The current framework for reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian state is based on the Supreme Court of Canada’s acceptance of the Crown’s assertion of sovereignty, legislative power, and underlying title. The basis of this assertion is a long-standing interpretation of Section 91(24) of Canada’s Constitution, which reads it as a plenary grant of power over Indigenous communities and their lands, leading the courts to simply bypass the question of the inherent right of self-government.

In A Reconciliation without Recollection?, Joshua Ben David Nichols argues that if we are to find a meaningful path toward reconciliation, we will need to address the history of sovereignty without assuming its foundations. Exposing the limitations of the current model, Nichols carefully examines the lines of descent and association that underlie the legal conceptualization of the Aboriginal right to govern.

Blending legal analysis with insights drawn from political theory and philosophy, A Reconciliation without Recollection? is an ambitious and timely intervention into one of the most pressing concerns in Canada.

Joshua Ben David Nichols is currently studying law at the University of British Columbia and has previously been a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria. He specializes in modern continental philosophy, especially Hegel, the Frankfurt School, and contemporary French thought. His primary area of research is political and legal philosophy with an emphasis on questions of violence and sovereignty.

Joshua Ben David Nichols' profile page

John Borrows is the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria and is the winner of both the Canadian Political Science Association’s Donald Smiley Prize (for Recovering Canada) and the Canadian Law and Society Association Book Prize (for Canada’s Indigenous Constitution)..

John Borrows' profile page

James Tully is emeritus distinguished professor of Political Science, Law, Indigenous Governance, and Philosophy at the University of Victoria.

James Tully's profile page