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Law Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous Spirituality and Religious Freedom

by (author) Jeffery Hewitt, Beverly Jacobs & Richard John Moon

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
May 2025
Category
Indigenous Peoples, Native American, Indigenous Studies
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781487505295
    Publish Date
    May 2025
    List Price
    $85.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781487523794
    Publish Date
    May 2025
    List Price
    $34.95

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Description

Indigenous Spiritualities and Religious Freedom investigates the complex relationship between Indigenous legal orders and Canadian law, emphasizing the richness of Indigenous spiritual practices alongside their historical and ongoing suppression by the Canadian state. It critically examines the role and limitations of the Canadian Charter of Right’s section 2(a), which guarantees freedom of religion, in protecting the spiritual lives of Indigenous communities.
The book highlights the holistic nature of Indigenous spiritual beliefs, which view the spiritual as immanent and closely tied to land and specific locations. The book reveals how, by contrast, the Anglo-American conception of religious freedom often separates spiritual and religious matters from civic and political concerns, and so fails to provide meaningful protection for Indigenous cultural and spiritual practices.
Many essays in this collection propose alternative approaches to the relationship between Canadian law and Indigenous legal orders, particularly regarding Indigenous spiritual practices. Ultimately, Indigenous Spiritualities and Religious Freedom reveals the challenges – and perhaps the futility – of seeking significant protection for Indigenous spiritual practices within the existing framework of religious freedom.

About the authors

Jeffery Hewitt is an associate professor at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.

Jeffery Hewitt's profile page

Beverly Jacobs is the senior advisor to the president on Indigenous relations and outreach, and an associate professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor.

Beverly Jacobs' profile page

Richard Moon is a distinguished university professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor.

Richard John Moon's profile page

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