A study on Indigenous Commons in North America and Canada for promoting the theory of commons environmental law

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This study addresses the changes occurred among indigenous people and their commons in north America and Canada, and examines the contribution of the indigenous commons to solute the environmental issues. In addition to books, research papers, and unpublished documents, raw materials by field surveys have been used to examine concrete and real cases and disputes. Cases include issues related to Cree of the comprehensive claim and issues of reserve establishment in Lubicon Lake Indians. Both cases depict the destruction of the commons of indigenous people and illustrate how subsequent land disputes and sues had resulted in their economic development and recovery of indigenous rights. Neskonlith band of Secwepemc Nation in British Columbia and their forest development case, in which the federal court ordered the recovery of their land rights in 1973, is mainly addressed in this study. In this case, the claims of indigenous commons were not only related to the indigenous autonomy but also developed to obtain an international consciousness as it related the indigenous knowledge to environment. These cases about the forest, sea, and river conservation of Canadian Pacific Indians and Inuit could also be applied to address the decision making process in the modernization of indigenous rights in the circum-Pacific areas. Aborigines in Australia, Maori in New Zealand, and other indigenous peoples in South Pacific islands would be affected and the commons (right of common) are elemental in their decision making process.