Preuve orale sur l'histoire autochtone

Cette page a été mise à jour ou révisée de manière substantielle pour la dernière fois January 2015. (Rev. # 13345)

Principes généraux

Les lois sur la preuve doivent tenir compte des témoignages oraux des peuples autochtones afin de leur donner un « pied d’égalité » avec d’autres types de preuves historiques, comme la documentation historique.^[1] L'évaluation de l'acceptation de la preuve se fait au cas par cas.^[2]

L'évaluation de la fiabilité ne doit pas se faire selon une norme communautaire, mais doit être objective.^[3] Une preuve qui « ne suscite que des soupçons, des suppositions ou des conjectures est, bien entendu, insuffisante. »^[4]

↑ Delgamuukw v. British Columbia, 1997 CanLII 302 (SCC), [1997] 3 SCR 1010 at para 87 ("Notwithstanding the challenges created by the use of oral histories as proof of historical facts, the laws of evidence must be adapted in order that this type of evidence can be accommodated and placed on an equal footing with the types of historical evidence that courts are familiar with, which largely consists of historical documents. This is a long-standing practice in the interpretation of treaties between the Crown and aboriginal peoples ... given that most aboriginal societies “did not keep written records”, the failure to do so would “impose an impossible burden of proof” on aboriginal peoples, and “render nugatory” any rights that they have...")
↑ , ibid. au para 87
↑ Canada c. Benoit, 2003 CAF 236 (CanLII) le juge Nadon
↑ , ibid. at para 25

[1] Delgamuukw v. British Columbia, 1997 CanLII 302 (SCC), [1997] 3 SCR 1010 at para 87 ("Notwithstanding the challenges created by the use of oral histories as proof of historical facts, the laws of evidence must be adapted in order that this type of evidence can be accommodated and placed on an equal footing with the types of historical evidence that courts are familiar with, which largely consists of historical documents. This is a long-standing practice in the interpretation of treaties between the Crown and aboriginal peoples ... given that most aboriginal societies “did not keep written records”, the failure to do so would “impose an impossible burden of proof” on aboriginal peoples, and “render nugatory” any rights that they have...")

[2] , ibid. au para 87

[3] Canada c. Benoit, 2003 CAF 236 (CanLII) le juge Nadon

[4] , ibid. at para 25

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