Collection of speeches exchanging ideas and information about treaty making between First Nations and other levels of governement, given at a forum in Vancouver, on March 2-3, 2000; co-hosted by Law Commission of Canada and the B.C. Treaty Commission.

Treaty Talks in British Columbia traces the origins and development of treaty negotiations in the province. Since the second edition of this book was published in 2000, a number of significant developments have occurred: a controversial referendum on treaty mandates was held; the historic Tsawwassen treaty, the first to be signed in the BC treaty process, finally came into effect; and a second treaty was signed with the five Maa-nulth First Nations on the west coast of Vancouver Island. A striking theme running through the narrative is the way in which the provincial government changed the way it approached the negotiations and its relations with First Nations. This updated edition includes a postscript, co-authored with Peter Colenbrander, which provides an extensive overview of the treaty process from 2001 to 2009. The authors outline the achievements of and challenges for the treaty process and review some of the most recent jurisprudence affecting Native and non-Native rights. They also reflect on the growing number of initiatives outside the treaty process to achieve reconciliation between First Nations and the Crown and raise questions about the future relationship between these initiatives and treaty negotiations. Treaty Talks in British Columbia is a valuable resource for those interested in Aboriginal issues and the treaty process both in BC and throughout Canada. Succinct, informative, and easy to read, this book brings clarity to a complex and often contentious issue.

In From Recognition to Reconciliation, twenty leading scholars reflect on the continuing transformation of the constitutional relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian state.

This is the Final Report of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its six-year investigation of the residential school system for Aboriginal youth and the legacy of these schools. This report, the summary volume, includes the history of residential schools, the legacy of that school system, and the full text of the Commission's 94 recommendations for action to address that legacy. This report lays bare a part of Canada's history that until recently was little-known to most non-Aboriginal Canadians. The Commission discusses the logic of the colonization of Canada's territories, and why and how policy and practice developed to end the existence of distinct societies of Aboriginal peoples. Using brief excerpts from the powerful testimony heard from Survivors, this report documents the residential school system which forced children into institutions where they were forbidden to speak their language, required to discard their clothing in favour of institutional wear, given inadequate food, housed in inferior and fire-prone buildings, required to work when they should have been studying, and subjected to emotional, psychological and often physical abuse. In this setting, cruel punishments were all too common, as was sexual abuse. More than 30,000 Survivors have been compensated financially by the Government of Canada for their experiences in residential schools, but the legacy of this experience is ongoing today. This report explains the links to high rates of Aboriginal children being taken from their families, abuse of drugs and alcohol, and high rates of suicide. The report documents the drastic decline in the presence of Aboriginal languages, even as Survivors and others work to maintain their distinctive cultures, traditions, and governance. The report offers 94 calls to action on the part of governments, churches, public institutions and non-Aboriginal Canadians as a path to meaningful reconciliation of Canada today with Aboriginal citizens. Even though the historical experience of residential schools constituted an act of cultural genocide by Canadian government authorities, the United Nation's declaration of the rights of aboriginal peoples and the specific recommendations of the Commission offer a path to move from apology for these events to true reconciliation that can be embraced by all Canadians.