Impact of Delgamuukw Guidelines in Atlantic Canada [Cape Breton University, CBU]

In Delgamuukw v. British Columbia, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the inherent meaning of Aboriginal tenure (or title) and acknowledged its role in constitutional analysis. The message from the modern framers of the constitution of Canada and the Lamer Court is that Aboriginal law, tenure and rights as well as treaty rights constitute a distinct constitutional order in s. 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982, with its own implicate architecture, sources, traditions, and texts, that require constitutional equality with the other parts. The Lamer Court has found Aboriginal tenure is inherent in s. 35(1); its existence is constitutionally entrenched. All legislatures, Crown officials, and courts have the duty to protect Aboriginal tenure as part of the "supreme law of Canada" under s. 52(1); to relieve them of their duty would deny constitutional supremacy and its commitment to the rule of law.