On Wednesday in our first lecture, Dr. Salmon dissected the terminology of the words “oral” and “literature”. Oral meaning the transference of knowledge and literature often being described as writing and books, but overall meaning stories. Using the information, we got from this discussion during the lecture we are able to see why in 1991s the historic court case of the Gitxsan’s “people of the Skeena” or “people of the river of mist” Delgamuukw et al v The Queen is a monumental case for indigenous tribes in North America. We also discussed the difference between objective and subjective information/storytelling. Western minded people tend to look at information objectively, without bias and don’t put themselves in the equation while American
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The court case was Delgamuukw et al v The Queen from March 8th, 1991, where 2 tribes, Gitxsan house and Wet’suwet’en house’s hereditary chiefs claimed Aboriginal rights over about 22,000 square miles of land of their traditional territories along the basin of the upper Skeena River to Legate Creek to Skeena’s headwaters and its surrounding tributaries. The land was divided into 133 individual territories and claimed by 71 houses. The Gitksan consist of approximately 4,000 to 5,000 people while the Wet’suwet’en has approximately 1,500-2,500. For evidence, the Gitksan/Gitxsan brought up their “adaawk,” a collection of sacred oral traditions about their ancestors, histories, and territories while the Wet’suwet’en has a “kungax” which is their spiritual song, dance, and performance which ties them to their land. Both tribes tried entering these as evidence however, the trial judge denied entry of the evidence and dismissed their action against Canada for the claim of ownership of the land. The judge granted the plaintiffs a declaration that they were entitled to use unoccupied or vacant land subject to the general law of the
The court case was Delgamuukw et al v The Queen from March 8th, 1991, where 2 tribes, Gitxsan house and Wet’suwet’en house’s hereditary chiefs claimed Aboriginal rights over about 22,000 square miles of land of their traditional territories along the basin of the upper Skeena River to Legate Creek to Skeena’s headwaters and its surrounding tributaries. The land was divided into 133 individual territories and claimed by 71 houses. The Gitksan consist of approximately 4,000 to 5,000 people while the Wet’suwet’en has approximately 1,500-2,500. For evidence, the Gitksan/Gitxsan brought up their “adaawk,” a collection of sacred oral traditions about their ancestors, histories, and territories while the Wet’suwet’en has a “kungax” which is their spiritual song, dance, and performance which ties them to their land. Both tribes tried entering these as evidence however, the trial judge denied entry of the evidence and dismissed their action against Canada for the claim of ownership of the land. The judge granted the plaintiffs a declaration that they were entitled to use unoccupied or vacant land subject to the general law of the