Self-study
The following passage was written in the late 1980s.
P1
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Problem ·
Legal recognition and preservation of aboriginal rights
Partial solution ·
Constitutional protection of aboriginal rights
Preserves those rights already legally recognized
New problem ·
Inconsistent recognition and establishment of constitutional aboriginal rights by provincial (lower) courts
Provincial courts responsible to interpret Constitution
P2
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Define ·
Aboriginal rights
Ownership of land and resources, self-government, legal recognition of customs
Example ·
Of obstacles to recognition of rights by provincial courts
Provincial courts interpret the right to recognition of customs as applying only to customs held prior to colonization; but aboriginal societies lack legal documentation from that time
P3
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Revisit problem ·
Difficult to establish aboriginal rights in practice
Example ·
Of difficulty establishing rights in practice
Provincial court interpreted “ownership” of land in very limited sense
Author’s perspective ·
On land ownership ruling
Provincial court’s interpretation was too limited, outcome is regrettable and unsatisfactory
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
20.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
The overly conservative ███████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ████ █ ███████ ██ ██████████████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███████
b
The overwhelming burden ██████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ██████████████ ████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ █████████ ██ █████
The problem isn’t that aboriginal peoples haven’t been able to “gain full ownership of land.” The problem is
c
Constitutional language aimed ██ ██████████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ██████ █████████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ████████████ ████ █████████
This best captures the main point, which is expressed at the end of P1.
d
Constitutional reforms meant ██ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ███████
(D) doesn’t capture that idea that the burden of interpreting general constitutional language has resulted in inconsistent recognition and establishment of aboriginal rights. (D) is too narrowly focused on some courts’ decisions. But the author brought up a court decision in the last paragraph to support the broader main point expressed at the end of P1.
e
Efforts by aboriginal ██████ █████████ ██ ██████ ██████████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████
(E) doesn’t capture that idea that the burden of interpreting general constitutional language has resulted in inconsistent recognition and establishment of aboriginal rights. Although the author mentions the Supreme Court at the end, that reference is in connection with an individual provincial court decision, and that decision is brought up to support the broader main point expressed at the end of P1.