December 2007/January 2008 Volume 7, Issue 2

Editorial

At the start of a new year, with a new Federal Government – one that will apologise – there seems much to look forward to. Yet much to look out for as well.

While Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has recently confirmed that he will apologise to the stolen generations, he has vehemently refused to establish a compensation fund. The apology, to be made on behalf of the Australian Government, will be made on 13 February 2008, subsequent to consultation with various Indigenous people around the country. While Australia debates the compensation issue, Linda Popic’s article looks at the Canadian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement and examines the impact of this act of reparation, which also includes a truth and reconciliation commission.

This edition sees the conclusion of Elena Marchetti’s two-part article on Indigenous women and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Part two looks into why it is that the Royal Commission did not focus particularly on issues relevant to Indigenous women.

Erin Mackay is the co-director of a new project of the Indigenous Law Centre looking into Aboriginal art and the law. Here Erin looks at Indigenous cultural and intellectual property and questions what is needed to provide effective protection for Indigenous artists, communities and culture.

In this edition we publish a variety of casenotes, some looking at issues which defined the year’s end or which may well determine the year ahead. In October of 2007, the Supreme Court of Belize recognised customary land tenure held by the Maya people. Garth Nettheim provides a casenote on that decision here. Still on important cases, Sean Brennan and Peta MacGillivray attended the High Court hearing in early December of the Blue Mud Bay case. With the decision yet to be handed down, this case has significant economic implications for coastal Aboriginal communities.

Kirsty Ruddock from the Environmental Defender’s Office (‘EDO’) has detailed the background to the McArthur River mine and the way in which approval was granted to convert the mine to open cut. The ramifications of this approval for Traditional Owners, their land, river and rich cultural heritage are significant. Also from the EDO, Aboriginal Liaison Officer Neva Collings writes about a new publication – Caring for Country: A Guide to Environmental Law for Aboriginal Communities – and outlines how this guide can inform and empower Indigenous people to understand and use the law for environmental protection.

Jacqui Houston
Editor

Archives of the ILB from Volume 1, Issue 1 (1981) to 6 (23) 2006 are available online at http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AboriginalLB and http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ILB/.

Caring for Country: A Guide to Environmental Law for Aboriginal Communities
by Neva Collings

Indigenous Women and the RCIADIC - Part II
by Dr Elena Marchetti

Recent Developments: Copyright and the Protection of Indigenous Art
by Erin Mackay

Compensating Canada’s ‘Stolen Generations’
by Linda Popic

Fishing Case Tests Economic Waters for Traditional Owners
by Sean Brennan and Peta MacGillivray

Justice in the Northern Territory?
by Kirsty Ruddock

The Maya Land Rights Case: Recognition of Native Title in Belize
by Professor Garth Nettheim

Regular

Recent Happenings December 2007
Recent Happenings January 2008