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Beyond the Indian Act: Restoring Aboriginal Property Rights Tom Flanagan, Christopher Alcantara, and André Le Dressay Montre al/ Kingston: McGiIlQueen's University Press, 2010. 224 pp. $34.95 paper.
DISCUSSION OF land governance and land administration matters on Indian Act reserves in Canada has persisted for several decades. There is a general consensus that the lands have been poorly managed by a federal department that is bureaucratic and geographically removed from the same lands, not to mention culturally disconnected. It should be of no surprise that a book focusing on the transformation of Aboriginal lands into fee simple private holdings would attract the attention of anyone interested in public policy connected to Aboriginal peoples as well as academics and professionals involved in related law, history, and land economics. In Beyond the Indian Act: Restoring Aboriginal Property Rights, Tom Flanagan, a former aide to Stephen Harper; Christopher Alcantara, a former student of Flanagan's; and André Le Dressay, a consultant and colleague of Flanagan's, present their idea for federal legislation that would provide underlying title and a legal framework for fee simple property ownership on First Nations reserves. Thev refer to it as the First Nations Property Ownership Act. Considering that land is inextricably linked to culture and tradition, among most other facets of life on a reserve, the proposal can be disquieting and is well worth pondering.
The book is written in three parts, each corresponding to sections written by the individual authors. The first focuses on property rights under...