Understanding the historic roots of the broken relationship between settlers and Canada’s Indigenous people is a necessary step which we need to take to start solving the problems. And we especially need to acknowledge how those historic patterns still manifest themselves today.
This edition of rabble radio features an interview with Dr. Bruce Clark. Bruce Clark has been arguing for the past two decades that Canada’s courts have blocked the way to reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous people. In his recent book, he elaborates on his thesis that the legal system in Canada has been utilizing instruments to suppress Indigenous sovereignty in law and that it therefore is culpable in genocide. The book is called Ongoing Genocide caused by Judicial Suppression of the “Existing” Aboriginal Rights.
Dr. Clark is a Canadian writer, activist and former lawyer. He first began working on Indigenous sovereignty issues back in 1973 when he was retained by the Temagami First Nation at Bear Island. The issue was an Ontario government plan to build an $80 million ski lodge on their land.
He is also known for his work defending Indigenous land title at Gustafson Lake in the interior of British Columbia in 1995. In 1999, he was disbarred after criminal charges and convictions related to events that happened during that time. In the years since, he’s used his legal knowledge to be an advocate for Indigenous rights and is the author of several books.
The interview on today’s show was done by Michael Welch of the Global Research News Hour.
Thanks once again to Global Research News Hour for partnering with rabble.ca by letting us re-podcast their interviews. The show is hosted and produced in Winnipeg by CKUW news director and contributor, Michael Welch, in association with the Centre for Research on Globalization.
