Indigenous course to be mandatory for law students at U of W

Incoming first-year law students at the University of Windsor will be required to take a course in Indigenous legal traditions when classes begin next week.

The course will examine Indigenous legal orders, in particular Anishinaabe, Cree and Haudenosaunee laws. It’s been offered for the past four years but this marks the first time it’s mandatory. Adding another Indigenous course to the curriculum is part of the university’s effort to implement some of the recommendations put forth in 2015 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. “For many years we told our students there were two legal traditions in Canada, in English common law and Quebec’s civil law,” said Chris Waters, the university ’s dean of law. “We neglected to teach that there is a whole other basket of legal traditions in Canada in Indigenous

For many years we told our students there were two legal traditions in Canada, in English common law and Quebec’s civil law.

law.”

The university’s law faculty boasts several Indigenous scholars, including Valarie Waboose, Jeffery Hewitt and Beverly Jacobs. Gloria Thomas and Bryan Loucks will join the staff as sessional instructors to assist with the delivery of the Indigenous legal traditions course.

In addition, Sylvia McAdam will be joining the faculty for a oneyear appointment. McAdam, a lawyer, professor and advocate for First Nations and environmental rights, is the co-founder of Idle No More, an international grassroots movement aimed in part at protecting the land and water from looming parliamentary bills that would complicate Indigenous sovereignty and environmental protections. The movement has changed the political landscape of Canada and McAdam’s efforts have been recognized with several awards, including the Carole Gellar Human Rights Award, the Foreign Policy Top 100 Global Thinkers 2014, the Social Justice Award and the 2014 Global Citizen Award.

The faculty of law sits on the traditional territory of the Three Fires Confederacy comprised of the Ojibway, Odawa and the Potawatomi. The university has established itself as a leader in Ontario with its commitment to enhance Indigenous voices in the community and within the legal profession.

This November, the university will host the World Indigenous Law Conference.