LEGAL BACKGROUND:

Canada knows that its own actions are illegal. The Wet’suwet’en fought for many years in the Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa court case to have their sovereignty affirmed by Canadian law. In 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Wet’suwet’en people, as represented by their hereditary leaders, had not given up rights and title to 22,000 square kilometers of Northern British Columbia.

1. The Unist’ot’en stand-off: How Canada’s “prove-it” mentality undermines reconciliation.
2. Law is on the side of Indigenous group in pipeline dispute, say legal experts.
3. The Unist’ot’en Movement, Not the RCMP, Has the Law on Its Side.
4. Injunctions: What Land Protectors Need To Know.
5. UBC Faculty of Law on Canadian Law on Aboriginal and Treaty Rights.
6. Making Space for Indigenous Law.