A new three-credit course, titled Indigenous Peoples and the Law, will be offered in the Licentiate in Law (LLL) program. The addition of this course in the first year of the LLL program is in direct response to Call to Action 28 in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report. The course aims to train future lawyers so that they understand their responsibilities to First Nations peoples and are aware of the importance of Indigenous legal orders.
The course stems directly from the compulsory intensive training on Indigenous legal orders, which had been taught to all first-year LLL students since 2018 as part of the Lawyer Skills I: Introduction to Law program. From the 2024-2025 academic year onward, this compulsory training will be part of a full, three-credit course in the regular curriculum.
The Indigenous Peoples and the Law course considers theoretical, historical and legal aspects to help ensure that students have a broad understanding of the complex relationships between Indigenous peoples and the law. The course covers the following topics:
- The legal history of relations between Indigenous peoples and colonial powers in Canada, including residential schools and other policies aimed at suppressing Indigenous culture
- A critical analysis of international law and the territorial sovereignty of States, particularly against the backdrop of Indigenous conceptions of sovereignty
- The evolution of international norms related to the rights of Indigenous peoples
- An introduction to section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867 and section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982
- An introduction to Indigenous legal traditions and systems, their foundations and sources
- Interactions between Indigenous legal systems and Canadian law
- Conflict resolution: negotiations and litigation
- The concept of reconciliation
The Civil Law Section of the Faculty of Law is a pioneer in Indigenous law research and teaching . As early as the 1990s and 2000s, the Faculty offered a seven-week, pre-law program for Indigenous applicants. Since 2006, a summer course has been taught in the community of Uashat, and an optional course in Atikamekw Nehirowisiwok law was added to the LLL program in 2021.
A Certificate in Indigenous Law program was also launched in summer 2022 to introduce Indigenous students to the law through their legal orders, while providing them with a basic understanding of the Canadian legal system.
Professor Sophie Thériault, who held the position of vice-dean, Academic from 2019 to 2023 and brilliantly shepherded changes to the program, says that the new Indigenous Peoples and the Law course “will help us train future lawyers who understand their responsibilities to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and who are aware of Canada’s legal pluralism and Indigenous legal orders. We also aim to sharpen our students’ critical thinking about the role of law in establishing and maintaining Canada’s colonial system, so that during their studies, and later on in their careers, they can contribute to developing a legal system that is more equitable and more responsive to the needs and aspirations of Indigenous peoples, as called for by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”