Indigenous Law in Context: Tŝilhqot'in Dechen Ts'edilhtan the Governance of Water

The people of the Tŝilhqot'in Nation govern their lands according to dechen ts'edilhtan, or ancestral law. In Canada, Indigenous laws are often misunderstood, disregarded, or simply invisible to non-Indigenous people. Indigenous Law in Context investigates this issue in terms of one First Nation and a particular legal area: water governance within Tŝilhqot'in traditional territory in the Chilcotin region of British Columbia. Despite recent gestures toward reconciliation, the Canadian state undeniably continues to assume dominance in law making. Given this reality, is giving deference to Indigenous governments for decision making possible when it comes to management of a precious resource? Alan Hanna explores the intersections and conflicts inherent in Indigenous, provincial, and federal government legal approaches to water governance. He analyzes portions of Tŝilhqot'in oral tradition in conjunction with knowledge, gleaned from numerous interviews with Elders. The goal of this painstaking work is to bridge conflicting world views in order to create dialogue on how Indigenous law – and specifically water law – can be meaningfully applied to twenty-first-century issues.