Indigenous Legal Orders Conference: Standing Up Indigenous Law 2023
Course Date: June 16, 2023
Total: 5h 32min
Total Ethics: 1h 13min
Course Date: June 16, 2023
Welcome and Land Acknowledgement (9:00 – 9:10)
Elder Carleen Thomas — Tsleil-Waututh Nation, North Vancouver
Teresa Sheward — Program Lawyer, CLEBC, Vancouver
Leah Sisi-ya-ama George-Wilson — Miller Titerle + Company LLP, Vancouver
Dr. Sarah Morales (Su-taxwiye) — Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria, Victoria
Coast Salish Legal Protocol: Witnessing Ceremony (9:10 – 9:25)
Speaker
Robert B. Morales — Chair, First Nations Summit Chief Negotiators Forum; Negotiator/Lawyer, Cowichan Tribes, Duncan
Witnesses
Hank Adam — Northern Shuswap Tribal Council, Williams Lake
Valerie Cross (Chemkwaat), MBA — Executive Councillor/Legislator, Tsawwassen First Nation, Tsawwassen
Professor Gerry A. Ferguson — University of Victoria Distinguished Professor, Victoria
Joanna Recalma — Barrister & Solicitor, Qualicum Beach
Standing Up Indigenous Law: Making Space for Indigenous Law in the Canadian Legal Landscape (9:25 – 9:45)
- what are entry points and legal mechanisms for incorporating Indigenous law?
Leah Sisi-ya-ama George-Wilson — Miller Titerle + Company LLP, Vancouver
Dr. Sarah Morales (Su-taxwiye) — Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria, Victoria
Keynote: Making Space for Indigenous Law in the Canadian Legal Landscape (9:45 – 10:30)
Dr. Val Napoleon — Interim Dean, Professor, Law Foundation Chair of Indigenous Justice and Governance, University of Victoria, Victoria
BREAK (10:30 – 10:45)
Treaty Making to Stand Up Indigenous Law (10:45 – 11:45)
- Tsawwassen's history pre-colonization and post; interference from governments (Indian Act, Fisheries, causeways, Tsatsu Shores)
- the concurrent law model—cons and pros
- the lived experience—standing up 23 laws, trying to incorporate Coast Salish ways in our legal work and how it's working 14 years in
Valerie Cross (Chemkwaat), MBA — Executive Councillor/Legislator, Tsawwassen First Nation, Tsawwassen
- modern treaties are the constitutional sharing of sovereignty and sharing of jurisdiction
- modern treaties infuse and uphold Indigenous Legal Orders and Indigenous Laws
- the BC Treaty Commission's intervention in the Dickson case as a legal and constitutional imperative to support modern treaty First Nations self-determination
Celeste A. Haldane, KC — Chief Commissioner, BC Treaty Commissioner, Vancouver
- "Recognition and Reconciliation of Rights in the BC Treaty Process in BC" policy
- the commitment to include Indigenous Legal Orders in the treaty making process
- the relationship of laws and the constitutional status of lands with Canada and BC
Robert B. Morales — Chair, First Nations Summit Chief Negotiators Forum; Negotiator/Lawyer, Cowichan Tribes, Duncan
LUNCH (11:45 – 12:45)
Coordination Agreements in Child and Family Services (12:45 – 2:15)
- Cowichan Tribes Child and Family Wellness Legislation Project: Raising our Children our Quw'utsun Way
Dr. Sarah Morales (Su-taxwiye) — Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria, Victoria
- Splatsin Coordination Agreement
- writing down Indigenous laws based on oral traditions and how this is addressed in coordination agreements; Splatsin's bylaw as an expression of Secwepemc laws around protection; other laws that are not in writing but still need to be included and addressed in the agreement
- using Indigenous laws in the resolution of disputes under coordination agreements
- identification of children and families who are part of the Nation and Indigenous community according to Indigenous laws and how this might be addressed in coordination agreements
- application of Indigenous laws to families when parents or families disagree with that application; how this can be addressed through coordination agreements and how new CFCSA amendments will also be at issue when they come into force
Wenecwtsin Wayne Christian — Former Kukpi7 of Splatsin and Former Tribal Chief of the Secwepemc Nation, Clchal, Currently Deputy Chair of the First Nations Health Council, Kamloops
Crystal Reeves — Mandell Pinder LLP, Vancouver
- Peguis First Nation Honouring Our Children, Families and Nation Act
- 5 year Coordination Agreement (4 parties)
- 3 year companion Canada Funding Agreement (3 parties)
- Anishinaabe Inaakonigewin
- importance of Ceremony
- Community Engagement (Webinars/Videos)
- External Legal review/introduction to Kings Bench and Provincial Court Justices
- Regulation, Policy and Directives drafted concurrently
Earl C. Stevenson — In-house Counsel, Peguis Child & Family Services, Peguis First Nation (presenting remotely)
Land Codes and Land Use Planning: Capturing Indigenous Law (2:15 – 2:45)
Leah Sisi-ya-ama George-Wilson — Miller Titerle + Company LLP, Vancouver
Patti Wight — Manager, First Nation Support Services BC, First Nation Land Management Resource Center, Prince George (presenting remotely)
BREAK (2:45 – 3:00)
How UNDRIP Implementation is Creating Space for Recognition of Indigenous Law (3:00 – 4:00)
- UNDRIP fundamentally is about self-determination
- self-determination advances the uplifting of Indigenous legal orders
- legal orders open the jurisdictional window to legal pluralism
- legal pluralism applies to Free, Prior Informed consent pursuant to our legal orders
- legal pluralism is the interpretive window for government to government arrangements and Nation to proponent agreements
- legal pluralism is the basis of dispute resolution that applies Indigenous legal orders to the common law
Merle Lagax'niitsk Alexander, KC — Miller Titerle Law Corporation, Vancouver (materials only)
- survival of languages and laws is the key component
- revitalization movement to look to traditional ways of being to support healing
- drawing on traditional stories/teachings to help shape the revitalization
- empowering people through revitalization
- changing the mindset of government, how we use our teachings in conjunction with UNDRIP to educate government and shift their ways of thinking
Bonnie Leonard — Legal Advisor, Assembly of First Nations, Kamloops
The Way Forward: Reflections by Witnesses (4:00 – 4:45)
Speaker
Robert B. Morales — Chair, First Nations Summit Chief Negotiators Forum; Negotiator/Lawyer, Cowichan Tribes, Duncan
Witnesses
Hank Adam — Northern Shuswap Tribal Council, Williams Lake
Valerie Cross (Chemkwaat), MBA — Executive Councillor/Legislator, Tsawwassen First Nation, Tsawwassen
Professor Gerry A. Ferguson — University of Victoria Distinguished Professor, Victoria
Joanna Recalma — Barrister & Solicitor, Qualicum Beach
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Presentation Content:
Slides: BC Treaty Commission: Modern Treaties, Nationhood and Sharing of Sovereignty
Slides: Recognition and Reconciliation of Rights Policy for Treaty Negotiations In British Columbia
Slides: Treaty Making to Stand Up Indigenous Law: Reflections from Tsawwassen First Nation
Handout: “Recognition and Reconciliation of Rights in The BC Treaty Process In BC” Policy: The Commitment to Include Indigenous Legal Orders in The Treaty Making Process
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