The Canadian Crown and Aboriginal Peoples - Relations

Relations

The Office that I hold represents the Canadian Crown. As we are all aware the Crown has a fiduciary responsibility for the ongoing well being of Canada’s First Citizens.

The association between Canada's Aboriginals and the Canadian Crown is both statutory and traditional, the treaties being seen by the first peoples both as legal contracts and as perpetual and personal promises by successive reigning kings and queens to protect Aboriginal welfare, define their rights, and reconcile their sovereignty with that of the monarch in Canada. The agreements are formed with the Crown because the monarchy is thought to have inherent stability and continuity, as opposed to the transitory nature of populist whims that rule the political government, meaning the link between monarch and Aboriginals will theoretically last for "as long as the sun shines, grass grows and rivers flow."

The relationship has thus been described as mutual—"cooperation will be a cornerstone for partnership between Canada and First Nations, wherein Canada is the short-form reference to Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada"—and "special," having a strong sense of "kinship" and possessing familial aspects. Constitutional scholars have observed that First Nations are "strongly supportive of the monarchy," even if not necessarily regarding the monarch as supreme. The nature of the legal interaction between Canadian sovereign and First Nations has similarly not always been supported.