INDIGST 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Fee Simple, Sui Generis, Aboriginal Title

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Indigenous Studies
• Course: INDIGST 1AA3
• Professor: Vanessa Watts

Document Summary

Aboriginal title in canada is one of the most difficult things to understand. The court states that the indian interest in land is truly sui generis [only one of its kind]/ it is more than the right to enjoyment and occupancy, although . It is difficult to describe what more in traditional property law terminology. ~1998 decision in canadian pacific ltd v. paul. Reserves: federal land set aside for the use and occupancy of status indians. Communal (an aboriginal cannot hold aboriginal title) and it is site, fact and group specific. A first nation has to demonstrate that it occupies land as a group or nation of people. Aboriginal title is particular to a specific site of land with particular historical facts and a particular group of people. Refer to practices, traditions and customs that distinguish the unique culture of each first nation and were practiced prior to european contact.