譯/王麗娟
Whenever Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or his Cabinet ministers speak in certain parts of Ontario or Quebec, they begin by acknowledging they are on "unceded Algonquin territory."
That recognition is just one of the ways Trudeau's government has been trying to signal a top priority: righting the wrongs Canada has done to indigenous people, especially over land that aboriginals say was taken from them unjustly.
每當總理賈斯汀．杜魯多或他的內閣部長在安大略或魁北克省的特定地方發表演說時，都會以承認他們是站在「未讓渡的阿岡昆領土上」開場。
如此承認只是杜魯多政府試圖表明其第一優先要務的途徑之一，這要務則是導正加拿大對原住民所做的錯事，特別是針對原住民聲稱被以不公平方式奪走的土地。
But finding common ground on this issue has proved to be one of Trudeau's most difficult policy initiatives, and critics say efforts to resolve the land disputes have bogged down. But both sides agree on the importance of sorting out the claims.
"The process of negotiating land claims should be an absolute pillar of reconciliation," said Ken Coates, a historian at the University of Saskatchewan who studies treaties and is a consultant to indigenous groups. "This is our chance to get it right and if we don't — boy, when will we get the chance again?"
在這議題上尋求共識已證明是杜魯多最棘手的政策舉措之一，且批評者指出，解決土地紛爭的努力已陷入困境。不過，雙方都認同解決土地聲索問題的重要性。
薩斯喀徹溫大學歷史學家肯恩．柯茨對條約有深入研究且是原住民團體的顧問，他說：「談判土地聲索的過程應該成為雙方和解的絕對支柱。這是我們導正錯誤的機會，若不這樣做，天哪，不知何時還有機會？ 」
Of the many issues dividing Canada's federal and provincial governments from its indigenous people, land claims are among the most symbolically important and economically consequential, often involving vast amounts of territory.
Some claims involve hundreds of millions of dollars, and tribes are often interested in controlling the land at issue, by, for example, having a say over logging, oil exploration and mining.
在造成加拿大聯邦政府、省級政府與原住民間隔閡的諸多問題中 ，土地聲索是最具象徵意義與經濟重要性者之一，經常事關極大量的領土。
有些土地聲索涉及數億美元，部落往往對擁有這些爭議土地的控制權感興趣，例如在伐木、探油和開礦上享有發言權。
One claim by various Algonquin groups involves the 8.9 million acres of the Ottawa watershed — which includes Canada's Parliament buildings and Supreme Court. The government thought it had settled that claim in principle a year ago, but it has ended up in litigation anyway.
The claims are legally thorny, often requiring historians, archaeologists, geographers and geologists to give evidence sometimes stretching back before recorded history to support, or challenge, them.
各阿岡昆族群共同提出的聲索之一，是渥太華流域的890萬英畝土地，其上有加拿大國會大廈和最高法院。 政府認為1年前原則上已解決了這項聲索，不過到頭來還是成了對簿公堂。
這些聲索在法律上相當棘手，經常需要歷史學家、考古學家、地理學家和地質學家提供證據，有時還必須回溯到有文字可考歷史之前，以支撐或挑戰這些聲索。
In some regions, land may have been occupied by different indigenous groups at different times, even changing hands after battles that were unrecorded. These groups may all assert rights, and claims can overlap.
Then there is the problem of treaties. Some indigenous groups, like the Algonquins, never signed treaties giving up their land. The government says it is talking with about 140 indigenous groups in that situation.
在部分地區，土地可能被不同的原住民族群在不同的時間占據過，甚至曾在戰爭後易手而沒有留下紀錄。這些族群可能都提出主權聲索，而且可能彼此重疊。
接著還有條約問題。一些原住民族群如阿岡昆人，從未簽署過放棄他們土地的條約。 政府表示他們正與處於這種狀況下的約140個原住民族群進行談判。
Others did sign treaties, and a government tribunal that deals with treaty disputes has 72 cases and is so overwhelmed that it cannot estimate how long it will take to resolve them.
The result is that settlement negotiations occur at a frustratingly slow pace.
其他族群確實簽署了條約，處理條約爭端的1個政府法庭手上有72個案件，案件多到不堪負荷，難以估計要多久才能解決。
結果則是，和解談判是以令人沮喪的龜速進行。
說文解字看新聞
文/王麗娟
加拿大原住民聲稱（claim）他們的土地遭到不法奪走，因此透過法律途徑聲索（claim），這些土地聲索（land claim）有許多尚在對簿公堂中。claim意為聲稱時，與say的意義較接近， 如 He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.（他聲稱這一切都是為了對付他的一項陰謀。）claim意為聲索時，則與request（要求）意義接近，如The old man claimed the land. （這名老人（根據他的權利）要求得到這塊土地。）
當損失出現時，claim可當名詞或動詞用，意為「索賠」，如 a claim on delayed shipment.（因賣方未能按時出貨而索賠。）He claimed a casualty loss for the car.（他為汽車的意外損失提出索賠。）
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