Constitutional Status of Canadian Indians and their Settlements (in the Context of Territorial Autonomy)

Abstract

In this article based on the use of the comparative legal research method (internal and external) the constitutional legal nature and the inherent features of the status of Canadian Indians and their settlements are studied. On the basis of the historical-legal method, the genesis of the institutionalization of legal status of the Indians in the context of the implementation in Canada of trends and forms of equating them is studied. The dialectical method is involved in identifying identities and contradictions between constitutional-legal approaches to regulating the status of Indians among themselves, as well as settlements in relation to the provinces and municipalities of Canada, the concept of territorial autonomy. The relevance of the topic is determined by the feasibility of studying the Canadian experience for its possible consideration in the legal regulation of the status of the indigenous peoples of Russia. The novelty of study is predetermined by a certain lack of relevant materials in Russian legal science on constitutional-legal problems of regulating the statuses of Indian, Indian settlements. In addition, for the first time, the constitutional-legal status of Indian settlements was analyzed from the perspective of the concept of territorial autonomy. According to the results of this work, the author substantiates the principle expediency of consolidating the status of indigenous peoples in the form of a self-government regime in the national constitution, within the framework and on the basis of which an adaptive regulatory and legal system could later be developed more productively. With regard to Canadian statehood, it should be noted the regulation of the constitutional and legal status of Indians is carried out not only by federal law and agreements between the federal government and the Indian communities, but also by provincial legislation and acts of Indian groups, which often cause conflicts. Attention is drawn to the more successful experience of the institutionalization of the judicial authorities of the American Indian community. The criteria for determining territorial autonomy formulated in the scientific literature are analyzed. It is noted that with the formal application of these criteria to the constitutional- legal statuses of Indian settlements in Canada, one could state their belonging to territorial autonomies of a political type. At the same time, this approach does not quite accurately reflect the institutional correlation of Indian settlements and territorial autonomies. The author puts forward his own version of identification of intra-state entities as territorial autonomies, on the basis of which it is stated that Indian settlements can be qualified as territories with signs of limited autonomy. Such a conclusion is due to the lack of resources for the implementation of their powers, guarantees of independence and non-intervention of the federal authorities. As a possible conceptual tool for improving the constitutional- legal status of Indian settlements, the rationality of using the institution of territorial autonomy is emphasized.