Aboriginal Rights Are Not Human Rights: In Defence of Indigenous Struggles

by Peter Kulchyski

Aboriginal rights are often assumed to belong to the broader category of human rights; Kulchyski makes a powerful argument against this. On the contrary, indigenous people across the world need specific rights in part to balance against the universalist core of human rights. This book provides conceptual and historical analyses distinguishing aboriginal rights from human rights. It shows how aboriginal rights result from the struggles of native peoples. It traces the development of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Aboriginal rights provisions of the Constitution of Canada and pertinent Canadian legal decisions. While not a critique of the universalistic nature and European origins of human rights, Kulchyski shows how the effective use of aboriginal rights necessitates a clear understanding of their unique nature. The book includes additional essays on related themes demonstrating how knowledge of aboriginal rights is critical to socialist practice, highlighting how specific Canadian struggles can be understood through the lens of aboriginal rights.

Genres: Indigenous, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2013

About the author

Peter Kulchyski, although non-Indigenous, attended a government-run residential school in northern Manitoba before studying politics at the University of Winnipeg and York University. He now teaches Native Studies at the University of Manitoba. Kulchyski has written and edited many scholarly books and articles, including Like the Sound of a Drum: Aboriginal Cultural Politics in Denendeh and Nunavut.

Reviews

[Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seriously this book was bs. Wish I would have done more research before picking it up--I would not have read it if I knew he was not an aboriginal writer. He talks about how he's done so much for aboriginal rights, but he's just another white guy patting himself on the back, as it were. If I could give the book a lower rating, I would.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Native Studies scholar Peter Kulchyski writes in his slim but provocative 2013 book, Aboriginal Rights Are Not Human Rights (ARP Books), that the notorious 1969 White Paper – a failed attempt by the Trudeau government to wipe out Indian status and its accompanying rights – was informed by liberal human rights doctrine. If we are all equal, the logic went, we should all be the same. No special rights for Indians.

Read my essay based in part on this excellent and informative book at https://alllitup.ca/Blog/2014/Discuss...