I am a citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation. My mother’s and father’s families are originally from the area surrounding the Red River in Manitoba. Sometime after the Red River Resistance in 1870, my family went west into Saskatchewan, where they settled along the north Saskatchewan River in the territory of the Nehiyaw Nation. Although I am ethnically and culturally Métis, most of my childhood was in the context of Nehiyawak and settler culture in La Ronge, Saskatchewan—a northern, rural community governed under the adhesion to Treaty 6.
I am writing this Article to share the experiences that I have had in my capacity over the years as a Métis law student, law clerk, lawyer, and now, as an assistant professor. I will describe my experiences alongside the scholarship and writing of Indigenous law students, professors, and lawyers. I will then discuss some of the Indigenization initiatives that I am undertaking at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law. I hope that my experiences resonate and affirm those of other Indigenous law students and professors, or alternatively, provide space for mutual reflection on the differences in our journeys. For American readers, I hope my footnotes provide an orientation to the Canadian literature on Indigenous legal education, broadly understood.
The momentum to Indigenize Canadian law schools has grown over the last six years. This momentum is attributable, in part, to the findings and Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (“TRC”) that were released in 2015. As an assistant professor at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law at X University, I welcome this renewed commitment to Indigenize the curricula at Canadian law schools. The need to explain why Indigenous legal education is necessary is becoming less and less pressing. As a result, many scholars now focus on how Indigenous law can be brought into Canadian legal education and practice. However, I am also mindful of the experiences of other Indigenous legal scholars and lawyers, such as Patricia Monture-Angus, Tracey Lindberg, James (Sakej) Youngblood Henderson, Robert Williams, Aaron (Waabishki Ma’iingan) Mills, John Borrows, Lindsay Borrows, Gordon Christie, Val Napoleon, Karen Drake, Jeffery Hewitt, Harold Johnson, Patricia Barkaskas, and Christine Zuni Cruz.