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5 Years After TRC: A National Standard

(Image Credit: Debwe, led by Mushkiiki Nibi Kwe (Lindsey Lickers) with artists Leah Roberts, Maybella King Reynolds & Shaneixqui Brown.) 

 

Tansi Nîtôtemtik, 

 

TRC Call to Action #4 calls for federal legislation that establishes a national standard for Indigenous child welfare.  These national standards were to include provisions that; 

• Affirm the right of Indigenous governing bodies to manage their own child welfare; 
• Require the legacy of residential schools to be considered by decision-makers in courts and child welfare agencies, and 
• Establish a placement requirement that prioritizes culturally appropriate care.^[1] 

 

The Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children,Youth and Families (the Act, formerly Bill C-92) came into force in January 2020.^[2]  ReconciliAction YEG wrote about Bill C-92 both after it was first introduced, and after the Act came into force.^[3] We won’t reinvent the wheel with today & tomorrow’s post, but we want to specifically address how this legislation responds to the Call of the TRC. 

 

The Act directly acknowledges the TRC Call for a legislated national standard in the preamble, which on the surface, immediately addresses Call to Action #4. It states: 

 

Whereas the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action calls for the federal, provincial and Indigenous governments to work together with respect to the welfare of Indigenous children and calls for the enactment of federal legislation that establishes national standards for the welfare of Indigenous children.^[4]

 

Additionally, section 8(a) of the Act states that the purpose of the Act is to “affirm the inherent right of self-government, which includes jurisdiction in relation to child and family services”.^[5]

 

While this legislation is a huge step forward with its statutory recognition of Indigenous government’s inherent jurisdiction over child welfare, it has been problematic from its introduction. Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, called the legislation “a colonial Faustian bargain” in that it requires Indigenous groups to “accept the flawed bill in its current state or get nothing.”^[6]  These flaws include a total lack of statutorily allocated funding, over-reliance on the best interests of the child as interpreted by colonial courts, failure to fully recognize Indigenous jurisdiction, and no measures for accountability or data collection.^[7] The Yellowhead Institute published an in-depth assessment of the benefits and drawbacks of the final iteration of the Bill just after it was passed, but understanding the bargain referred to by Dr. Blackstock means understanding the two phases of the legislation.^[8]

 

Phase 1 of the Act is the National Standards.  This became effective immediately upon enactment, and sets a floor for how Indigenous child welfare must operate.^[9] Where the Act conflicts with provincial law, the Act takes precedent.^[10] This is a positive, because provincial child welfare standards vary from province to province, and the National standard will ensure that this minimum standard is consistent across Canada. 

 

Phase 2 of the Act is where Indigenous Laws can prevail over the National Standard, and the existing Provincial law. On its face, this sounds like a positive, but looking closer at the provisions acknowledging inherent jurisdiction, it appears more like inherent jurisdiction, if Canada says so.  Indigenous governing bodies can exercise jurisdiction either by giving notice of intent, or by making a request to enter into a coordination agreement with the relevant governments.^[11] Notice of intent to exercise jurisdiction allows the Indigenous governing body to handle child welfare matters according to provincial and federal law, but does not give force to Indigenous laws.^[12]  A coordination agreement would allow both jurisdiction and prevailing Indigenous law if reasonable efforts were made to reach an agreement within 12 months, and if the prevailing Indigenous law is not in conflict with the “best interests of the child”.^[13] 

 

Team ReconciliAction assigns a grade of C+ to the federally legislated national standard, and a grade of D to the Act’s affirmation of inherent jurisdiction. While a national standard for Indigenous child welfare has set a floor for the care of Indigenous children, the floor appears to be too low still without any allocated funding or accountability measures included as part of the standard. Additionally, an affirmation of the inherent jurisdiction that was never relinquished by Indigenous groups in the first place, merely amounts to lip service when colonial oversight is still imposed. 

Check back tomorrow for more on Call to Action #4, and tell us what you think of our assessment below!

 

Until next time, Team ReconciliAction YEG

¹  Truth and Reconcilliation Commission of Canada, Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission of Canada. (Ottawa: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015) at 320.

² An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families, SC 2019, c 24 [The Act].

³ ReconciliAction YEG, “Systemic Barriers and Indigenous Children: Bill C-92”, (21 March 2019), online: University of Alberta Faculty of Law Blog <https://ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2019/03/systemic-barriers-and-indigenous-children-bill-c-92.html>; ReconciliAction YEG, “An Overview of Bill C-92”, online: University of Alberta Faculty of Law Blog <https://ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2020/01/an-overview-of-bill-c-92.html>.

⁴ The Act, supra note 2 [emphasis added].

⁵ Ibid, s 8.

⁶ Cindy Blackstock, “Opinion: Will Canada continue to fail Indigenous girls?”, The Globe and Mail (6 June 2019), online: <https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-will-canada-continue-to-fail-indigenous-girls/>.

⁷ Naiomi Walqwan Metallic, Hadley Friedland & Sarah Morales, The Promise and Pitfalls of C-92:  An Act respecting First Nations,  Inuit, and Métis Children,  Youth and Families (Toronto, Ontario: Yellowhead Institute, 2019).

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ The Act, supra note 2, ss 4, 8(b).

¹⁰ Ibid, s 4.

¹¹ Ibid, s 20.

¹² Ibid, s 20(3).

¹³ Ibid, ss 10–15, 20(3), 21, 22, 23.

5 Years After TRC: Reducing Children in Care

Tansi Nîtôtemtik, 

 

Today we are looking at TRC Calls to Action #1 and #2.  Both of these Calls to Action call on governments to address the staggering number of Indigenous children in the child welfare system. The 2016 census showed that a shocking 52.2% of children in care were Indigenous.^[1] Why is this figure so shocking? Well, only 7.7% of children in Canada are Indigenous.^[2]  

(Image credit: Government of Canada; Indigenous Services Canada, “Reducing the number of Indigenous children in care”, (2 November 2018), online: <https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1541187352297/1541187392851>) 

 

Call to Action #1 calls for a commitment from governments to reduce Indigenous children in care through resourcing, monitoring and educating child welfare organizations, and requiring child-welfare investigators and decision makers to consider culturally appropriate environments and the effects of residential schools on children and caregivers. Call to Action #2 calls for annual published data on child welfare services and Indigenous children.^[3]

 

To evaluate Call to Action #1, Team ReconciliAction first needed to know if there has been a reduction of Indigenous children in care since 2015. However, the most recent federal data on the number of Indigenous children in care comes from the 2016 census. Due to the absence of annual published data, we have assigned a failing grade for Call to Action #2.  Finding out the number of Indigenous children in care would have been a simple task if Call to Action #2 had been adequately responded to.  Luckily for our readers, we law students are no strangers to research. 

 

News reports from June 2020 state that the proportion of Indigenous children in care in Saskatchewan hit an 11-year high for the number of children in care, with 86% of these children being Indigenous.^[4]  Following a similar upward trend, Alberta Human Services reported a 4% increase in Indigenous children in care in 2018, raising Alberta's figure to 70%.^[5]  Finally, between 2016 and 2018, BC saw an increase in the number of Indigenous children in care from 61% to 63%.^[6] 

 

The number of Indigenous children in care may be further impacted by recent published judicial interpretations of the Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families since it's coming into force in January 2020. Several courts across the country have interpreted the new priority placement provision in the Act in a way that places or keeps the Indigenous child in foster care, by skipping over or deeming 'not applicable' placements that are legislated as ahead of foster homes in priority.^[7] We will discuss this Act in greater detail next week when we look at Call to Action #4.

 

Overall, Call to Action #1 cannot be assigned a passing grade for reducing the number of Indigenous children in care because the proportion of Indigenous children in care has not been reduced since the final report from the TRC was released in 2015. Perhaps tomorrow this grade can improve when we evaluate whether there has been progress on the individual means of reducing the number of Indigenous children in care as set out in TRC Call to Action #1. Stay tuned!

What do you think about progress on Calls to Action #1 & #2? Comment below. 

 

Until next time, Team ReconciliAction YEG

 

¹ Government of Canada; Indigenous Services Canada, “Reducing the number of Indigenous children in care”, (2 November 2018), online: <https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1541187352297/1541187392851>.

² Ibid

³Truth and Reconcilliation Commission of Canada, Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission of Canada. (Ottawa: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015) at 319.

⁴ Anna McMillan, “Number of children in Saskatchewan’s care hits 11-year high, with 86% identified as Indigenous”, online: Global News <https://globalnews.ca/news/7020525/indigenous-children-saskatchewans-care-11-year-high/>.

⁵ Human Services Alberta, Child Intervention Information and Statistics Summary (Alberta: Human Services Alberta, Child Intervention Division, 2018).

⁶ Government of British Columbia, “Children and Youth in Care”, (31 March 2018), online: <https://mcfd.gov.bc.ca/reporting/services/child-protection/permanency-for-children-and-youth/performance-indicators/children-in-care>.

⁷An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, SC 2019 c 24 [The Act], s 16, When placing an Indigenous child, priority must be considered in order of, (a) with one of the child’s parents, (b) with another adult member of the child’s family,(c) with an adult who belongs to the same Indigenous group, community or people as the child, (d) with an adult who belongs to an Indigenous group, community or people other than the one to which the child belongs, or (e) with any other adult. Alberta (Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act, Director) v KC, 2020 ABPC 62 [AB Director v KC] at paras 30–31, Interpreted as inapplicable when family and Indigenous governing body have not put forth kinship or other placement options; British Columbia (Child, Family and Community Service) v SH, 2020 BCPC 82 [BCCFS v SH] Placement priority provision interpreted as not applicable when no other placement alternatives or evaluations have been provided to the court.

Meet the 2020/21 Team: Anita Cardinal-Stewart

Tansi Nîtôtemtik,

My name is Anita Cardinal-Stewart and I am a nehiyaw iskwew (cree woman), 2nd year law student and this year I have the honor of not only being a member of the Law and Social Media class, but also as acting President of the Indigenous Law Students Association at the University of Alberta, Faculty of Law. I am proud member of Woodland Cree First Nations #474 which is situated on Treaty 8 territory and made up of four reserves in northern Alberta (Cadotte Lake, Simon Lake, Golden Lake, and Marten Lake). The Woodland Cree First Nation signed an Adhesion to Treaty No.8 on September 24, 1991 and is situated 85 kilometers northeast of the Town Peace River, Alberta, 500km NW of Edmonton, Alberta.¹

It is there my father moved us to after the Adhesion, and away from the Metis Settlement (East Prairie Settlement) that we had been living on since I was a young girl. East Prairie sadly never truly felt like home because we were not Metis but rather non-status “Indians”. It was only after Bill C-31², or a Bill to Amend the Indian Act, passed into law in April 1985 to bring the Indian Act into line with gender equality under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, that our family could once again reclaim our status and move “home”,never forgetting how our Metis brothers and sisters had welcomed us.

Prior to law school, I was a Paralegal working in civil litigation, at a law firm where I had the privilege of working on files such as the Sixties Scoop, Newfoundland & Labrador Residential School claim settlement, Forced Sterilization (of which my mother is a Representative Plaintiff for) and many other historical sexual abuse claims. All which have been powerful motivations to enter into law school, albeit later in life than most as a mature student. I am a mother to three sons and doting kokum to 2 year old Niko. I want to continue to be a loud and active advocate for Indigenous Rights and youth initiatives, and as the Edmonton Program Leader for Level Justice and Circle Coordinator for Righting Relations I plan to use my time here to work vigorously to do so. In my spare time I am an ultra trail runner and most days you can find me training on the beautiful Edmonton river valley trails. 

Thank you for your time and I hope you continue to come along on this journey with us for the next 8 months. It was a pleasure. 

Until next time, Anita Cardinal-Stewart

Team ReconciliAction YEG

 

¹  Woodland Cree First Nation, “Home” (2015), online: Woodland Cree First Nation <“https://www.woodlandcree.net/>

² The Canadian Encyclopedia, “Bill C-31” (May 12, 2020), online: The Canadian Encyclopedia <https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bill-c-31>

Meet the 2020/21 Team: Tamya Chowdhury

Tansi Nîtôtemtik,

My name is Tamya Chowdhury, and I am a third year law student at the University of Alberta. I am very excited to be a member of the Law and Social Media class for the 2020-21 academic year, especially in light of our blog’s theme ‒ assessing the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) Calls to Action, five years later.^[1] 

Prior to starting law school, I worked as a registered nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit. My experience in healthcare clearly demonstrated the inequities faced by Indigenous people and communities, through inadequate access to healthcare, increased involvement with the child welfare system, and systemic discrimination. Since beginning law school, I have learned more about the colonial roots of these inequities. It is impossible for Canadian society to address the current inequities without acknowledging and understanding their historic roots.

This summer, I read Bob Joseph’s book, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act ^[2] . The book highlights the effects of the Indian Act and suggests means of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, namely through self-governance. After reading the book, I felt a renewed sense of optimism at the prospect of reconciliation, despite the numerous historic injustices faced by Indigenous peoples. This year, I look forward to exploring what progress has been made five years after the TRC Calls to Action and taking a critical look at where we have fallen short. 

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog! We hope you continue along with us over the next eight months as we delve into the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action. 

Until next time,

Tamya Chowdhury

¹Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (Ottawa, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015).

²Bob Joseph, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act (Port Coquitlam: Indigenous Relations Press, 2018).

Meet the 2020/21 Team: Sarah Kriekle

Tansi Nîtôtemtik, 

 

My name is Sarah Kriekle and I am a Co-Lead of this year’s ReconciliaAction YEG blog team along with Teresa Holmes. Throughout this week our posts will introduce our team and you will get to know Teresa and myself, along with Tamya Chowdhury, Anita Cardinal-Stewart, and Tyler Godard.  

 

I am a first-generation Albertan, first-generation law student, and the first in my family to attend post-secondary school.  Before law school, I worked in supply chain and planning for a manufacturing company while I completed my Bachelor of Commerce degree part time. Since starting law school I have developed a keen interest in Indigenous governance and legal orders, and am looking forward to incorporating the knowledge and skills I am learning now into my future practice. You can read a bit more about my law school experience here.

 

I live in Red Deer, Alberta, just north of the Red Deer River. This river used to be known as “Waskasoo Seepee” which translates to “Elk River” in Cree. Elk were originally misidentified as European red deer by early settlers, which is how the city and the river came to have its current name.^[1] The area of Red Deer in which I live later became part of Treaty 6 territory, the traditional lands of the Nahkawininiwak (Salteaux) & Nêhiyawak (Plains Cree), and a traditional gathering place for the Métis. 

 

My ancestry is a mix of Métis, Ukrainian, German, and Austrian. My family’s Canadian roots originated with the early French settlers and the Salteaux in the Red River area. They eventually migrated during the time of the Riel Rebellion to Lebret and Fort Qu’Appelle, SK, where they remained.  I have been lucky to find detailed stories about my family in various works by Métis historians Lawrence Barkwell and Dr. Heather Devine.  While learning about my ancestry, I have also uncovered more about my Ukrainian, German, and Austrian heritage. My maternal grandfather’s grandparents first came to Canada from Ukraine and settled in Manitoba, and my paternal great-grandparents came from Germany and Austria, and settled in Saskatchewan. 

 

To me, this blog represents an opportunity for me to dig deeper into the colonial fracturing of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit life, culture and legal orders, and the Calls to Action meant to begin Canada’s work repairing the damage.  I believe that we cannot reach a point of reconciliation without full acknowledgment of the harms created by colonialism, and ReconciliAction YEG provides an accessible platform to bring the discussion to a broad community. 

 

Our team welcomes and encourages any feedback or questions from our readers, and we are all looking forward to the upcoming year with the blog. Tune in to meet Tamya tomorrow!

Until next time, Sarah Kriekle

¹  Tyler Dixon, “Get Me Outdoors: Fort Normandeau”, (7 August 2017), online: Get Me Outdoors <http://getmeoutdoors.blogspot.com/2017/08/fort-normandeau.html>.

Team ReconciliAction stands with Black Lives Matter

 

Tansi Nîtôtemtik, 

 

For our final post this week, Team ReconciliAction wants to acknowledge the long-standing oppression and structural and systemic racism against Black people worldwide. The senseless murder of Ahmaud Arbery and the brutal police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd earlier this year brought renewed international attention to racial profiling, systemic racism, and the disproportionate use of lethal force by police against Black people.  The fact is, racism is deeply rooted in Canadian policy and culture, and it is time for our country to face this reality head on.  

 

When this blog discusses systemic racism, it is usually in the context of the historic and contemporary systems that oppress Indigenous people.  Indigenous people have survived many systems that were, by design, genocidal. Despite rampant exposure to disease, disenfranchisement, banning of cultural practices, residential schools, the sixties scoop, chronic underfunding and inaccessible services, intergenerational trauma, and the current over-incarceration and overrepresentation in the justice and child welfare systems, Indigenous culture and community stand resilient as ever. However, Team ReconciliAction acknowledges that right now, it is the time to shine a light on the historical and contemporary injustices faced by Black people in Canada. 

 

In Canada, historical records  of Black slavery date back to 1629, with documented evidence of at least 3000 Black people enslaved.^[1]  In Alberta, Black people have been discriminated against since the earliest Black settlers arrived.  Amber Valley was a settlement of Black pioneers who immigrated to Canada after discriminatory policy in Oklahoma stripped them of land ownership.^[2]  Canada was initially marketed as a place more racially tolerant, but after around 1000 Black pioneers settled in the west, anti-black racism began to rear its vicious head. Capitalizing on legislation that provisioned for race-based immigration laws, Frank Oliver of Edmonton petitioned to have legislation enacted that banned Black immigrants from coming to Canada.^[3]  While this legislation was never enacted, other systemic barriers were put in place that eventually slowed Black immigration to Alberta. 

 

Today, the Black community makes up 3.4% of Canada’s total population, and yet a disproportionate 9% of all people killed by police in Canada are Black.^[4]  Not only are Black people more likely to face police violence, they also earn less on average than non-Black Canadians, are more likely to be unemployed or living in poverty, and are the minority group most subjected to hate crimes and speech.^[5] 

 

We talk about reconciliation in the context of Indigenous-settlor relations, but Canada’s racist and colonial history has caused deep and pervasive harm to the Black community.  Repairing this harm starts with recognizing it. 

 

University of Toronto Library has curated a reading list for those interested in self-education on anti-Black racism in Canada.  

 

You can also stream the film We are the Roots: Black Settlers and their Experiences of Discrimination on the Canadian Prairies for free at BaileyandSoda.com to learn more about the early settlers of Amber Valley in Alberta

 

We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and other equity-seeking groups in their collective fights against police brutality and systemic inequality. We hope you continue to tune in over the coming year to get our take on Canada’s efforts to peel back the layers of colonial systems of oppression that pervade our modern society. 

 

The team will be back next week to introduce the writers that will bring you this year's content.  We look forward to your comments and feedback over the upcoming year.

 

Until next time, Team ReconciliAction YEG

 

 

¹ Leyland Cecco, “Canada urged to open its eyes to systemic racism in wake of police violence”, the Guardian (14 June 2020), online: <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/14/canada-systemic-racism-history>.

² “Alberta: Home, Home on the Plains - Settlement : Black Settlers”, online: <http://wayback.archive-it.org/2217/20101208164117/http://www.abheritage.ca/pasttopresent/en/settlement/black_settlers.html> See also; Dr Jenna Bailey, We are the Roots: Black Settlers and their Experiences of Discrimination on the Canadian Prairies (Bailey and Soda Films).

³ Immigration Act, SC 1910, c 27 [Immigration Act], s 38“The Governor in Council may, by proclamation or order whenever he deems it necessary or expedient, — (c) prohibit for a stated period, or permanently, the landing in Canada, or the landing at any specified port of entry in Canada, of immigrants belonging to any race deemed unsuited to the climate or requirements of Canada, or of immigrants of any specified class, occupation or character.”; Barrington Walker, ed, The African Canadian Legal Odyssey (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012) at 30, 45.

⁴ Inayat Singh, “Deadly Force”, CBC News (23 July 2020), online: <https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/fatalpoliceencounters>.

⁵ Graham Slaughter & Mahima Singh, “Five charts that show what systemic racism looks like in Canada”, CTVNews (4 June 2020), online: <https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/five-charts-that-show-what-systemic-racism-looks-like-in-canada-1.4970352>.

Year End Reflection: Elise Wouters

"Our Home and Native Land" by Jennifer Adomeit. Image retrieved from <nwac-store.myshopify.com/products/our-home-and-native-land-jennifer-adomeit-ceramic-tile-trivet>

Tansi Nîtôtemtik,

In many ways, writing this post trying to sum up my experience over the last eight months has been my most challenging post of the year. One year ago, when I agreed to co-lead ReconciliAction YEG for the 2019-2020 academic year, I expected to learn a lot and to share that learning, to be challenged and to challenge, to listen and to advocate. However, I do not think I accurately anticipated how personally meaningful my time spent on this project would be. I struggled for several days about how I wanted to “sign off”. I believe my struggle stemmed from a feeling that there was more to do, more to talk about, more advocacy to be engaged in andmore progress to be made on the journey to Reconciliation. I realized that “signing off” felt wrong and artificial because it is the opposite of the spirit of the message I want to leave. If anything, my time on the blog has ignited within me an even stronger desire to be intentional in involving myself in initiatives and projects working to bring about Reconciliation in Canada. This is particularly true as I embark on my legal career in the next few weeks.

In my opening post[1] on this blog, I shared that my perception of my role as advocate was to listen and help to create a space for voices to be heard that otherwise would be suppressed or lost in the complexity of legal processes. Eight months and twenty-three posts later, I am now keenly aware that simply creating a space for Indigenous voices is painfully inadequate if Reconciliation is ever to be accomplished. In particular, the posts I wrote on Indigenous Candidates and Issues in the Federal Election[2]; on child welfare and the tireless advocacy of Dr. Cindy Blackstock and Dr. Hadley Friedland[3]; on Principles in Métis Governance[4], on Questioning the Presumptions of Sovereignty in Canada[5], and most recently providing an update on Canada’s current progress on completing the TRC Calls to Action[6], demonstrated this lesson for me in different ways. The research I carried out for those posts was clear: the fight for Reconciliation cannot only carried out by the federal government and Indigenous communities. All Canadians must insist on the kind of Canada where the inherent Indigenous rights of self-determination and self-governance is a reality, not just an ideal. How do we do that? Vote for political leaders in your ridings who support Indigenous values and initiatives; stay up to date on current events and help others around you  become aware of important issues; support Indigenous businesses, artists, authors, leaders, and events (etc.); follow Indigenous activists and advocates on your preferred social media platforms; and get involved with already existing initiatives implementing Reconciliation efforts in Canada.

The overall message I want to get across is this: everyone in Canada should find a way to get involved in Reconciliation. Yes, even if you are a settler! I am a settler and as such, I urge those of you in our readership who are also settlers: please, do not disqualify yourself! I guarantee there is some area in your life that aligns with an initiative or project working towards various goals of Reconciliation in Canada that could use your skill set or at the very least an extra set of hands. You may even find that your previous passions align with Reconciliation efforts. I came to this blog with a keen passion for developing themes I had previously researched and written on the contribution of systemic factors to perpetuating inequality for Canadians. For that reason, many of my posts this year focused on institutionalized structural violence[7]and continued systems of colonization and their role in perpetuating inequality in particular on Indigenous women and girls[8] and in child and family service delivery in Canada.[9] I also was able to highlight the decolonizing force of Indigenous women and girls[10] and efforts in decolonization in service delivery.[11] The key is to get started. NOW. We must not only learn, we must do; we must not only commit to valuing Reconciliation in Canada, we must take active steps to insist on making Reconciliation a reality. Our blog title swapped out “Reconciliation” for “ReconciliAction” for a reason!

Before I wrap up, I want to thank my co-lead Alanna Wiercinski and our wonderful team of contributors: Kira Davidson, Russell Green, Sheila Raffray, and Kailey Hubele – your hard work and passion has inspired me and has allowed ReconciliAction YEG to carry on the tradition of excellence begun by our predecessors.

On behalf of myself and the rest of the team, I also want to thank our faculty advisors, Dr. Hadley Friedland and Dr. Moin Yahya – your faith in and the support and guidance offered to our Team made for a truly impactful learning experience for all of us.

As much as I wanted to avoid the “sign off”, this is unavoidably my last post for ReconciliAction YEG, and while my involvement in Reconciliation efforts has only just begun, my time on this project is at an end. I wanted to end by thanking you, our readers, for supporting us in our journey. While this is ReconciliAction YEG’s last post for this academic year, the project has been confirmed for another year with a new team of contributors. Stay tuned for their first post on September 14, 2020.

In the meantime, we hope you will stay involved in pursuing the goal of Reconciliation in Canada, by listening and learning, and perhaps by taking steps to get involved in Reconciliation initiatives in your area. I have no doubt we will meet again, so I sign off not with goodbye, but…

 

Until next time,

 

Yours Sincerely,

Elise Wouters

Team ReconciliAction YEG, Team Co-Lead

---

[1] ReconciliAction YEG, “Meet the Team: Elise Wouters” (11 September 2019), online (blog): University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty Blog <ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2019/09/meet-the-team-elise-wouters.html>.

[2] ReconciliAction YEG, “In the Media: Indigenous Candidates and Indigenous Issues in the Federal Election” (11 October 2019), online (blog): University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty Blog <ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2019/10/in-the-media-indigenous-candidates-and-issues-in-the-federal-election.html>.

[3] ReconciliAction YEG, “In the Media: Dr. Cindy Blackstock & Dr. Hadley Friedland on Bill C-92” (14 November 2019), online (blog): University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty Blog <ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2019/11/in-the-media-dr-cindy-blackstock-dr-hadley-friedland-on-bill-c-92-.html>.

[4] ReconciliAction YEG, “The Principles of Métis Governance: Asserting the Right to Remain ka tipaymishooyahk (“We who own ourselves”)” (11 February 2020), online (blog): University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty Blog <ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2020/02/the-principles-of-métis-governance-asserting-the-right-to-remain-ka-tipaymishooyahk-we-who-own-ourse.html>.

[5] ReconciliAction YEG, “Questioning the Presumptions of Sovereignty in Canada” (06 February 2020), online (blog): University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty Blog <ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2020/02/questioning-the-presumptions-of-sovereignty-in-canada.html>.

[6] ReconciliAction YEG, “Reconciliation Report Card: ‘Beyond 94’ Update” (16 March 2020), online (blog): University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty Blog <ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2020/03/reconciliation-report-card-beyond-94-update.html>.

[7] ReconciliAction YEG, “Navigating Structural Violence with Indigenous Families in Child Welfare” (15 January 2020), online (blog): University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty Blog <ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2020/01/navigating-structural-violence-with-indigenous-families.html>.

[8] ReconciliAction YEG, “Indigenous Mothering and the Impacts of the Child Welfare System” (12 November 2019), online (blog): University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty Blog <ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2019/11/indigenous-mothering-and-the-impacts-of-the-child-welfare-system.html>.

[9] ReconciliAction YEG, “Intro to Child Welfare: The Origins of Systemic Factors Affecting Indigenous Children and Youth” (04 November 2019), online (blog): University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty Blog <ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2019/11/intro-to-child-welfare-the-origins-of-systemic-factors-affecting-indigenous-children-and-youth.html>.

[10] ReconciliAction YEG, “The De-Colonizing Force of Indigenous Girls and Youth” (20 November 2019), online (blog): University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty Blog <ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2019/11/indigenous-girls-and-youth-as-de-colonizing-force-.html>.

[11] ReconciliAction YEG, “Decolonizing Child Rearing: Highlight on the Opokaa’sin Project” (16 January 2020), online (blog): University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty Blog <ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2020/01/decolonizing-child-rearing-highlight-on-the-opokaasin-project.html>; See also ““Decolonization” and Why it Matters in the Context of Child Welfare” (27 November 2019) <ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2019/11/decolonization-and-why-it-matters-in-the-context-of-child-welfare.html>.

ReconciliAction YEG Term Recap and Where We're Headed Next

Tansi Nîtôtemtik,

The Members of Team ReconciliAction YEG 2019-2020
(Pictured from left to right: Elise, Sheila, Kira, Alanna, and Kailey).

Recap of the Semester and Where We Are Headed Next
What a semester it has been! First and foremost, our team wants to thank you, our readers, for your viewership this past semester. We hope that we have provided a platform where important information on Indigenous Governance and the law can be easily accessed.

Introduction to Indigenous Governance
We began the semester by introducing this year’s topic of Indigenous Governance. We introduced the topic and considered its particular relevance to the media in the last few months. We then went through the various elements of Indigenous style and how to write when talking about Indigenous issues. This included posts about culturally appropriate publishing, terminology to use and avoid, biased language, and the power of terminology.

Wahkohtowin
After general introductions, our team dove into the topic of wahkohtowin, the Cree Law that governs all relationships. We considered wahkohtowin’s connection to governance and how it is a tool that can be used to work towards Reconciliation.

Our first “What’s In the Media?” post for this section provided an overview of the Wahkohtowin Governance Lodge at the University of Alberta. The Governance Lodge had just opened and it had been publicized in the media. Our second “What’s In the Media?” post discussed the federal election and the Indigenous candidates within the election, as well as Indigenous representation in Canadian politics.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Our third topic was on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. This topic was near and dear to the hearts of many of our contributors and we wanted to make sure we provided this topic with sufficient time and care. In our first week of this topic, we provided a history of the National Inquiry on MMIWG and an overview of the Inquiry’s Final Report, reflected on the mental health impacts stemming from MMIWG and the Final Report, and discussed the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in R v Barton.

In week two, we connected the topic of MMIWG to our overarching theme of governance.  We discussed the National Inquiry’s Calls for Justice, the implications of the word “genocide” as used in the Final Report, and the Indigenous response and Indigenous Community perception of the Final Report.

Week three of MMIWG was focused on various commemoration projects and how Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous people can get involved. The week was capped off with a “What’s in the Media?” spotlight on “Who Killed Alberta Williams?” and the story of Helen Betty Osborne.

Child Welfare
Our fourth and final topic of the semester has been on Child Welfare. For our first week, our Team shared the story of Tina Fontaine, and provided a brief history of child welfare in Canada, focussing on Residential Schools, the Sixties Scoop, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and the Millennium Scoop. One of our contributors wrote a Spotlight post on “Finding Cleo” and the “Disappearance of Natasha Lynn Starr.” The week ended with a “What’s in the Media?” post discussing the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s award of $40,000 to each Indigenous child forcefully removed from their home.

Our second week on Child Welfare focused on the impacts on the family, communities, and mothers. Our team discussed the role of Indigenous communities on child development, the role of the mother on development, misconceptions around “bad parenting”, and the health impacts on mothers. The week closed with a reflection post by one of our contributors on this year’s Indigenous Bar Association meeting in Ontario.

Last week, we discussed the impacts of Child Welfare on youth. This discussion focused on the overrepresentation of Indigenous youth in Alberta’s child welfare system, the high death rates of Indigenous children within the system, Indigenous girls’ decolonizing power and presence, and a post on an article entitled “Advertising ‘Happy’ Children.” Our week was capped off with a reflection piece on the interviews with the Minister of Indigenous Services, Jane Philpott, on Indigenous parents and young adults who were in child welfare care.

This week was reserved for our team’s reflection on Indigenous child welfare and our end-of-term summary. We discussed de-colonizing Racine v Woods, highlighted a podcast dealing with the emergencies in Canada’s Indigenous Child Welfare system, and considered how to apply the concept of decolonization in the context of child welfare and much more.

Coming Up Next Semester
We will be back posting daily as of January 6 as our team continues into Child Welfare, Part II. Be sure to come back to our blog in the new year and get ready to dive back in!

 

See you in January!

 

Yours Truly,

Team ReconciliAction YEG

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"Until Next Time" - An Interview With Team ReconciliAction YEG

Team ReconciliAction YEG - Mrs. Arcand-Kootenay, Ms. Cave, Ms. Creelman, & Ms. Cleveland (left to right)

Tansi Nîtôtemtik,

        For the final post of the 2017-2018 Law and Social Media Project, Team ReconciliAction YEG got together to speak openly about our blogging experience over the last 8 months. Read on to see what the team has to say about the challenges and highlights from the journey.

What was the biggest challenge you each faced with this project?

Ms. Cave: My biggest challenge was opening up on social media. While I do enjoy social media, I try to avoid the “comments” section and rarely post my thoughts in a debate. I don’t like engaging that way and don’t consider myself a “keyboard warrior”. Admittedly, I also don’t like confrontation or too much criticism (weird for someone who wants to be a defense lawyer, I know). So opening myself up to potential criticism from my peers and the online community was intimidating at first and still is, especially when we are posting about contentious issues, such as the Colten Boushie and Tina Fontaine cases. It was challenging striking a balance between law and personal opinion, but I think each of us found our voice by the end.

Ms. Cleveland: The hardest thing for me was actually the content we engaged with. Some of our posts included extremely affective material, and it was sometimes hard to leave the work on the screen at the end of the day. The section that I struggled with most was when we wrote about missing and murdered Indigenous women. No matter how many articles you read and no matter how familiar you are with the statistics, that feeling of deep despair does not go away. You don’t just write a blog and forget about the women whose names you typed out and how many more there may be in the future if nothing changes. Each one of us experienced feelings of helplessness and hopelessness at some point over the year, but we were lucky to have one another to lean on, and to have Professor Hadley Friedland support and guide us through the especially heavy sections. I think that by allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, and by committing ourselves to humanizing the people we wrote about, we were able to find and create a little light in the darkness.

Mrs. Arcand-Kootenay: The biggest challenge for me was twofold: 1) the content we covered on the residential schools, sixties scoop, and MMIWG, and 2) feeling that reconciliation was a hopeless feat. In regards to the former, despite my familiarity with this content, it didn’t make it any easier to work with. I’m honestly not sure if going through this dark history, and how Indigenous peoples have been/continue to be mistreated, will ever get easier to face. However, following the recent Boushie and Fontaine decisions, I believe unpacking this history is essential. This leads me to my second challenge, of feeling hopelessness as we strive for reconciliation – something brought on tenfold after these decisions. All we can do as a team is try to educate those who fall victim to the false stereotypes of Indigenous peoples. However, it is up to those individuals if they want to listen.

Ms. Creelman: My biggest challenge during this experience was undergoing the emotional experience when the academic interacted with the emotional. It is easy to read a case “logically”, and understand how the law is changed or not. However, it is not always easy to read a case while recognizing the effects on the individuals of that case. Writing this blog forced us to to see, recognize, and interact with the human affect while also researching the academic. This was something that I did not fully expect, or fully understand how it would affect both me and my writing.

What was your favourite moment from the past year of blogging?

Ms. Cave: Interviewing Cindy Blackstock. It was such an honour to meet someone who I admire and look up to. She is such a fantastic speaker and has such thoughtful and thorough answers to what I thought were too simple of questions. It was so fun attending the Spirit Bear Teddy Bear Tea Party & Book Launch event where she read her book, “Spirit Bear and Children Making History”. Seeing so many young children engaged in the topic and responding so enthusiastically and genuinely was amazing. It was an experience I will never forget.

Ms. Cleveland: Choosing one favourite moment is tricky because we had such a special year. That said, my top moment has to be when I was grading a student’s assignment and realized that they had cited our blog! Being able to see (in such a concrete way) that people are building on the knowledge we’re putting out there was so impactful. We’ve been able to create such a strong community across the campus, city, and even country, and that, for me, has made it all worthwhile.

Mrs. Arcand-Kootenay: My favourite moment with the blog was probably when we had the interview with Global Edmonton. It got me out of my comfort zone (I always dreaded public speaking, let alone being aired on TV!), and the support from my family, friends, and colleagues after the interview was incredible. It was a once in a lifetime experience, and so valuable to our readership – with our followers expanding dramatically across our social media platforms after it aired.

Ms. Creelman: My favourite moment isn’t really a moment at all -- but a larger effect from participating in this experience. In self-reflecting about how much I have learned over the past year, I realized I’ve not only learned from completing my own research and writing, but from my three team members. I have also become so much more aware of the differences that Indigenous people still face in Canada -- not only in Canada as a whole, but as a micro level, within the law school I attend. I am so excited to continue this learning, and share it with our readers on the blog next year.

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Team ReconciliAction YEG wants to extend a huge thank you to all of our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and email followers from over the past year. We couldn’t have done this without you. As a result of the project’s success, some of our team members will be returning in the fall to continue the important work that we began in September 2017. Come back then for another year of reconciliaction with us!

Where Do We Go From Here?

Image retrieved from http://artprofsamerica.com/tag/activism/

Tansi Nîtôtemtik,

        Our last week of posts provided an institutional critique of the university as a site where a specific form of colonial knowledge is shaped and sustained. Course content and curricula still prioritize Eurocentric knowledge,[1] and like racialized students, racialized faculty members still face “being marginalized, ghettoized, and tokenized”[2] on a regular basis. Relatively low proportions of non-white faculty means fewer students are “exposed to the particular knowledge that racialized and Indigenous faculty can potentially bring to their teaching,”[3] and even when Indigenous faculty members are hired, they often face higher teaching loads and “a double burden, with expectations to mentor more students and [...] frequent requests to sit on a large number of committees to represent symbolic representation.”[4] Together, these factors combine to make academia extraordinarily arduous for Indigenous scholars.

        The deeper you dig, the clearer it becomes that current “policies and practices to address racism are limited or ineffective.”[5] So what do we do about it?! In The Equity Myth, Malinda S. Smith and her colleagues propose specific solutions to address the challenges described above. To begin with, universities must develop “support mechanisms for racialized and Indigenous faculty that recognize their experiences and the unique demands resulting from cultural taxation which have an effect on their career trajectories.”[6] There needs to be more “policies, data, modes of monitoring and evaluating equity, and practices [created] from a multidimensional rather than a unidimensional perspective.”[7] Even individual faculties have work to do - they must commit to “disrupting established ways of doing things and challenging normative notions of selection, appointment, and promotion.”[8] With a lot of time and even more effort, reforms such as these have the potential to undo the substantive and procedural inequities that exist within Canadian universities.

        But institutional change is slow and hard to come by, and in the meantime, students also a have a role to play in transforming the university classroom from an oppressive space to one of liberation and resistance. Students take what they learn in the classroom and apply it in their communities. Both within the classroom and beyond it, students must be encouraged to take an active role in theorizing new perspectives and making space for change. In law school especially, where students graduate and go on to make, interpret, and apply the law as legislators, lawyers, and judges, we must be empowered to think and act in anti-racist and decolonizing ways.

        Settler and Indigenous students alike can intervene when we witness or experience racism on a personal or structural scale. We can show up for walks to protest violence against Indigenous women. We can stand in at “round dances, flash mobs, and teach-ins,”[9] and add our voices to movements like Occupy Ottawa or Justice for Colten. We can join community groups and participate in discussion series. We can collaborate together on decolonizing projects and use social media to build new relationships and support systems. In taking on the responsibility to genuinely connect our academic work to political purpose and action, we can contribute to shaping a world we actually want to live in.

        I would like to end my time as team lead of ReconciliAction YEG by encouraging all of our readers to go forth and be activists. Create. Resist. Be brave. Speak out when you see injustice. Never stop learning and unlearning. Thank you for an amazing eight months!

Until next time,

Grace Cleveland

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[1] See Frances Henry and Audrey Kobayashi, “The Everyday World of Racialized and Indigenous Faculty Members in Canadian Universities” in Frances Henry, Enakshi Dua, Carl E. James, Audrey Kobayashi, Peter Li, Howard Ramos, and Malinda S. Smith, The Equity Myth: Racialization & Indigeneity at Canadian Universities (UBC Press: Vancouver, 2017) at 131.

[2] Carl E. James and Selon Chapman-Nyaho, “‘Would never be hired these days’: The Precarious Work Situation of Racialized and Indigenous Faculty Members” in Frances Henry, Enakshi Dua, Carl E. James, Audrey Kobayashi, Peter Li, Howard Ramos, and Malinda S. Smith, The Equity Myth: Racialization & Indigeneity at Canadian Universities (UBC Press: Vancouver, 2017) at 91.

[3] Frances Henry, Audrey Kobayashi, and Andrea Choi, “Representational Analysis: Comparing Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia” in Frances Henry, Enakshi Dua, Carl E. James, Audrey Kobayashi, Peter Li, Howard Ramos, and Malinda S. Smith, The Equity Myth: Racialization & Indigeneity at Canadian Universities (UBC Press: Vancouver, 2017) at 29.

[4] Howard Ramos and Rochelle Wijesingyha, “Academic Production, Reward, and Perceptions of Racialized Faculty Members” in Frances Henry, Enakshi Dua, Carl E. James, Audrey Kobayashi, Peter Li, Howard Ramos, and Malinda S. Smith, The Equity Myth: Racialization & Indigeneity at Canadian Universities (UBC Press: Vancouver, 2017) at 68-69.

[5] “Conclusion” in Frances Henry, Enakshi Dua, Carl E. James, Audrey Kobayashi, Peter Li, Howard Ramos, and Malinda S. Smith, The Equity Myth: Racialization & Indigeneity at Canadian Universities (UBC Press: Vancouver, 2017) at 298.

[6] Ibid, at 315.

[7] Ibid, at 316.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Margaret Kovach, “Treaties, Truths and Transgressive Pedagogies: Re-Imagining Indigenous Presence in the Classroom” (2013) Socialist Studies 9:1:109-27 at 122.

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Law Students Stand Up for Justice

UVic students at their walkout to protest discrimination against Indigenous people in Canada’s criminal justice system, image retrieved from http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/at-uvic-hundreds-march-to-protest-built-in-racism-in-justice-system-1.23202181.

Tansi Nîtôtemtik,

Last Wednesday, law students across Canada participated in walkouts, teach-ins and protests to bring awareness to the recent injustices felt by Indigenous peoples in our criminal justice system. Our blog covered the recent acquittal of Gerald Stanley, who was charged with second-degree murder for shooting Colten Boushie, 22. Injustice was further perpetuated in the acquittal of Raymond Cormier, who was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Tina Fontaine, 15. For many Canadians, these decisions solidified the systemic legal issues that Indigenous people continue to experience in the justice system. For Indigenous law students and allies, these protests were an effort to raise awareness of these injustices and to open up a dialogue in the law schools on issues that remained unaddressed.

At the University of Toronto, approximately 100 law students and faculty walked out of class and gathered for a teach-in. Leslie Anne St. Amour, a member of the Indigenous Law Students Association (ILSA) at U of T, explained that Indigenous perspectives need to be brought into the law school classroom, and that students and faculty need to be educated on systemic issues. Furthermore, law students need to be taught that there are Indigenous legal traditions that exist as well. [1]

In the West, both the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria also engaged in walkouts to draw awareness to the issue. At UBC, Dawn Johnson, a second-year law student and a member of ILSA, explained that the walkout “forces people to take a look and realize that this is happening and that this is very real in our society.”[2] The protest moved outside, accompanied by drummers, where a large circle was formed where attendees voiced their opinion on the recent cases as well as the marginalization of Indigenous people. Richard Rupertson, an education student, spoke out about his experience with the justice system as an Indigenous youth, stating, “As a 13-year-old, I remember being picked up by the police for something I didn’t do and then taken to the police station and made to walk home with no shoes, and they wouldn’t let me make a phone call.”[3]

The University of Victoria’s walkout had the largest turnout of protesters, with roughly 300 students and faculty present. The protest was aimed at drawing attention to a system that is failing Indigenous peoples. Sarah Robinson, a member of the Fort Nelson First Nation and Salteau People, and spokesperson for UVic’s ILSA, explained that the system is starting to reveal itself as a one designed to enforce power and authority, often at the expense of basic fairness. She stated as an example, that people of colour are more frequently “carded” (stopped by police and asked for identification). [4]

Although the Indigenous Law Students’ Association at the University of Alberta did not participate in the walkouts and teach-ins on March 14th, they marked their support for their fellow law students participating in the protests on their facebook page. In an effort to start a discussion on these issues, the group will be hosting “Indigenous Voices” this Friday, March 23rd. The event will have a panel of speakers from the Faculty of Native Studies, a bundle carrier for MMIWG, as well as Indigenous legal professionals, who will engage in round-table discussions with the law students and faculty members to discuss these injustices and promote awareness within the Faculty of Law.

We thank all the Legal Warriors who are standing up for Indigenous people in this fight for justice. Kinanâskomitin.

 

Until next time,

Team ReconciliAction YEG

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[1] Rhiannon Johnson, “U of T law students walk out of class for teach-in on Colten Boushie, Tina Fontaine cases”, CBC News (14 March 2018), online: http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/toronto-law-students-walkout-teach-in-boushie-fontaine-1.4576369.

[2] Joshua Azizi and Aidan Tong, “Students walk out to protest systemic legal issues facing Indigenous people”, The Ubyssey (14 March 2018), online: https://www.ubyssey.ca/news/day-of-action-walk-out/.

[3] Ibid.

[4] “At UVic, hundreds march to protest ‘built-in racism’ in justice system”, Times Colonist (14 March 2018), online: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/at-uvic-hundreds-march-to-protest-built-in-racism-in-justice-system-1.23202181.

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An Interview With Chelsea Vowel

Image retrieved from https://www.redmanlaughing.com/listen/2014/4/red-man-laughing-the-chelsea-vowel-interview.

Tansi Nîtôtemtik,

        The team is honoured to open our blog’s final section on racism and reconciliation in the university environment with the help of Chelsea Vowel. Teacher, academic, author, blogger, social media star (@apihtawikosisan), mom, and much, much more, Vowel is in a unique position to comment on the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to Indigenous and settler relations in educational contexts. We hope you will learn as much from this interview as we did!

Can you tell our followers a little bit about yourself?

I was born and raised in manitow-sâkahikan territory, (Lac Ste. Anne) which is a Métis community in Alberta, about 70 km west of Edmonton. My mom is Métis and my dad is white. I am a mother of four girls, and a step-mother to two more. I have a BEd and taught for some time in Inuvik, Northwest Territories.  I obtained my LLB from the University of Alberta and then moved to Montreal for seven years where I taught Inuit youth in care, and worked with Inuit youth sentenced under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. In 2016, my family and I moved back to Alberta and I began an MA program with the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta.

What has your experience been like with academia?

When I was a kid, I did well in school, probably in great part because I am not visibly Indigenous. However, I really disliked the curriculum. We [Indigenous people] were never really in it at all, and it was only until later that I began to realize we were missing. I would hear my family talking about our stories in the Lac St. Anne area, but I thought it was gossip – I didn’t consider it as history. It wasn’t until university that I realized those stories are real history! In elementary and high school, the teachers and texts impressed on me the idea that if Europeans hadn’t come to ‘save’ Indigenous people, we would have killed each other off. My mom learned that, too. It was all about erasure – we were either missing from the curriculum content, or included in really problematic ways.

That’s why I decided to become a teacher, because I could bring in stories that otherwise wouldn’t be. There is some room for teachers to bring in and focus on the topics they want. My first teaching job was in Inuvik. The elementary school was in the old residential school building. There were often complaints from the school staff about absentee parents, but what they didn’t realize was that for these parents the building was a place of deep trauma, and they just couldn’t expect people to come there. Going out into the community was where the magic happened.

There were limits to what I could accomplish as a teacher however, and that’s what brought me into law; to be a better advocate and to have the skillset to make fundamental change. The silo of the classroom wasn’t enough and I needed to find the words and use the laws on a wider basis to get schools to be more responsive to the needs of communities. At least, that was the plan. I’m pretty cynical now about making “change from within” which is why I am not a lawyer.

I’m a first-generation university student, so I had no one to guide me through the process. In some ways, it’s been really freeing, because there were no lines in the sand and I took courses that actually interested me. But I never had an Indigenous professor, and never took courses with Indigenous content other than one education course with a brief but really condescending bit about Indigenous peoples. Native Studies did exist but I didn’t know about it! It’s been my graduate degree that has allowed me to work with Indigenous content and Indigenous people and I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if I had come here to begin with. I think it would have been life-changing because most of the learning and unlearning I had to do before this was on my own. Feeling lied to makes you question everything you’ve been taught! In its current state, the Canadian education system focuses on economic priorities and creating citizens. What we need to be focusing on is how we can live on this land better in relationship, we need to be incorporating these conversations safely and comprehensively into the public education system.

Do you find that the university’s focus on reconciliation has had more of a positive or more of a negative effect?

My biggest concern with reconciliation is in the way that it’s being rolled out in institutions. It’s so informed by white saviourism – there’s this belief that maybe Indigenous peoples should be consulted but that we don’t understand how things work in the real world. It’s always, “that’s a great idea, but…” so Indigenous people are saying what they need but then the restraints come in and chip away the original vision so much that we no longer recognize what’s been created! I think that happens for lots of reasons (budgets, policies, time, effort…), but I also think that our vision gets filtered through a non-Indigenous understanding that ultimately takes what we’re saying and changes it into something completely different. It’s frustrating because it follows a wider pattern throughout Canadian history where ‘consultation’ occurs and we put in so much time and energy to build bridges and create understanding and in the end the people in power simply do things the way they’ve always done them anyway. People are really tired of that work – we’ve had these discussions over and over again, and have yet to see enough substantive institutional shifts.

Last year especially, there was a wave of reconciliation, and at the height of that wave we got a lot of promises but very little in the way of action. As that crest collapses, it’s less likely that we are going to get what we ask for. Despite people who are really well-meaning and want to make change, these institutions are just not set up to be decolonial! You can’t just add in a few courses and/ or have a few discussions with Elders and overcome it. There needs to be much more. So many generations have gone through these struggles, and you have to look at what’s been done and whether it’s been enough. It hasn’t! It speaks to the fundamental inability of colonial systems to change – the only change that is allowed is super incremental and super co optedcoopted! We can’t continue to do it this way. It’s just not fast enough! We know what we need and we can do it if people would just let us.

What is the number one thing you would like to see change around here when it comes to settler and Indigenous relationships?

I would apply this to all our relationships: settlers have to trust that Indigenous people are capable of making decisions about our own lives. You can’t screen it, you can’t say “tell me your plan, and I’ll evaluate it and choose what to support, what not to support, and what isn’t feasible.” Real allyship is supporting what it is that we say we need for ourselves. Settlers need to overcome what they’ve been taught about us, that is, that we lack the capacity to make those decisions. It’s hard because since contact we’ve been framed as people who don’t know how to do things the right way, but as a society we need to turn that around and realize that all people need to be able to make decisions about their own lives!

There’s also no one vision – that’s the other major issue. Settlers want a single vision for how Indigenous peoples can move forward, but even in a single community there can be many political divisions. That’s normal! That’s doesn’t mean we need settlers coming in and deciding which one group to support. It’s an internal issue that our communities can and will deal with. Simply, we should be empowered to decide what our futures look like.

Any parting words?

After Colten [Boushie] and Tina [Fontaine], and the total lack of justice for them, I’ve really decided that reconciliation is a concept whose time has not yet come. We need to put it on the shelf and go back to truth first. We’re not ready for reconciliation because Indigenous people are still not treated with equality, and until we fix that power differential we cannot resolve anything. We need to turn our minds to telling the truth and understanding that colonization is ongoing and that white supremacy is a real thing and we’re not going to get rid of it by pretending it doesn’t exist. We have to actively dismantle those systems and if we can’t even name them or admit they’re there, then they will just remain in the background and continue to warp all that we try to do.

Thanks, Chelsea!

Until next time,

Team ReconciliAction YEG

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12th Annual Canadian Law Blog Awards

Tansi Nîtôtemtik,

        On this last day of 2017, we want to take the opportunity to congratulate all of the winners and nominees for this year's Clawbies. We are honoured to accept the Change and Advocacy Award, and equally honoured to stand beside runners-up Jumping Off the Ivory Tower and Reconciliation Syllabus in this meaningful and crucially important category. We would also like to acknowledge the work being done by our colleagues to the south at ABlawg - congratulations on your induction into the Canadian Law Blog Awards Hall of Fame!

        Thank you to all of our readers for helping us incite reconcili-action in 2017. We will see you in one week as we begin a new year of change and advocacy together!

Until next time,

Team ReconciliAction YEG

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In Memory of Wicapi Omani (Gord Downie): An Ally in Reconciliation

^{Image retrieved from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/gord-downie-tragically-hip-afn-honoured-1.3883618}

Tansi Nîtôtemtik,

    Cramped into a small airplane seat, I read my texts before taking off for this year’s Indigenous Bar Association (IBA) Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This year’s topic being, “Ankukamkewey: Joining Together in Peace and Friendship.” A text from my husband read, “Gord Downie passed away.”

    Losing an Indigenous ally is hard in a society that is largely unaware, or indifferent to the movement of reconciliation. However, we look to the legacy Gord Downie has left behind, and we recognize his tireless efforts in fighting for reconciliation when I’m sure all his body felt like doing was resting.     

    A year ago, Downie released his fifth and final solo album, Secret Path. Secret Path was part of a larger project involving an animated film, graphic novel, and concept album based on the story of Chanie Wenjack. Wenjak was Ojibway, who at twelve years old ran away from a Residential School in northern Ontario. The distance to his home community was roughly 600 km. He didn’t make it home (like many other children who attempted to run away from Residential Schools), eventually dying from hunger and cold exposure.¹     

    The release of Secret Path was later accompanied by the “Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund”, created to “jumpstart reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.”² The idea to create the fund followed a life changing trip by the Downie brothers to Ogoki Post, Ontario, to visit Chanie’s mother, Pearl Wenjack.³ “There are three components to the initiative: Support of the Winnipeg-based National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation; education (involving the incorporation of Secret Path into school curriculums); and something Mr. Downie calls reconcili-actions.” ⁴ These reconcili-actions being grants of up to $10,000 to fund grassroots projects working to further Indigenous rights.⁵    

    Downie was honoured in December of last year by the Assembly of First Nations for his work on reconciliation. He was given the Lakota spirit name, “Wicapi Omani,” meaning “man who walks among the stars.”⁶  

    Travelling to the IBA Conference, I realized that Downie truly embodied the title, “Joining Together in Peace and Friendship.” He joined Indigenous people as an ally, a peace-maker, and a friend. As a nehiyaw (Cree), I thank Gord Downie for being a voice of advocacy for Indigenous issues, and for helping to bridge the path in reconciliation between Canada’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous.     

Ay ay Wicapi Omani.

 

Until next time,

Team ReconciliAction YEG

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[1] Brad Wheeler, “Gord Downie’s dedication to Indigenous issues lives on”, The Globe and Mail (19 October 2017), online:<https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/gord-downies-dedication-to-indigenous-issues-lives-on/article36673092/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&>.

[2] Rahul Kalvapalle, “Gord Downie remembered for contributions to Indigenous reconciliation,” Global News (18 October 2017), online:<https://globalnews.ca/news/3810533/gord-downie-indigenous-reconciliation/>.

[3] Wheeler, supra note 1.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Kalvapalle, supra note 2.

[6] Michael Barclay, “Remembering the life and legacy of The Tragically Hip frontman”, Macleans (18 October 2017), online:<http://www.macleans.ca/gord-downie-obituary/>.

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Meet the Team: Ms. Cleveland

Tansi Nîtôtemtik,

“It can take years after hearing a story to know the meaning of that story in one’s heart – for it to become a truth – yet the process of it becoming heart-knowledge or Debwewin is the process of integrating that echo into one’s experience.”[1]

        As someone who has spent almost a decade within the Canadian university system, first in Arts and now in Law, I am not a newcomer to reconciliatory discourse. I know that the easiest way to be an ally is to make space for Indigenous voices, but I also know that “simply making space for Indigenous voices is woefully inadequate.”[2] Making space is a fair first step. Listening is a strong second. But then?

        I chose to participate in the Law and Social Media Project because as a settler, an educator, an academic, and a soon-to-be lawyer, it is my responsibility to work towards a future characterized by accountability, equity, and justice. I, and you, have a responsibility to take the third step, and the fourth, and the fifth. As our team name suggests, action is required.

        Our blog allows us to share experiences that counter national narratives taught in classrooms and promoted in the media to this day. It provides a platform where we can draw attention to current events that expose the ongoing injustices faced by Indigenous communities nationwide. Perhaps most importantly, it offers an opportunity for us (and you) to make new stories, and new relationships, together.

        In the year to come, we will explore just what those next steps entail. You will hear many stories and I hope that you will keep them in your hearts. I will work to deepen my own heart-knowledge, and I encourage everyone to attempt the same.

Until next time,

Grace Cleveland

Team Lead, ReconciliAction YEG

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[1]  Leanne Simpson, Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back (Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing, 2011) at 104.

[2] Aaron Mills, “Nokomis and the Law in the Gift: Living Treaty Each Day” in Kiera L. Ladner & Myra J. Tait, eds., Surviving Canada: Indigenous Peoples Celebrate 150 Years of Betrayal (Winnipeg: ARP Books (Arbeiter Ring Publishing), 2017) at 20.

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Thanks and Happy 150th!

Today, we offer our gratitude.  Thanks to all of you who have clicked, shared, liked, retweeted, and otherwise gotten involved with this year’s Law and Social Media project.  Special thanks go out to our interviewees, who have braved the camera and taken the time to speak with us.

We’ve had a lot of fun creating these posts and learned a lot in the process.  While we’ve occasionally stayed on track with regards to discussing the Constitution Act, 1867, at times, we felt it necessary to broaden the scope of this project, giving you the occasional post about cloned sheep or fictional comic book law.  We’ve aimed to strike a balance between educational and entertaining.  Learning about a new area of law, concept, or historical figure in order to write competently on such a new topic every week has been a bit of a challenge, but one that has proven to be invigorating.

Special thanks are in order to our academic advisor on this project, Vice Dean Moin Yahya.  His unwavering support for this project has facilitated our ability to learn so much over the course of this year.

As for the future of the blog and this semester’s participants, three of us will be concluding our legal studies this month, and will begin the next chapter in our careers.  The other two of us will be entering their final year of law school with very demanding schedules and will therefore be unable to continue with next year’s project.

Moving forward, we are pleased to announce that next year’s Law and Social Media project will focus on issues regarding Indigenous people in Canada, specifically the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  In addition to five brand new student bloggers, the Vice Dean will be sharing the responsibility for advising the project with Professor Hadley Friedland.  Professor Friedland is a recent addition to the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta and recent winner of the Governor General’s Gold Medal.  She is a widely respected expert on Indigenous legal issues and has spent a considerable amount of time working with these communities.

Once again, we thank you all for your support, and hope to see you engaged for next year’s project, especially considering its importance to Canada’s growth and healing as a country.

Finally, we wish our fellow Canadians an early happy 150th.  As future officers of the court, it will be our privilege and our honour to be able to serve our country in this manner.

 

We Remain Your Humble and Obedient Servants,

The Dominion

Will We All Be Alive for #Canada300?

Where do I see Canada in the next 150 years? To be honest, I have absolutely no idea. However, with the technological and scientific advances occurring in today’s world, we may all be alive to witness Canada in the year 2167!

At Cambridge University, a researcher named Aubrey de Grey believes he has identified all of the causes of aging, and can overcome them all. By doing so, de Grey claims that humans are capable of living up to 1,000 years old.¹ He is convinced that he understands the theoretical underpinnings of human illness and death and has indicated that 25 years is all the world will need to make his theory a reality.

However, he recognizes that he is a computer scientist, not a human biologist.² S. Jay Olshansky, one of De Grey’s contemporaries, has the human sciences background that de Grey lacks. Olshansky is a professor of Public Health and research associate at the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago.³ His work pursues means to slow down human aging and discovering the “upper limits to human longevity.”⁴

If researchers are successful in extending the human lifespan, what kinds of political obstacles would they face?

Most people are skeptical that humans have the ability to extend their own lives.⁵ People firmly believe in the inevitability of aging and death and the science world is having a hard time changing that perspective.

But how then are pharmaceutical companies who sell “anti-aging products” so successful if the world refuses to buy into the idea of longevity?

These companies are excellent marketing specialists but they do not truly market “living longer.” Rather, they convince people that their products will allow them to remain young while they are alive. They encourage consumers to buy products that they claim will make them look and feel more youthful.

In the United States, pharmaceutical companies can legally sell anti-aging products that are merely placebo.⁶ The FDA allows “cosmeceuticals” to be sold without approval, so long as the product does not contain drugs.⁷

 

There is the additional problem that even if pharmaceutical companies attempted to conduct research on life extension, it would take a lot of money and a lot of time. These companies want to make money and it is not in their interest to invest all that time and money on an unsure bet.

However, if these money powerhouses teamed up with brilliant science minds, it’s impossible to say what they could accomplish.

There are also organizations popping up that provide cryonic freezing: a low temperature method of preserving human bodies in the hope that they can be revived by future medicine.⁸ Currently, this method of preservation is only available after death; you cannot be frozen while alive.

Whether or not you believe in life extension, there are many people working towards that ultimate goal.

So I may be long gone by the time #Canada300 rolls around, but who knows: maybe I won’t be.

¹Caspar Llewellyn Smith, “Aubrey de Grey: We don’t have to get sick as we get older”, The Guardian (1 August 2010), online: <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/aug/01/aubrey-de-grey-ageing-research>.

²Sherwin Nuland, “Do You Want to Live Forever?”, MIT Technology Review (1 February 2005), online: <https://www.technologyreview.com/s/403654/do-you-want-to-live-forever/>.

^3See: https://www.lapetussolutions.com/team.

⁴See Olshansky’s professional website, <www.sjayolshansky.com/sjo/Background.html>.

⁵Richard A Miller, “Extending Life: Scientific Prospects and Political Obstacles” (2002) 80:1 Milbank Q 155 at 155, online: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690099/>.

⁶Ibid.

⁷US, US Food and Drug Administration, Cosmeceutical (Silver Spring: MD, US Food and Drug Administration, 2014), online: <https://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/Labeling/Claims/ucm127064.htm>.

⁸See Alcor, a life extension foundation: <www.alcor.org/FAQs/faq01.html#cryonics>.

We Will Wait Our Turn, Just Not For Too Long

Where do I see Canada in the next 150 years? What an interesting question. I highly doubt I will be alive to witness it, but I have a few minor wishes for my own life time. Rather than focussing on where I think the country will be in 150 years, I am going to explain where I want it to be in ten.

Last year’s presidential election was contentious, controversial, and fascinating all at the same time. An election filled with name-calling, bigotry, media rants, and outright craziness led to one of the most shocking results ever. The world watched as Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States over Hillary Clinton. A businessman commonly recognized from his appearances on The Apprentice beat out a career politician. Many people thought this was insanity; others prepared for what seems like the start of an apocalyptic movie.

Hillary Clinton’s loss left many women wondering when it will be their turn to hold the highest office in the United States. Will women ever get that chance? How many more years would we wait to shatter the most resilient glass ceiling in the world?

Thankfully, Marie Henein, a named partner at Henein Hutchison reminds us that Canadians should not be patting ourselves on the back yet. We have also never formally elected a female prime minister. The only woman to ever hold the highest seat in our country was the Right Honourable Kim Campbell 24 years ago when Brian Mulroney stepped down from office.¹

When we look at our current political climate it is hard to pinpoint when a woman will even have a chance to be Canada’s Prime Minister. Depending on the outcome of the current Conservative leadership race (click here for our post from last week covering this ), all three major Canadian parties will be led by men, assuming O’Leary wins. Since I have been eligible to vote no serious female contender has been available. So my question moving forward is: when?

While it is easy to point a finger at our neighbours south of the border for their lack of female leadership, we tend to overlook our own.  In fact, out of the 13 Canadian provincial premiers only three are women. Marie Henein was right when she stated that for women in North America the message is clear, “You can hold office, just not the highest one. You can succeed, just not too much.”² My hope is that by the time Canada is celebrating its 200th birthday this message has changed.

When we focus on the political climate elsewhere, women in other countries have fared far better than us. Sri Lanka set the stage for the rest of the world by electing its first female Prime Minister in 1960.³ Fifty-seven years ago a woman was leading a country. To many hopeful women, it would seem that we were making progress. As groundbreaking as Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s election was, another woman would not follow suit in 1979 when Margaret Thatcher became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It took 19 years for another country to catch on, so while women were making progress, it was slow.

Currently only 33 women have been elected to represent their country in the highest office. Notably missing from the list is any North American country. The question remaining is why? What are we teaching young educated women? We are likely teaching women exactly what Marie Henein suggests, set big goals, become educated, and become successful. Just do not become too successful though because that is not what women do.

I truly hope that within the next 10 years this message has changed. It is time we change our attitudes about women in leadership. Instead of criticizing a woman’s “nasty” demeanour, it is time we celebrate her worth, ethic, and drive. Women are brilliant, capable, and deserving of the same successes as men. So by 2027 hopefully we will have one running our country as a result of her election, not as a result of merely filling in temporarily. Until then we will wait, not too patiently, for our turn.

 

 

¹ Marie Henein, “Thank you, Hillary. Now women know retreat is not an option,” The Globe and Mail (10 November 2016), online: <www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/thank-you-hillary-women-now-know-retreat-is-not-an-option/article32803341/>.

² Ibid.

³ Christine Zhang & Andrea Roberson, “When the rest of the world elected women leaders,” The LA Times (14 November 2016), online: <www.latimes.com/projects/la-fg-women-world-leaders/#decade60>.

Entering the Dragon's Den

 

We end our political party week by discussing Canada’s founding political party. The Conservative Party adopted its values and policies from the British Tories and governed Canada for 29 consecutive years after Confederation.¹ Since Confederation the Conservative Party has changed substantially. For the purpose of today’s post we will be focussing on the Conservative Party’s merger after the year 2000 and its upcoming leadership race.

Before unifying in 2003, there were two separate and distinct conservative parties: the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.² The two merged in December 2003 with overwhelming support from both parties and a hope of creating a stronger and more unified conservative movement.³ A newly formed party required one more thing: a newly elected leader to bring new life to the campaign. On March 20th, 2004, Stephen Harper became the first leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.⁴ Harper led the Conservatives to success in the 2006 election, and maintained control of the Canadian government until November 2015.

After the loss of the 2015 election, Harper chose to step down from party leadership leaving Rona Ambrose as the current interim party leader.⁵ This brings us to the current state of the Conservative government. On May 27th, 2017, Conservative Party members will vote to elect the party’s new leader. Fourteen candidates put their names forward almost immediately upon notice of the election, but polls suggest that there are really only three contenders.⁶

With an early lead over the other candidates, polls suggest that Kevin O’Leary with (22.1%) will be the next Conservative leader.⁷ Controversial, outspoken, loud, and critical of Canada’s current Liberal government, O’Leary has certainly created a name for himself. Perhaps Conservative Canadians are unhappy with how Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are running the country, or maybe O’Leary’s name is more recognizable due to his fame from “Dragon’s Den.” Regardless of the reason, O’Leary’s election seems likely.

What platform is O’Leary actually running on when you look past the loud media rants and wild antics? The answer is hard to determine. O’Leary’s campaign page suggests that he wants to support small businesses and hardworking Canadians using his investment background.⁸  He also suggests that it is time for the country to be run by someone who is not a career politician. Sound familiar? I recall a certain Donald Trump making similar suggestions south of the border. While O’Leary may have good intentions of balancing the Canadian budget and providing support to working Canadians he does not make any tangible suggestions as to how he will do this. But he is a businessman so he must know how to deal with the economy, right?

The Conservative Party would head in an interesting direction if O’Leary were elected. If he’s elected I hope O’Leary will make, and keep, tangible promises to Canadians, rather than just rant about Justin Trudeau’s time in office. Who knows though, maybe by May 27th Kellie Leitch or Maxime Bernier will take the vote. All we can do now is stay tuned and leave you with a quote from O’Leary:

"I understand what he is doing with the media, and you can certainly claim I am trying to do the same, but I am not Donald Trump."⁹

 

 

 

¹ Trevor W Harrison, “Conservative Party”, The Canadian Encyclopedia (19 August 2015), online: <www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/conservative-party/>.

² Conservative Party of Canada, “Our History” (2017), online: <www.conservative.ca/our-party/our-history/>.

³ Ibid.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ Conservative Party of Canada, “Leadership” (2017), online: <www.conservative.ca/leadership/en>.

⁶ “Conservative leadership candidate Kevin O'Leary says he knows where 'rot' is at CBC: 'We could save billions of dollars'”, Toronto Sun (28 March 2017), online: <www.torontosun.com/2017/03/28/conservative-leadership-candidate-kevin-oleary-says-he-knows-where-rot-is-at-cbc-we-could-save-billions-of-dollars>.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ Kevin O’Leary, “Why I’m Running” (2017), online: <https://olearyforcanada.ca/en/why/#0>.

⁹ The Canadian Press, “A selection of quotes from Conservative leadership candidate Kevin O'Leary” Times Colonist (18 January 2017), online: <www.timescolonist.com/a-selection-of-quotes-from-conservative-leadership-candidate-kevin-o-leary-1.7857343>.

Fringe Political Parties and the Democratic Process

Canada constitutionalized the right of people to join and leave organizations, take collective action, and pursue interests of members in section 2(d) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Canada also enshrined the right to participate in federal elections (section 3). These are the same rights that allows political parties to assemble and have candidates run under a party name in every election.

There are many ‘serious’ parties that run in every election. Excluding the biggest contenders (Conservative, Liberal, and NDP), there are also many small parties who benefit from s 2(d) of the Charter, such as the Communist Party of Canada, Democratic Advancement Party of Canada, and the Libertarian Party of Canada, to name a few.¹

But what about the satirical parties, who, some would argue, abuse this Canadian fundamental freedom, allegedly making a mockery of the democratic process?

The Rhinoceros Party of Canada was active for 30 years, from 1963-1993 and in 2010, re-emerged under a new name. The party ran new candidates in the 2015 federal election, and their main campaign promise was “a promise to keep none of its promises.”² Their platform included repealing the law of gravity, banning Canadian winters, and getting rid of the Rocky Mountains so “Albertans can see the Pacific sunset”.³

Though humorous and satirical, the Rhino Party is considered a legitimate political party under Canadian law. As long as they ran candidates in at least 50 ridings (see Figueroa), the Rhino Party was able to keep its status into the 90’s. Through its 30 year-long existence, no one from the Rhino Party was ever elected as an MP; they were not victorious in any riding.

Should the party have been allowed to exist in the first place? They have never had a successful candidate, and their platform is both outrageous and unrealistic.

Sections 24 and 28 of the Canada Elections Act legislates that to be a registered party, a party must have 50 candidates on the ballot. In the 2003 case of Figueroa v Canada, Figeuroa argued that the 50-candidate rule discriminated against smaller parties and was unconstitutional under s 3.⁴ The Supreme Court of Canada found that s. 3 does not provide unlimited participation in the political process.

“The mere fact that the legislation departs from absolute voter equality or restricts the capacity of a citizen to participate in the electoral process is an insufficient basis on which to conclude that it interferes with the right of each citizen to play a meaningful role in the electoral process.”⁵

The Court has clearly taken the position that although it understands the importance of section 3, it will not provide unlimited rights for participation in democracy. But should parties including the Rhino Party be allowed to run candidates?

However offensive as this may seem to some, fringe parties like the Rhino Party play an important role in the Canadian political scene. Sebastien Corriveau, the Rhino Party’s leader, hopes that his party’s approach to politics will help to “engage at least some Canadians in the democratic process”.⁶

"There are so many people who don't care about politics. If we can make them engage through humour, then that's okay," he said. "We always run for a majority government, but failing that, some comedy. There are some things worth saying that no one else can say."⁷

So perhaps it’s important to have these parties who are willing to take a different approach to politics, all in the name of the democracy.

¹“Rhinos and Pirates: A Look at Canada’s Federal Fringe Parties”, CTV News (30 August 2015), online: <www.ctvnews.ca/politics/rhinos-and-pirates-a-look-at-canada-s-federal-fringe-parties-1.2538158>.

²“Rhino Party Escapes Extinction to Run in September By-Election”, CBC News (7 August 2007), online: <https://web.archive.org/web/20121109030040/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2007/08/07/rhino-election.html>.

³“14 Weird Platform Promises From teh Now-Defunct Rhinoceros Party”, Maclean’s (30 August 2014), online: <www.macleans.ca/society/14-weird-platform-promises-from-the-now-defunct-rhinoceros-party/>.

⁴Figueroa v Canada (Attorney General), 2003 SCC 37.

⁵Ibid at para 36.

⁶Kathleen Harris, “Fringe Parties Fight to Spread Message, Sway Swing Ridings”, CBC News (29 August 2015), online: <www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-fringe-parties-marijuana-1.3206935>.

⁷Ibid.