The Wetiko (Windigo) legal principles: Responding to harmful people in Cree, Anishinabek and Saulteaux societies---past, present and future uses, with a focus on contemporary violence and child victimization concerns.

摘要

A pressing contemporary issue within Indigenous communities is the frightening rates of internal violence and child victimization. How do we speak about the unspeakable? How do we protect those who we love, from those we love? This thesis explores possible answers to these questions within Cree, Anishinabek and Saulteaux legal traditions, as described in wetiko (windigo) stories and accounts. First, I examine the existing academic and legal literature alongside Cree oral information and conclude the wetiko is best understood as a complex legal concept, or categorization. I then demonstrate the similar thinking and theorizing around the dynamics of wetikos and offenders in cases of child victimization. Next, I outline the legal principles that emerge from a legal analysis of wetiko stories and accounts. Finally, I discuss possible future directions for and barriers to applying these legal principles to issues of violence and child victimization today.