Aboriginal & Treaty Rights

Aboriginal and treaty rights of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada are recognized and affirmed in the Constitution Act, 1982 in subsection 35(1).

Aboriginal rights come from historical practices. Treaty rights come from historic treaties. Aboriginal and treaty rights – bearing s. 35 groups, namely First Nations, generally have the right to self-determination including self-government, the right to education and to medicine,  and to hunt, fish, trap and gather on unoccupied Crown land.

For most First Nations within the Numbered Treaty Territories, the treaty with the sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the defining feature in their relationship with modern Canada, the British Crown’s successor.

Known and credibly asserted section 35 rights are protected, in part, by the Crown’s duty to consult and accommodate. The Crown must consult, and if appropriate accommodate, when it contemplates activity that may adversely affect the exercise of constitutionally protected Aboriginal and treaty rights.