If you look into it - You can read up on Native Law in Canada and discover that from a jurisdictional standpoint - Indian Reserves are Federal Jurisdiction. There are no Federal Laws that deal with commodities or exchanges as of yet... and even if they do -- There is a Charter of Rights and Freedoms argument to be made... See Indians from my community have a tens of thousands of year cultural history of gaming, and potlatch (our banking system) - Under the Charter, we have the right to excercise the practices that allow us to keep our culture alive. Under case law, we are allowed to practice such cultural activites in modern form.. (as an example, our right to fish does not keep us from using Trolling Boats and Nets... instead of weirs and spears) -- We don't need to hunt deer with Bows and Arrows... We can use guns.... Well... we had an exchange of currencies in our potlatch system... we also played a gambling game called Sla-hall... where people would wager years worths of their earnings at a game.... So we make the case that we have the right to engage in these practices... ALSO -- the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (which Canada and the Province of BC has accepted) declares that we have the right to self-determination.... Sooooo what does this all mean... IN THE VERY LEAST... if the STate challenges our right to do this -- we can look forward to a 20 year court battle before it's settled. In the meantime unless there is some compelling harm, the property of an indian can not be seized from an indian reseve.... That's part of our thinking on this.
If you look into it - You can read up on Native Law in Canada and discover that from a jurisdictional standpoint - Indian Reserves are Federal Jurisdiction. There are no Federal Laws that deal with commodities or exchanges as of yet... and even if they do -- There is a Charter of Rights and Freedoms argument to be made... See Indians from my community have a tens of thousands of year cultural history of gaming, and potlatch (our banking system) - Under the Charter, we have the right to excercise the practices that allow us to keep our culture alive. Under case law, we are allowed to practice such cultural activites in modern form.. (as an example, our right to fish does not keep us from using Trolling Boats and Nets... instead of weirs and spears) -- We don't need to hunt deer with Bows and Arrows... We can use guns.... Well... we had an exchange of currencies in our potlatch system... we also played a gambling game called Sla-hall... where people would wager years worths of their earnings at a game.... So we make the case that we have the right to engage in these practices... ALSO -- the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (which Canada and the Province of BC has accepted) declares that we have the right to self-determination.... Sooooo what does this all mean... IN THE VERY LEAST... if the STate challenges our right to do this -- we can look forward to a 20 year court battle before it's settled. In the meantime unless there is some compelling harm, the property of an indian can not be seized from an indian reseve.... That's part of our thinking on this.