ABSTRACT
Psychologically, the core values of Aboriginal people, as well as the cultural beliefs and structures, have been highly resistant to change. This chapter identifies these core values, follow their persistence capacity over time and compare them with the same evolution of the dominant Western contemporary behavioural orientations from Western-European core values. A justice system that is based in Aboriginal culture would presumably speak more appropriately to Aboriginal people and be responsive to culture-based values and behaviour. On the Canadian legal landscape, as in the experiences of other countries' dealings with Aboriginal peoples, various forms of indigenization of the justice system have been experimented with. These values, defined by the primary motivators of the Native personality, can be presented as the original traditional Aboriginal values. Contemporary Aboriginal behaviour is rooted in traditional perceptions of reality, Aboriginal values, and a belief system that is grounded in prolonged cultural practice and centuries of Aboriginal experience.
