Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage: A Canadian Obligation

In 2007, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples became law, extending inherent human rights for the first time to the approximately half a billion Indigenous people around the planet. But nation-states have been slow to rethink their laws and policies. Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage situates Canadian progress in undertaking these reforms within a global context and explains what Indigenous knowledge is, who may use it, and how to provide it with legal protection. By tracing decade-long negotiations with British Columbia and Canada, this book demonstrates the fundamental role of Indigenous advocacy in developing legislation and action plans to implement inherent rights. This fully new edition tackles current issues in intellectual property rights and topics such as the revision of educational curricula to incorporate Indigenous content and methodologies. What emerges is a proposal for cooperative legal reform that will invigorate Indigenous knowledge systems and heritage.