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THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA AND THE `LEGAL AND POLITICAL STRUGGLE' OVER INDIGENOUS RIGHTS[*] ABSTRACT/RESUME Many Indian leaders have recognized that the Supreme Court of Canada has changed direction very significantly on issues of treaty and aboriginal rights. As a result, Indian attitudes towards the courts and litigation as a strategy are changing. This paper attempts to describe the changes that have been underway, with particular reference to judicial attitudes towards Indian treaties. Introduction United States law has used the doctrine of "discovery" to justify the takeover of Indian people and territory. In the same way Australian law has used the concept of "terra nullius," the legal myth that Australia had no previous owners. Today it is easy to see that both doctrines are racist. Both are inconsistent with modern international law. The United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations rejects both doctrines. Canadian law has never used either "discovery" or "terra nullius." Our legal tradition has been so self-confident, so arrogant, that it felt no need to have any legal theory justifying British colomalism. It is now generally accepted that the initial relations be