droit inhérent à l'autonomie gouvernementale

Both forms of making decisions about the lands and interests of Aboriginal peoples do not emerge out of any sort of grant or interest created by the Crown – they both emerge out of recognition of the fact that Aboriginal nations predate the arrival of the Crown. [...] And We do further declare it to be Our Royal Will and Pleasure, for the present as aforesaid, to reserve under our Sovereignty, Protection, and Dominion, for the use of the said Indians, all the Lands and Territories not included within the Limits of Our said Three new Governments, or within the Limits of the Territory granted to the Hudson's Bay Company, as also all the Lands and Territories lyin [...] While Aboriginal nations were self-determining before the assertion of Crown sovereignty, with the doctrine of sovereign incompatibility the Supreme Court is suggesting that the assertion of Crown sovereignty removed the underlying Aboriginal rights of self-determination. [...] While this lays out the scope of the right of self-determination at international law in relation to 'external colonies' and 'peoples', interestingly Article 6 states: “Any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.” 29. [...] That struggle connects to this point, for here what we are imagining is a coordinated effort on the part of Aboriginal nations to have the term ‘internal’ defined so that it refers to all matters of governance that are essential to the preservation of the identity and autonomy of Aboriginal nations.