Quote:
Originally Posted by Tacheguy
the way " you, and a majority of Canadians" want to interpret Treaties doesn't matter a flying fuck. Look at how the Supreme Court interprets them consistently. you could start with Sioui (1990) which states that " treaties and statutes relating to Indians should be liberally construed and uncertainty resolved in favour of the Indians". The Supreme Court has consistently ruled along those lines on other cases.
you could also read the Constitution act and Charter to realize that the special legal rights that flow from treaties cannot be overturned by majority opinion.
education is the key. I am no expert but I know enough to realize that Canadians have to get their heads around this reality and deal with it in good faith. I plan to buy the book Headhorse recommended and I thank him for that.
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Treaties are overturned, ignored, thrown out and modified ALL THE TIME. You simply cannot expect a document created under certain specific set of circumstances to stand up long after those circumstances have changed significantly. Hey, how about if one day aboriginals become an absolute majority? Would you still want the treaties to remain in place then? One of the oldest known treaties was enacted sometime between 1272-82 B.C. between the Egyptians and the Hittites. Less than 100 years later the Hittite empire was gone. Worn out by repeated Assyrian attacks and finally wiped off the map by the mysterious Sea Peoples. Egypt should probably still claim rights to the Levant based on this treaty though. All your tantrums cannot change the fact that a treaty is just an aging piece of paper that will become irrelevant at some point for one reason or another.
Funny, I never even said anything about repealing the treaties.
Regarding their interpretation, yes, they have been interpreted too liberally (funny, aren't you guys the ones arguing that English common law sucks?) and this will change if and when the majority of people decide/realise that the S.C. justices are doing society a disservice and new, more conservative judges get appointed. Yup, Canadian democracy is imperfect and there is often a long delay between changes in people's views and when the judiciary finally catches up, just look at how long it took to legalize weed.