The budget: $9.1M for national centre for Indigenous law to be built at UVic
With the help of $9.1 million in federal funding, a national centre for Indigenous law and reconciliation will be built at the University of Victoria. The centre will house the world’s first joint degree in Indigenous legal orders and Canadian common law, launched at UVic in September.
A national centre for Indigenous law and reconciliation will be built at the University of Victoria, with the help of $9.1 million in federal funding.
The university hopes the new Indigenous Legal Lodge will be a leader in the study and understanding of Indigenous laws. It will house the world’s first joint degree in Indigenous legal orders and Canadian common law, launched at UVic in September.
The three-year funding for the national centre of excellence was announced in Tuesday’s federal budget, which made Indigenous reconciliation and narrowing the socio-economic gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples a key priority.
The design of the building will reflect modern and traditional values of the Coast Salish peoples and will foster engagement, debate and public education for students, academics and community members, the university said in a statement. The centre will be built as an addition to the existing UVic law building and will include lecture theatres, faculty and staff offices, an elders’ room and spaces for gatherings and ceremonies.
It will be equipped with digital capabilities that enable students to connect with their home territories and allow communities to share their legal traditions with one another.
“We are grateful to the federal government for its support of the University of Victoria and this national centre for Indigenous law, which will play a vital role in helping to grow a more just and inclusive Canada — socially, economically and legally,” UVic president Jamie Cassels said in a statement.
“This learning and research centre and UVic’s Indigenous law degree program are part of UVic’s commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Report and calls to action to establish Indigenous law institutes for the development, use and understanding of Indigenous laws.”
The centre will also house the Indigenous Law Research Unit, a world leader in the study and application of Indigenous law. The unit has partnered with more than 50 Indigenous communities across Canada on legal research questions related to lands, water, governance, citizenship, gender and human rights, harms and injuries, and child welfare, and works with institutions across the globe to revitalize and rebuild Indigenous legal orders.
“Figuratively and literally, this commitment will enable us to build a strong, stable foundation from which to teach and study Indigenous law as one of the great legal traditions of the world,” said Val Napoleon, director of the Indigenous Law Research Unit and joint degree program.
The four-year degree program started with 26 students and combines the study of Western legal customs with Indigenous laws and practices. Students are required to do field research, spending time in First Nations communities to learn from people such as chiefs, councillors and elders about customs, traditions, rules and laws of the community.
UVic is working with other post-secondary institutions to share knowledge, curriculum and course materials so they can develop their own Indigenous law programs.
The Indigenous legal orders and Canadian common law program was initially funded by a $2.5-million investment from the B.C. government’s 2018 budget. Last year, Vancity contributed $1 million and the McConnell Foundation donated $500,000.
The Indigenous law program fulfils one of the calls to action issued by the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which asks the “federal government, in collaboration with Aboriginal organizations, to fund the establishment of Indigenous law institutes for the development, use, and understanding of Indigenous laws and access to justice in accordance with the unique cultures of Aboriginal peoples in Canada.”