Why is Aboriginal Law Important?

The list of discrepancies articulated in Andre Picard's recent article on the embarrassment of the current government's cancellation of Aboriginal health programs illustrates why aboriginal law is actually important.  A group of people only end up this consistently disadvantaged when they are legally and politically marginal.  The central thrust of aboriginal law is to ensure that aboriginal people have the means to deal with these issues themselves or to shame the rest of us into doing something about these circumstances.