Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
Normally, the middle of the winter term is a time for upper year law students to travel across Canada to participate in national moot court competitions. The COVID-19 pandemic has halted in-person competitions, but most of the national moots elected to host virtual competitions so that students could develop their oral advocacy skills in the ‘new normal’ format: online.
This past weekend, the University of Alberta sent four law students to the Kawaskimhon Moot, hosted by the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Law: Jordyn Woycheshin (3L), Alexa LaPlante (3L), Kienna Shkopich-Hunter (2L), and ReconciliAction co-lead Teresa Holmes (3L).
Kawaskimhon is Cree in origin and roughly translates to “speaking with knowledge”. The Kawaskimhon Moot is unique from other competitive moots in that it is conducted in accordance with Indigenous customs of peaceful negotiation and consensus-building. The moot incorporates Indigenous legal traditions alongside federal, provincial, and international law. Students represent an assigned party and participate in complex roundtable negotiations with the assistance of facilitators.
Kawaskimhon Moot logo, Source: https://law.usask.ca/kawaskimhon2021/index.php
This experience is one that the participants can take into their legal careers and beyond. Students learn to be self-managing and collaborative, and deal with resolution of substantive issues. They also learn to reach collaborative agreement on the negotiation process itself, and how they will determine they have found consensus between parties.
This year, the problem centered on examining a land title issue from a Métis perspective. Teams were asked to create legislation to be relied upon by a fictional Métis Nation to deal with the effects of COVID-19. Participants were required to consider a number of legal issues including jurisdiction, Métis law, Charter rights, enforcement, adjudication, and penalties. This issue is very real in nations across Canada. Record breaking numbers of laws, bylaws, and policies are being created and applied across the country in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The University of Alberta represented the federal government, while other law schools represented the Métis Nation, the Government of Saskatchewan, the RCMP, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, and the Métis National Council.
Table 3 Participants at the 2021 Kawaskimhon Moot. Photo Credit: Teresa Holmes
The moot problem was not without its controversy. A few days before the moot, one facilitator announced his withdrawal from the event accompanied by his opposition to the problem. The problem was based on the assumption that Canada possesses underlying title and can give it to the Métis Nation. As this facilitator indicated, the doctrine of discovery and terra nullius are colonial assumptions that have been widely discredited by many, including our blog's authors. Further, Indigenous sovereignty and the right to self-govern have been recognized by the United Nations and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as important aspects of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
The participants took this facilitator’s feedback as an opportunity to discuss and incorporate an analysis of underlying sovereignty and title into their discussions. Our hope is that future Kawaskimhon Moot problems will address the ongoing harms caused by an assumption of Crown sovereignty, and recognize its implications within the moot exercise and in Canadian society.
We would like to extend our gratitude to the organizers of the first virtual Kawaskimhon Moot. It was disappointing that we could not participate in person in Iqaluit, but the virtual experience was also rewarding and memorable.
Congratulations to the organizers, and participating teams, coaches, facilitators of the 2021 Kawaskimhon Moot!
Until Next Time,
ReconciliAction YEG
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