| This dissertation provides information about the laws or rules used by a group of Northern Ojibwe, particularly the family laws of marriage, divorce, adoption and child care. It is also a story about how the legal institutions of Euro-Canadian culture have viewed the family laws of aboriginal groups around the country. In the dissertation the idea of large house and a small house is used as a metaphor to discuss the differences between the ways in which the Euro-Canadian society and the Northern Ojibwe view family law.;The materials used in this dissertation are drawn from a large body of historical, ethnographic, anthropological, and legal materials. Historical and ethnographic accounts about the Ojibwe people, as well as local histories and government reports are reviewed, or referred to. The legal materials are drawn from case commentary, legal articles and groups of cases from each of the legal areas discussed. However the bulk of the material comes from interview data collected from members of the various families of Ojibwe people in the study area.;Family law among the study group does not exist as a separate entity. It is inextricably woven into the fabric of the culture. It is a part of all other aspects of the culture. It is holistic. To discuss family law is to discuss all other aspects of the culture: the whole system of beliefs, spiritual beliefs, the economy, kinship ties, economic ties, community, and social relations. The rules of interpersonal relations among the Northern Ojibwe contain a number of key concepts that affect how issues related to the family are dealt with. These key concepts include, inter alia, pimadizewin, kinship, respect, sharing, and caring for.;If there is to be anything learned from this dissertation it is that the Northern Ojibwe do have family laws. Members of the study group say their family laws have been used by them and their forbears for as long as they can remember and have served them well. It seems reasonable to them that they should continue to use these laws alongside Euro-Canadian laws. |
