ABSTRACT
According to the main aboriginal organizations, recognition of inherent right should mean that aboriginal peoples would be able to govern themselves without limitations by Canadian laws of general application. Consideration of the radicality of the aboriginal-occidental difference raises the issue of the presence of irreconcilable or irreducible elements of human relations. This chapter analyses the story of a lawsuit that was disposed of by the British Columbia Supreme Court in the winter of 1992, which dealt with the aboriginal ritual of 'spirit dancing.' To understand the initiation of David Thomas as punishment would be a cultural misreading of the nature of spirit dancing. The theme of healing is central in the accounts given by the aboriginals of their attempts to overcome the devastation that has been wrought in their lives by occidental domination, and which often expresses itself in alcohol and/or drug addiction, prostitution, suicide, and violence against women.
