The land rights obtained by Canada's Indigenous population today can be attributed to many influential court cases and government documents. Though there where many the fallowing essay will examine five influential court cases and government documents that led to modern day aboriginal land rights. These five documents are the Royal Proclamation of 1763, the Johnson and Grahams Lessee vs. M"Intosh judicial decision, the Calder vs. British Columbia judicial decision, the Baker Lake vs. Canada judicial decision and the Constitution Act of 1982. By examining these five pivotal legal documents we can examine further the Political and Social ideals toward aboriginals in Canada as well as examine the development of Canadian law pertaining to Aboriginal land rights. .
In order to understand present day aboriginal rights in Canada it is necessary to understand some background information in the context of early European contact. A good example of how aboriginals were treated can be seen with the explorations of Sieur de Monts of France. In 1603 the king of France gave de Monts the authority to represent the royal interest in a vast territory, a territory that stretched from present day New Jersey north to Cape Breton Island and indefinitely westward. The king gave de Monts great power in the ability to sign treaties with aboriginals and de Monts is stressed to uphold these treaties with the utmost effort.1 Despite the fact that de Monts objective is to further the influence of the French in the Americas, the signing of treaties between de Monts and aboriginals displays a key factor in political ideals of the French. Due to the very fact that aboriginal tribes were treated as sovereign nation states, able to sign treaties of peace and war or trade and land agreements, gave them immediate rights. Due to the language barriers between aboriginals and Europeans often treaties were drafted to the disadvantage of the native people.