ABSTRACT
Over the past two decades in Canada, New Zealand and Australia—three former British colonies with large indigenous populations—a new jurisprudence emerged on indigenous peoples' land rights. This chapter argues that often the better way to approach indigenous peoples' claims to traditional lands is to accept that in most cases the issue is not about recognition of existing rights but reparations for what was lost as a result of colonization. Of the three countries, only New Zealand has instituted concrete measures directed at making reparations for enduring injustices—though it rejects remedies aimed at restoring indigenous political institutions. In Canada, New Zealand and Australia, judicial decisions recognizing the legal existence of indigenous peoples' land rights began to emerge from the early 1970s, following the rise of identity-based social movements and the growth of judicial activism. New Zealand has taken the unique step of providing a process of reparation for historical wrongs but does not address the issue of Maori political autonomy.
