McMahon on "I Lost My Talk": Indian Residential Schools, Copyright, Archives, and Commissions of Inquiry

Thomas McMahon, Independent, has published 'I Lost My Talk': Indian Residential Schools, Copyright, Archives and Commissions of Inquiry. Here is the abstract.

People give statements to commissions of inquiry, courts, administrative tribunals, police and other government bodies. Who owns the copyright in those statements? What practical value is there in copyright ownership in those contexts? This paper examines in detail the copyright issues relating to the statements that survivors of Indian Residential Schools gave to Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. As related background, the paper gives a detailed review of the Supreme Court of Canada's order to destroy statements given by survivors to the Independent Assessment Process. This paper examines copyright cases from Canada, England, the United States and Australia dealing with interviews generally, statements and indigenous peoples. This paper is one of a series by the author examining the many legal issues relating to Indian Residential Schools and the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

NB:  Mr. McMahon was Executive Director of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from October 2009 to July 2010, and then served as General Legal Counsel to the Commission for the remainder of the Commission’s mandate. McMahon was previously a long-time Department of Justice Canada lawyer. Before that, McMahon was Executive Secretary of the Manitoba Aboriginal Justice Inquiry