Law students can learn how to be a positive force in Canada’s reconciliation efforts
It’s no secret that our progress towards reconciliation has been sluggish — to put it gently. Indigenous victories in the courtroom tend to be met with virulent backlash. Judges are quick to walk back their own landmark rulings in favour of Indigenous interests. Indigenous communities are lambasted whenever they seek to assert their rights. It seems that for every step they take forward, Indigenous folks are shoved right back.
I take the optimistic view that most anti-Indigenous sentiment arises from miseducation. It’s truly shocking how many well-educated people still believe the myths that Indigenous folks pay no taxes, that Indigenous students never have to pay tuition, and that residential schools were primarily a 19th-century phenomenon. These are the hits of a political regime that seeks to make Canada’s history of Indigenous cultural genocide and dispossession more palatable for those who do not know any better. Unfortunately, these myths often play well with the public.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) appears to share my optimism. In its seminal 2015 report, the Commission released 94 calls to action, dozens of which call for robust public education regarding the history of Indigenous peoples, Indigenous law, and Indigenous-Crown relations. Most important for the purposes of our Faculty is Call to Action 28, which singles out the legal profession as a constituency that desperately needs a stronger grasp on Indigenous history and cultural competency, given its privileged position in society. Call to Action 28 states:
“We call upon law schools in Canada to require all law students to take a course in Aboriginal people and the law, which includes the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal-Crown relations. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.”
In response to the call, the Indigenous Initiatives Office (IIO) and the Indigenous Law Students’ Association (ILSA) recently partnered to create the podcast “28”. On 28, members of the IIO and ILSA ask Indigenous scholars how the legal community can better promote reconciliation.
In its inaugural episode, the 28 team was grateful to speak with Justice Murray Sinclair, former chairman of the TRC and Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of Manitoba. Among other things, Justice Sinclair shared the impetus for including Call to Action 28 in the TRC’s report: the legal community can no longer ignore the grim history of Indigenous-settler relations, nor the necessity of cultural competency. Whether you work in government or on Bay Street, it is increasingly likely that your client will contemplate conduct which implicates Indigenous rights. You might even find yourself representing an Indigenous nation or corporation. In either case, it is imperative, both practically and ethically, that you have a firm grasp on Indigenous law and history.
28 also has a “mythbusting” segment, wherein guests disabuse listeners of some of the popular misconceptions about Indigenous folks mentioned above. In its inaugural episode, 28 welcomed Dr. Lorna Fadden, who handily dismantled the myth that Indigenous folks love to do reconciliation work for free and ought to be grateful just for being given a platform.
Finally, sprinkled between interviews, 28 has lighthearted segments called “S**t Law Students say,” wherein members of ILSA share some of the most ridiculous micro 一 and not so micro 一 aggressions they have experienced in the Faculty. We recommend that you listen to these segments if only to ensure that you do not find yourselves the subjects of one of them!
28 is, at its heart, a platform from which law students can learn how to be a positive force in Canada’s reconciliation efforts directly from those most affected by them. As co-creator Tomas Jirousek (1L) says: “podcasts are the perfect medium for immersing oneself in Indigenous voices in their own right.” The team at 28 hopes that you join us in learning from the lived experiences of our guests, as the legal profession could use a little more empathy.
Editor’s Note: Flint Patterson is a producer of the podcast.
