The Supreme Court is a “colonial institution,” according to Attorney General David Lametti. Lametti told the House of Commons justice committee he wanted to revitalize ancient Indigenous legal systems..“It is extremely important that Indigenous peoples be able to see themselves in what are quite frankly colonial institutions and see their participation as a way of making those institutions better and see this as a way of making Canadian law better,” Lametti told the committee..According to Blacklock's Reporter, the Attorney General made the remarks in explaining cabinet’s appointment of Supreme Court nominee Michelle O’Bonsawin, a member of the Abenaki First Nation from Hanmer, Ont. “We have made progress on diversity in appointments,” said Lametti..“I have in recent months elevated two people to courts of appeal of Indigenous backgrounds, Justice Len Marchand in British Columbia and Justice Jonathon George in Ontario,” said Lametti..“It gives a boost to Indigenous laws themselves and the revitalization of Indigenous legal systems,” said Lametti. “It adds to the legitimacy of those revitalization projects which are critically important as we move forward to making Canada a truly pluralistic legal system.”.Attorney General Lametti did not explain his “colonial institution” reference. However in 2021 he endorsed adoption of Indigenous legal traditions on First Nations territory. “This brings me hope as a Minister and as a jurist,” said Lametti..The Department of Justice on August 3, 2021 approved a $500,000 grant to “implement Secwepemc laws in the Shuswap Nation” at Kamloops, B.C. The department in a statement said funding would promote “Secwepemc legal traditions pertaining to lands, natural resources and citizenship.”.Tribal Chief Wayne Christian told reporters at the time that Shuswap Nation laws were unwritten. “In our oral history, our laws are embedded there,” said Christian..“It’s our laws,” he said. “We have legal traditions. We do know and understand we actually had Indian courts, we had our own jails, we had our own police. We had our own process for sentencing, and that was right up until the imposition of white law and then it was all taken away.”.“People think we’re a lawless, savage people and that’s not true,” said Christian. “Our people were very highly organized and had legal processes looking after each other.”.The Supreme Court of Canada dates from 1875. Its first chief justice, William Buell Richards, was a former Ontario attorney general from Brockville, Ontario..First cases decided in the 1876 Reports Of The Supreme Court included Kelly v. Sullivan, a Prince Edward Island land titles case; The Queen v. Taylor involving a St. Catharines, Ont. wholesaler charged with selling 1,000 gallons of beer without a license; and Boak v. Merchants Marine Insurance Co., a Halifax appeal involving a $4,500 policy on a sunken schooner.
