'According to the Old Customs of Our Nation': Aboriginal Self-Government on the Credit River Mississauga Reserve, 1826-1847

46 Pages Posted: 31 Jan 2016

See all articles by Mark Walters

Mark Walters

McGill University Faculty of Law

Date Written: 1998

Abstract

This article examines the development of Aboriginal law and government on the Credit River Mississauga reserve in order to demonstrate the dynamic nature of Aboriginal constitutional and legal structures in response to British colonialism. The author begins by briefly describing Ojibway/Mississauga law and government as it existed prior to contact with Europeans, and then reviews the development of treaty relations between the Mississauga and the British and the events leading up to the settlement of a Mississauga community on the Credit River. The article then analyzes the legal and constitutional rules that were developed for the reserve between 1826 and 1847, with particular reference to the 1830 "By Laws and Regulations" drafted by Mississauga chief and Methodist missionary Peter Jones, as well as the acts and resolutions of the Credit River council. The author concludes by arguing that although Mississauga society changed in fundamental ways in the nineteenth century, the laws and government which were developed to cope with the effects of colonialism embraced both native customary and non-native juridical concepts so as to secure a degree of cultural and national continuity. These conclusions suggest that the Van de Peet test for aboriginal rights should be applied to the question of self-government in a flexible manner in order to accommodate this paradox of cultural change and continuity.

Suggested Citation

Walters, Mark, 'According to the Old Customs of Our Nation': Aboriginal Self-Government on the Credit River Mississauga Reserve, 1826-1847 (1998). Ottawa Law Review, Vol. 30, No. 1, 1998, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2723634

Mark Walters (Contact Author)

McGill University Faculty of Law ( email )

Montréal, Quebec
Canada
514-398-4742 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://F.R. Scott Professor of Public and Constitutional Law

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