Donn Feir, University of Victoria - Institutional Drift, Property Rights, and Economic Development

Title:   Institutional Drift, Property Rights, and Economic Development: Evidence from Historic Treaties

Abstract: Can increased property rights for historically marginalized groups lead to economic inclusion? In this paper, we examine the answer to this question in the context of perceived land cession by Indigenous groups in Canada and how it changed over time. For nearly three centuries, Indigenous peoples within the borders of present-day Canada engaged in treaty-making with the British Crown and other European powers. These treaties formed the colonial legal basis for access to Indigenous lands. However, treaties were not negotiated everywhere, including in regions subsequently settled by Europeans. While initially, after the historic treaty period came to an end, the property rights claims of all Indigenous communities were weak in the eyes of the state, modern legal decisions made due to Indigenous nations being legally able to take their cases to the court, resulted in income divergence between nations that were perceived to extinguish their title to land in historic agreements and those that had not. These changes shed light on how legal power can increase economic development for groups, even if rights are communal, and how modern shifts in legislation can interact with historical institutions in meaningful, potentially unexpected ways.

Presenter: Donn. L. Feir, University of Victoria

If you would like to subscribe to the Melbourne Institute Seminar Series email list, please contact us.