The case is about whether self-governing First Nations have the right to make decisions according to Indigenous values and traditions – even if that means violating Charter rights and freedoms
Cindy Dickson was born and raised in Yukon’s northernmost community of Old Crow, but left for an education and job opportunities. Today, she is the founding director of an international forum in which eight countries address issues in the Arctic.
It is the first test of the little-known Section 25 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. On its face, the section appears to give primacy to the collective rights of“The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any aboriginal, treaty or other rights or freedoms that pertain to the aboriginal peoples of Canada,” Section 25 says, in part.
“We have rights as human beings, we have rights as citizens of Canada, we have rights as Indigenous people,” Ms. Dickson said in an interview. “It’s really important that Section 25 is not used as a shield against its own citizens by a First Nations government.” In her written filing, she argues that the residency requirement treats her as “less of a citizen.” She is flying to Ottawa to attend the hearing.
That could mean, the group says, that an Indigenous police force in a self-governing First Nation would be permitted to violate Charter protections against search and seizure. Ms. Dickson raises the spectre of discrimination against women in her filing. The Vuntut Gwitchin, like Ms. Dickson, are a success story. A First Nation of just 560 people – less than half of whom live in its traditional territory of Old Crow – it negotiated a self-government agreement with Yukon and the federal government in 1993, and got out from under the strictures of the Indian Act.
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