Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage, New Edition: A Canadian Obligation

Examines past and emerging issues in the recognition of Indigenous inherent human rights and knowledge within a Canadian legal context.

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, it 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.

Author: Marie Battiste, James Sa'ke'j Youngblood Henderson
Publisher: Purich Pub.
Published: 07/06/2025
Pages: 424
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
ISBN: 9780774880824

About the Author
Marie Battiste is a citizen of the Mi'kmaq Nation of Potlotek First Nations and of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs in Maine. She is professor emerita in the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan. She is a widely published author and editor, an officer in the Order of Canada, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. James (Sa'ke'j) Youngblood Henderson is a member of the Chickasaw Nation and is a former director of the Native Law Centre at the University of Saskatchewan. A noted author and human rights lawyer, he has served as a leading constitutional advisor for the Assembly of First Nations and the Mi'kmaw Nation and is a member of the advisory board to the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is a fellow of the Native American Academy and the Royal Society of Canada.