The Transposition of Law and Literature in Delgamuukw and Monkey Beach

This essay undertakes a cultural analysis of law and literature to analyze the relationship between the Supreme Court of Canada's reasoning in Delgamuukw and Eden Robinson's novel Monkey Beach. It shows how legal texts enact a foreclosure of social space by transforming human relations into legal resolutions. It argues that “outsider” accounts, such as those represented by Robinson's text, are important for framing stories and perspectives that are overlooked by legal accounts of human relations.