An Introduction to the Nova Scotia Royal Commission

1975 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 349
Author(s):  
John F. Graham
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Royal Commission

Colonial Traditions, Co‐optations, and Mi'kmaq Legal Consciousness

2011 ◽  
Vol 36 (01) ◽  
pp. 171-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Jane McMillan
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Legal Culture ◽  
Legal Consciousness ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Specific Recommendation ◽  
Overwhelming Evidence ◽  
Life Sentence

In 1996 a provincial court was established at Eskasoni Mi'kmaq Community in Nova Scotia, Canada, in response to overwhelming evidence confirming the failures of the Canadian legal system to provide justice for Indigenous peoples, and as a specific recommendation of the Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall, Jr., Prosecution. Marshall, a Mi'kmaq wrongfully convicted of murder, served eleven years of a life sentence before proving his innocence. The importation of provincial legal culture into an Indigenous community creates tensions and contradictions surrounding the legitimacy, authenticity, and efficacy of Indigenous laws. The ontological conflicts that arise from the imposition of a justice system integrally linked with colonization, criminalization, and assimilation cannot be resolved through indigenization of court staff and administrative conveniences. The Mi'kmaq continue to assert their laws and articulate their legal consciousness against the co‐optation of dominant system, with mixed results.

scholarly journals Worlds Apart in Acadie: Official Languages Programs in Education in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, 1968-1984

2006 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-257
Author(s):  
Matthew Hayday
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
New Brunswick ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Uneven Development ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Minority Communities ◽  
Official Languages

Abstract Following the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, the Canadian and provincial governments undertook a wide array of measures to promote Canada's two official languages through education programs. Over the fifteen years following the passage of the Official Languages Act, minority and second official-language education programs developed in a markedly different fashion in the two provinces with the largest Acadian communities: New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. A combination of factors, including the demographic weight of the Acadian communities, the strategies of Acadian lobby groups, the attitudes of the majority and minority communities, and the ideologies of key politicians and civil servants must all be taken into account to explain the uneven development of official language education programs in these two “Acadian provinces”.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document