A Common Hunger: Land Rights in Canada and South Africa(Africa: Missing Voices)

Geographically, demographically, and politically, South Africa and Canada are two countries that are very far apart. What they have in common are indigenous populations, which, because of their historical and ongoing experience of colonization and dispossession, share a hunger for land and human dignity.Based on extensive research carried out in both countries, A Common Hunger is a comparative work on the history of indigenous land rights in Canada and post-apartheid South Africa. Joan Fairweather has constructed a balanced examination of the impact of land dispossession on the lives of indigenous peoples in both countries and their response to centuries of European domination. By reclaiming rights to the land and an equitable share in the wealth-producing resources they contain, the first peoples of Canada and South Africa are taking important steps to confront the legacies of poverty that characterize many of their communities. A Common Hunger provides historical context to the current land claim process in these two former British colonies and examines the efforts of governments and the courts to ensure that justice is done.

Table of Contents:
Preface Maps List of illustrations List of Maps & Acknowledgements Introduction Canada and South Africa Aboriginal Rights and International Law The Clearing of Lands and Languages Part One-Disposession The Land and the People The First Peoples of the Cape of Good Hope The First Peoples of North America Slavery in New France and the Cape Colony British North America The Cape under British Rule Frontier Societies Conclusion Land Rights and Treaties Introduction Canadian Treaties Treaties in Colonial South Africa Discussion: Strategies of Land Alienation Conclusion Sovereignty and Segrication Introduction Sovereignty and Constitutional Rights in Canada Assimilation in Twentieth-Century Canada Sovereignty in South Africa Pragmatic Segregation in South Africa Ideological Segregation: Apartheid South Africa The Struggle for Sovereignty in South Africa Challenging the Concept of Sovereignty in Canada Conclusion Part Two-Reclaiming the Land Litigation Introduction Aboriginal Rights Court Cases in Canada The Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en of British Columbia Delgamuukw v. British Columbia: The Supreme Court Decision (1997) Aboriginal Litigation in South Africa The Richtersveld Case: Background The Richtersveld Community vs. Alexkor Ltd and the Government of the RSA (2000) Conclusion Negotiating Restitution Introduction Reclaiming the Land in South Africa The Restitution Process in South Africa Challenges to Restitution in South Africa Case Study: The Mogopa Community, North West Province Rebuilding Communities The Conservation Factor The Case of Kosi Bay, Maputland (KwaZulu-Natal) Negotiating Land Restitution in Canada The B.C. Treaty Comission Conclusion Self-Government Restoring Sovereignty Negotiating Self-Government in Canada The Sechelt Agreement The Inuit People of the Northwest Territories The Nunavut Land Claim Reversing "Self Government" in the Former Bantustans Conclusion Part Three-Dealing with Legacies Restoring Dignity The Hunger for Dignity Legacies for Dispossession in Canada Legacies of Dispossession in South Africa The Problem of "Invsibility" Land Matters: Restoring Dignity Conclusion Reconciliation The Purpose of Public Inquiries Canada's Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1991-96) Critiquing the RCAP Process South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (1996-98) Critiquing the TRC Reparations Uncovering the Truth Conclusion Conclusion Why Land Rights Matter The Task of Nation-building in South Africa The Power of Stories (Canada) Appendix Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Joan G Fairweather

Review :
The strength of Fairweather's book is its well-written narrative account of the injustices and hardship suffered by indigenous peoples in Canada and Black South Africa and her sympathetic but shrewd assessment of their prospects of recovery from this experience. Peter Russell, University of Toronto Quarterly This interesting and well-documented book attempts the difficult task of comparing the histories of European occupation and subsequent dispossession, oppression, and struggles for liberation of indigenous and Aboriginal peoples in Canada and South Africa Allison Goebel, H-SAfrica