Indigenous legal orders are living legal traditions developed, passed down, and continuously adapted and refined through experience over generations. They pre-date the nation-state Canada and the colonies that preceded it, and continue to evolve today as Nations address the responsibilities, relationships, and real-world circumstances of contemporary life. They are not a branch of nation-state or subnational law, and work in this area must be led by Indigenous Nations’ leaders and knowledge keepers in ways that respect the integrity of those legal orders themselves.
Indigenous legal orders also govern Nation-to-Nation relationships between Indigenous Peoples, including relationships, treaties and agreements that long predate contact with Europeans and continue today. Supporting Indigenous Peoples in shaping those relationships with each other is an important part of Indigenous law and governance work.
My approach to this work is shaped by the extensive experience working with Indigenous Peoples I developed before I was called to the bar. For many years, I worked closely with and supported a prominent northwest coast First Nations leader in his work for other northwest coast First Nations, helping those Nations to pursue their contemporary governance goals in ways consistent with their inherent, ancestral governance and legal traditions. This work grounded me in an experiential understanding of Indigenous law as law, which I carried with me as I entered law school.
As a graduate of the University of Victoria’s Juris Doctor and Juris Indigenarum Doctor program, I had the opportunity to learn about and develop understanding of many Indigenous legal orders from across Turtle Island under the guidance and instruction of professors who come from those traditions themselves. In this program, I also had the opportunity to complete two intensive, practicum-style terms in service of northwest coast Indigenous Peoples. Those terms involved learning from those Nations’ Elders and knowledge keepers on the land, visiting places of deep significance to those Nations, and understanding how these Nations’ legal orders reflect their relationships with their home places, as well as how those relationships have been and continue to be impacted by colonialism and how Nations are reasserting their authority over their lands and waters.
I also continue to deepen my understanding of the specific legal traditions of the Nations I work for, well beyond what is typically expected on a file. That includes learning from resources created by Nation knowledge keepers and from relevant ethnographic and historical resources.
Where invited, my role is to work with Nations’ leaders and knowledge keepers in ways that are thoughtful and respectful. This can include Nation-led work to bring forward ancestral laws and legal principles into appropriate contemporary form, drafting Nation-directed laws and governance documents, and providing analysis and advice grounded in Indigenous legal perspectives while remaining attentive to Canadian regulatory and legal contexts where relevant or necessary.
Work in this area may include:
- Supporting Nation-led governance work grounded in Indigenous legal traditions.
- Supporting Nation-led legal research, guided by knowledge keepers and leadership.
- Identifying and articulating inherent laws, responsibilities, and legal principles.
- Drafting laws, policies, decision making processes, and dispute resolution frameworks.
- As appropriate, advising external actors who must understand Indigenous legal authority and jurisdiction and governance structures.
This work often intersects with negotiations, governance design, and the practical realities of Indigenous Nations engaging nation-state and subnational systems while reasserting their own authority.