Evidence Not in a Form Familiar to Common Law Courts: Assessing Oral Histories in Land Claims Testimony after Delgamuukw v. B.C.

The Supreme Court of Canada's recent decision in Delgamuukw v. B.C. permits a reconsideration of the place of oral traditions in aboriginal land claims cases. The Court advises that oral histories be given "independent weight," and that at trial McEachern C.J. had not "assessed the oral histories correctly. " However, the Supreme Court of Canada's view of how to weigh oral history in testimony is troublesome, in that then-Chief Justice Lamer informs us that such key features of oral histories as "moral obligations " are "tangential to the ultimate purpose of the fact-finding process at trial — the determination of the historical truth." This article considers how courts will be able to evaluate oral histories in the future, if such key features of testimony are to be discarded.