The Gavel and Wampum Belt

Photo credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-wooden-gavel-5668473/

Imagine a solid, wooden gavel woven together with an intricately-beaded Wampum Belt. The Wampum Belt is a powerful symbol of Indigenous diplomacy, agreement, and conflict resolution. Historically, Wampum Belts recorded treaties and embodied commitments to peace, respect, and mutual responsibility to share and care for lands. Now, picture these two objects bound together with a sturdy gavel crushing its weight upon the belt. This imagery perfectly captures the central tension within Canada’s Call to Action 42 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  Call to Action 42 was introduced in 2015 as part of the 94 Calls to Action, which seek to affirm Indigenous legal traditions and expand their authority within the modern Canadian justice system.

Wampum Belts

For much of Canada’s history, the gavel has come down firmly on attempts for Indigenous independence. The Indian Act, one of the most influential legal documents in the country’s history, has functioned as a tool to restrict Indigenous self-governance by forcing Indigenous peoples to abide by Canadian law. Rather than allowing them to rely on their own justice systems, the act imposed rigid legal controls that undermined Indigenous independence. In this context, the gavel is not a neutral symbol of justice as it represents enforcement without consent. It shows a system that prioritized authority and domination over understanding and co-existence.

Canada’s Constitution Act of 1982 appeared to signal a shift in this relationship. It recognized Indigenous rights and created a legal space for Indigenous justice systems to exist independently. However, this promise remained largely theoretical. Legal complexity, insufficient funding, and institutional resistance prevented many Indigenous communities from establishing or sustaining their own systems of government. Although the language of the law changed, the balance of power remained undisrupted. 

Rather than honouring Indigenous legal methods and traditions, the Canadian government continually imposes its own systems and rule of law. One of the most devastating consequences of this imbalance was the Residential School system in which thousands of Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their homes, alienated from their families, stripped of their language and culture, and forcibly assimilated into the dominant, settler culture, religion, and ways of life. 

Every Child Matters

The Canadian National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) began in 2015 to address the calls of Indigenous women’s groups for the government to investigate the vast number of Indigenous women who have gone missing or been murdered. It revealed a direct connection between the victimization of Indigenous women and a lack of police effort and resources applied to solving these cases. 1,017 women and girls identified as Indigenous were murdered between 1980 and 2012 – a homicide rate roughly 4.5 times higher than that of all other women in Canada, according to an RCMP report. While the RCMP claims that 80% of these cases are solved, a study by the Native Women’s Association of Canada found that only 50% of all cases have been solved and that charges were laid in only 40% of cases. 

Over-policing and disproportionate incarceration rates demonstrate how legal authority has further harmed and controlled these communities. Indigenous people are incarcerated at a rate ten times higher than non-Indigenous people in Canada. They make up 32% of the incarcerated population yet 4.3% of the total population. As a comparison, Black Canadians comprise 12.8% of the incarcerated and 3.3% of the total population. In 2023/2024, 2.6% of all Indigenous adults were imprisoned versus 0.8% of Black Canadians and 0.2% of the white population. The over-incarceration of Indigenous people in Canada is due to the lasting harm from colonization and Residential Schools, racism in the justice system, poverty, and a lack of social support in Indigenous communities.

Prison

Today, Call to Action 42 remains unfinished, revealing how reconciliation requires more than acknowledgments and apologies. Fully implementing this call would restore Indigenous jurisdiction and allow Indigenous communities to develop justice systems grounded in their own values, traditions, and knowledge. Tribal courts enable Indigenous communities to take control of their judicial processes on their own lands and utilize such practices as restorative justice. Such changes could help address the over-representation of Indigenous peoples in prisons and promote approaches to justice that emphasize healing, community accountability, and well-being.

Ultimately, the imagery of the gavel crushing the Wampum Belt shows the damage and hurt caused by the denial of Indigenous self-governance, but also the hope of repairing past wrongs. Reconciliation demands that the gavel be lifted and that the Wampum Belt be honoured. Only through significant action can Canada move toward a justice system that respects Indigenous sovereignty and honours treaty agreements.

Gavel and Scales of Justice