Newsletter - Project North
Periodical profile published 1981

Publisher:  Newsletter - Project North, Toronto, Canada
Year Published:  1981
Pages:  8pp   Resource Type:  Serial Publication (Periodical)
Cx Number:  CX2262

Project North is an action/research program co-sponsored by seven national churches in Canada. Since 1975, when it was organized, the Project has supported northern native people in their struggle for justice.

Abstract: 
Project North is an action/research program co-sponsored by seven national churches in Canada. Since 1975, when it was organized, the Project has supported northern native people in their struggle for justice. The objectives of the Project are twofold: to support the activities of aboriginal people engaged in struggles for justice and self-determination and to challenge and mobilize church constituencies in southern Canada to become involved. These objectives are accomplished through research and documentation, communication and publication, education and action.

The newsletter is one means of doing all of these things. The January, 1981 newsletter contains a number of articles which focus on aboriginal rights and the patriation of the constitution. The struggles of the Innuits of the Keewatin district of the Northwest Territories, the Nishga challenge to the Constitutional Committee and the cooperation of the National Indian Brotherhood (NIB), the Native Council of Canada (NCC) and the Inuit Committee of National Concerns (ICNC) are described.

The Inuit of the Keewatin District and the Inuit Tapirisat have been working through the courts to maintain their aboriginal rights for their land, challenging the claims of corporations and multi-nationals. The Inuits are also seeking to have property rights included in a definition of aboriginal rights. The legal ruling to date is that aboriginal rights are not property rights.

The Nishga maintain that they hold aboriginal title to the land of northwestern B.C. They are asking the Constitutional Committee to include a statutory provision in the Charter of Rights that pronounces aboriginal rights to maintain titles to the land they inhabit. The NIB, NCC, ICNC are working together to develop specific recommendations and wording that would protect aboriginal rights called "Aboriginal Rights and Freedoms", as an amendment to the proposed Charter of Rights.