Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
Call to Action 28 is incredibly important to the legal profession, particularly for future lawyers who will one day be practicing and likely dealing with Indigenous clientele. Our laws are rooted in colonialism, often neglecting Indigenous issues and further oppressing Indigenous peoples through various judicial institutions. Call to Action 28 is not ambiguous in nature. It is specific and requires direct action from law schools, demanding the implementation of a mandatory course regarding Aboriginal people in the law. Meeting the goals of the TRC requires two components: indigenization and decolonization.
Indigenization involves the inclusion of community-based Indigenous researchers and knowledge-keepers in the creation of “a space where Indigenous values and knowledges are respected”.[2] Unfortunately, indigenization has begun to act as a buzzword for universities due to its oversimplified and inconsistent incorporation.[3] Efforts to make faculties or course content “indigenous-friendly” or “a little less oppressive” does not address underlying issues[4]. Including a chapter on “Indigenous peoples” (which is sometimes skipped over in order to make up lost time in some classes) and advertising it as an Indigenous initiative, or allowing students to practice a cultural practice smudging in a designated room, are both examples of indigenization.
Jeffery Hewitt, an assistant professor at the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Law, urges that indigenization must be accompanied by decolonization.[5] Decolonization is “the complicated work of acknowledging historic and ongoing wrongdoings along with claiming responsibility through naming, dismantling, countering and neutralizing both the collective and individual assertions and assumptions made in relation to Indigenous peoples.”[6] Schools must commit to fully addressing the ongoing injustices that are faced by Indigenous people today in order to properly reconcile harms that were inflicted in the past.[7] Learning about Indigenous laws, issues, and history in law school means that we must not simply be assigned a chapter titled “Indigenous Peoples” but strive to understand the history and law that has led to the gross overrepresentation of Indigenous people in our legal systems. Indigenization without decolonization leaves the colonial power-structures in place and perpetuates the injustices that Indigenous people have historically faced.[8] Implementing Call to Action 28 through a mandatory course would effectively involve the process of indigenization and decolonization.
A number of law schools across Canada have made serious efforts to meet Call to Action by implementing a required course in Aboriginal peoples and the law. McGill University has implemented a one week-long intensive course on Indigenous laws as a part of their first year law “Integration Workshop”.[9] Most recently, Osgoode Hall announced that they will be implementing a mandatory Indigenous law course for all students beginning September 2018.[10] Other schools have begun discussions about implementation of a mandatory course, however, official information has not yet been received as of publication.
The dedication of each of these schools to reconciliation provides inspiration to law students and professors who are hoping that one day Call to Action 28 will one day be met in their law school, including the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Law.
Until next time,
Team ReconciliAction YEG
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[1] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action (Winnipeg: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada), 2015.
[2] Taiaiake Alfred, Devon Abbott Mihesuah, & Angela Cavender Wilson, “Indigenizing the Academy: Transforming Scholarship and Empowering Communities” (Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 2004).
[3] Jeffery G Hewitt, “Decolonizing and Indigenizing: Some Considerations for Law Schools” (2016) 33:1 Windsor YB Access Just at 69 [Hewitt].
[4] Patricia Barkaskas and Sarah Buhler, "Beyond Reconciliation: Decolonizing Clinical Legal Education." (2017) 26 Journal of Law and Social Policy at 14 (Osgoode Digital Commons).
[5] Hewitt, supra at 70.
[6] Sarah Buhler, Priscilla Settee, & Nancy Van Styvendale, “Teaching and Learning about Justice through Wahkohtowin” (2014) 4 The Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research at 183 [Buhler].
[7] Hewitt, supra at 70.
[8] Buhler, supra at 14.
[9] Cherry Wu, “McGill Introduces Intensive Course on Indigenous Law” McGill Tribune (January 17, 2017), online: <http://www.mcgilltribune.com/news/mcgill-faculty-of-law-introduces-intensive-course-on-indigenous-law-097235/>
[10] Osgoode Indigenous Students’ Association, News Release, “Osgoode Hall Responds to TRC #28 with Introduction of Mandatory Indigenous Law Requirement” (18 March 2018).
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