The movement`s ideological origins date back to 1972, when jurist Christopher Stone published the groundbreaking article «Should Trees Have Standing?» in the Southern California Law Review. Stone wrote that in the current structure of law, nature is considered a lawless thing or property («nature is the dominion of man») and argued that there is precedent in the law that would allow «natural objects» to have legal status if humans abandon «our sense of separation and peculiarity in the universe.» The important idea is this: with personality rights, a tree would no longer be considered by law as an object that must be owned and exploited, but as a legal entity with its own rights. Three years later, two mirror resolutions of more than 25 pages were adopted, rooted in the legal foundations of international and national law relating to First Nations and municipal law in the province of Quebec. Indigenous laws largely focus on the notion of accountability, she explains. It is a philosophy of giving rather than the reciprocal exchange of rights and duties that underpins Western legal systems. They also tend to take a broader view. While this is a first in Canada, it is part of a global Indigenous campaign that reflects the movement for the rights of nature and aims to provide concrete protections for the natural landscape. In recent years, many rivers – from Whanganui in New Zealand to the Klamath River in the United States – have acquired personality. In 2018, Colombia`s Supreme Court granted legal rights to the Amazon – the world`s largest river. Rivers talk, but since Western laws and institutions are not designed to listen, people must act as mediators who express their views on their behalf. Indigenous laws are well positioned to design the decision-making structures needed to bring the legal entity to life.
Back in Montreal, Yenny Vega Cardenas, president of the International Observatory for the Rights of Nature, said the recognition of the Magpie River has sparked interest from people across Canada and abroad, who have since called to ask if their local rivers can also benefit from the right to privacy. Instead of treating nature as property before the law, they want it to have a separate legal status – in other words, legally enforceable rights similar to those of individuals or companies. Depending on how a specific case is formulated, it is then up to some actors to ensure that nature`s legal rights are not violated. Examples like Thaidene Nëné are the exception in Canada, not the norm, although that may change. There is a national mandate to support Indigenous conservation initiatives and promote reconciliation. This support, combined with Indigenous leadership and accompanying legal changes, opens up new opportunities for the protection of land and water. Significant progress has also been made in granting legal rights and personality to aquatic systems such as rivers and oceans. The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Rivers, a non-binding international document, declares that all rivers are sacred and possess living beings, including the right of the river and the right to sue. Habeas corpus writings on behalf of non-human beings are also gaining momentum. In Argentina, in a case filed on behalf of a chimpanzee named Cecilia, the court recognizes that chimpanzees are living, sentient beings that have a fundamental right to be born, live, grow and die in an environment appropriate to their species. After the decision, Cecilia was transferred from a tiny concrete enclosure in an Argentine zoo to a protected area in Brazil. With its thunderous rapids that cross a wild boreal forest in Quebec`s Côte-Nord region, the Magpie River is known to whitewater rafters around the world.
What these travellers may not know is that the Elster River recently became the first river in Canada to be incorporated. After decades of efforts, led by the Innu of Ekuanitshit and local environmental groups, the Magpie River has officially been granted legal entity status – a first in Canadian history. The Magpie River is a natural wonder that stretches nearly 300 kilometres in northern Quebec and has been recognized by National Geographic as a world-renowned whitewater rafting destination. The rapids are not only a fundamental tourist attraction for the region, but also have deep cultural significance for the community of Ekuanitshit. The magpie, which crosses their ancestral land, is a spiritual unity for the Innu, allowing them to reconnect with their land and reflect on their pre-colonial ties with the region. To protect the natural monument, the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit and Minganie Regional County Municipality declared Mutuhekau Shipu a legal entity in 2021. Now the river has nine rights, including the right to flow, preserve biodiversity, be pollution-free and sue. The way these personality statements are implemented in legislation varies widely, ranging from global recognition in the case of the Whanganui River to a list of rights specific to Elster and Klamath. Other laws recognize individuals as rights holders, but lack personality. From the Amazon to the Klamath, granting legal rights to rivers is part of an indigenous effort to protect them.