The Implementation of UNDRIP: Legal Dimensions of Indigenous Peoples’ Cultural Heritage and Property in Canada

Canada, both federally and in British Columbia, has formally adopted the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Despite Canada’s adoption of UNDRIP, the laws, customs, and practices of Indigenous Peoples are sui generis and must be recognized and applied as such. This article considers the nature of Indigenous culture and heritage and the potential for recognition and protection on a proprietary basis judicially or legislatively — or a combination of both — within the framework of UNDRIP. This article further considers a means of linkage between federal and provincial law on the one hand, and Indigenous peoples’ law, custom, or practice on the other. Lastly, this article examines various or ancillary matters that are essential to establishing justiciability in the recognition and protection of heritage and culture of Indigenous peoples.