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Indigenous Sovereignty: Canada's Approach to Implementation of the Inherent Right and the Negotiation of Aboriginal Self-Government (2010)

"The Government of Canada recognizes the inherent right of self-government as an existing Aboriginal right under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. . . . Recognition of the inherent right is based on the view that the Aboriginal peoples of Canada have the right to govern themselves in relation to matters that are internal to their communities, integral to their unique cultures, identities, traditions, languages and institutions, and with respect to their special relationship to their land and their resources" (par. 1).

"Aboriginal governments and institutions exercising the inherent right of self-government will operate within the framework of the Canadian Constitution" (par. 4).

"The inherent right of self-government does not include a right of sovereignty in the international law sense, and will not result in sovereign independent Aboriginal nation states" (par. 6).