At the December 7th University of Manitoba Senate meeting, changes were approved to both the Master of Laws (LLM) and Juris Doctor (JD) programs that will enhance the legal education of both undergraduate and graduate students in the Faculty of Law. Beginning in September of 2023, all new JD students will be required to take, in their second year, Indigenous Methodologies and Perspectives, currently being taught as an elective this year by Assistant Professors Leo Baskatawang and Daniel Diamond, together with Indigenous Legal Studies Coordinator Marc Kruse. The Office of the Dean of Law thanks these instructors for their hard work, and that of the Faculty of Law’s Truth and Reconciliation Advisory Team in achieving the implementation of this course.

Also next September, JD students will be able to focus their studies in the new concentrations, which will be recorded on their transcripts upon graduation. LLM students will, for the first time in the history of the program at the University of Manitoba, be able to select clinical course electives to enhance their experiential learning opportunities.

The Faculty of Law extends congratulations to Dr. Jennifer Schulz and Dr. Virginia Torrie, and many thanks to Dr. Laura Reimer and Rosa Muller for their efforts in administering and facilitating these important changes to the Faculty of Law programs.

“Indigenous Oral History is absolutely essential in order to understand the past and to help move forward towards reconciliation. It is culturally and spiritually important,” said Schwartz.

The University of Manitoba’s Dean of the Faculty of Law, Dr. Richard Jochelson said, “It is wonderful to see this resource made available and it will surely enrich the pedagogy of anyone who teaches in the area.”

Improving and contributing to the pedagogy of oral history was a hope of Schwartz’s when he first developed the course after receiving a grant from the University of Manitoba’s Indigenous Initiatives Fund. The course has now been delivered twice in-person and once online during COVID closures. Student feedback and ratings have been consistently positive, with remarks addressing the essential need for such a course to be a part of the law school curriculum.

“The course should be a mandatory requirement to graduate from law school because it is one of the few courses that goes to the heart of the issues Indigenous people had to overcome and continue to work for in terms of reconciliation,” a student noted in one review.

Other participants in the course were emphatic about the essential usefulness of the course to all law students. “This was a remarkable course – it was a very useful and necessary one,” said one student, who appreciated the practical implications and take-aways of learning about using oral history as witness testimony, and the importance of taking part in the course’s oral history workshop.

“Finding ways and protocols for Indigenous oral history to be presented and respected in Canadian common-law courts is essential for reconciliation efforts,” said Marc Kruse, Indigenous Student Support Coordinator for the Faculty of Law, and an expert in the Indigenization of post-secondary curricula. “The process of admitting oral evidence is a topic of importance for all law students on Turtle Island and this text is a primer to start these discussions.”

The text itself is the culmination of five to six years of work, hundreds of hours of reviewing books and articles, and studying oral history, Schwartz said. “Indigenization of the curriculum is a top priority for both the University of Manitoba and the law school,” he explained. “Oral history is absolutely essential to the development of the law concerning both the Canadian constitution and Indigenous peoples, and to the autonomous development of Indigenous legal systems by communities themselves.”

The Reader is organized in eight parts, each of which sets out a framework for learning about oral law and culture. Precedent-setting case law is intermingled with important research collected from various peer-reviewed journals explaining fundamentals about oral history as evidence and how it has been used in Canadian law. Historical and critical perspectives, anthropological and other forms of evidence are all examined, and a background in biblical, African and Homeric oral history and tradition are also set out. Finally, modern inquiries and initiatives including the inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation are explored.

While developing the course, Schwartz consulted extensively with Joan Jack, a practicing lawyer based in Berens River, and expert in cross-cultural training. Jack, who is Aanishinaabe Ikwe from Berens River First Nation, delivered the introductory lecture for the course during its inaugural year. She holds a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Manitoba and a law degree from the University of British Columbia, and has continued to be a valuable partner in developing the course. A recording of Jack’s first lecture is available to view on the Faculty of Law’s YouTube channel.

Schwartz’ own prior practical experience with oral history includes appearing, on behalf of the Assembly of First Nations, in a number of cases at the Supreme Court of Canada involving oral history and also serving on behalf of the AFN on the federal-First Nations working group that helped produce the Specific Claims Tribunal Act.  His latest work is the fifth book-length piece he has released as an academic (as either an author or editor) in the area of Indigenous legal studies in a career that has included over three hundred publications in all. 

“Students who take the course obtain a solid background in not only Indigenous oral history, but the practice and ethics of oral history generally,” said Schwartz, explaining that participating students receive a certificate in an oral history workshop that is part of the course and delivered by Kimberly Moore, from the oral history program at the University of Winnipeg.

“Students who receive this overall education and training are better equipped to take other Indigenous courses, and to participate in the oral history projects that are a major facet of the Manitoba Law Journal,” said Schwartz, co-editor in chief of the MLJ, which also recently published a special volume on Indigenous Jurists and Policy-Makers from Manitoba: A Collection of Oral Histories (MLJ Vol. 41(2), 2018).

“Learning about Indigenous law and culture should be a dimension of our programming that is experienced widely and, in an environment where it is not seen as a niche learning area, but rather as an integral part of our overall program which all students see as a positive part of their growth,” said Schwartz.

At this year’s moot which took place in-person at the University of Montreal March 18 – 19, 2022, the problem involved Hydro-Québec wanting to build a new high-voltage transmission line across traditional Cree Nation lands. The parties to the issue included Hydro-Québec, the Provincial and Federal Governments, two First Nations (the Assembly of the Eeyou People, and the Nimepiranan First Nation), and the Assembly of First Nations of Québec-Labrador organization.

“A multi-party negotiation is an experience that you just don’t get in the classroom,” said team member Katie Rothwell (3L). “It helped us to really learn what it means to advocate for your client and act in your client’s best interest, while at the same time thinking quick on your feet to rebut your opponents’ arguments and hold your position at the negotiation table.”

“Participating in the Kawaskimhon Moot was the highlight of my law school career,” said Rothwell’s teammate Keira Hasenack (3L). “This non-adversarial multi party negotiation allowed me to develop my negotiation skills while deepening my understanding of Indigenous law and advocating for the rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

Team Manitoba was very pleased with their negotiation outcome. “After over 12 hours at the negotiation table, my teammate Katie and I were able to come to a memorandum of agreement with the other parties in the spirit of reconciliation,” said Hasenack. “This experience also allowed us to connect with like-minded law students from across Canada, who share a passion for Indigenous rights.”

Hasenack extends thanks to team coaches Marc Kruse and Jessica Barlow who were helpful and supportive throughout preparations and the moot itself. “We couldn’t have done it without you two!” she said.

As Indigenous Student Support Coordinator, Kruse, an alum of Robson Hall, was involved in the administrative part of getting the team together as well as coaching. He was immensely impressed with the students’ professionalism, passion and hard work. “Our moot process got a late start giving our students only five weeks to complete all their materials,” he explained. “Keira and Katie each took on a portion of the research and seamlessly drafted their documents together. At each weekly meeting they were both ahead of schedule and myself and the coach were the ones trying to keep up with their output.”

Also impressed with how well the students accepted coaching and even asked for guidance, Kruse added, “[The team], represented the community in a good way and with integrity. Though a mock negotiation, the skills showed, and the thoughtfulness for their clients will carry them well into their articling experiences.”

Barlow, an Associate at Jerch Law and Faculty of Law alum, praised the team for their dedicated work and preparation. “Katie and Keira truly embodied the spirit and intent of the Moot and they worked so well as a team,” she said, adding, “They were such a pleasure to coach. It was a great experience to be able to participate in person and to help the students develop their skills for a multi-party negotiation amongst other brilliant legal minds from across the country. We extend our gratitude to the University of Montreal for hosting.”

The idea of post-secondary education had not even crossed high school student D’Andra (Dia) Scherban’s mind before participating in the new Law Makers program at Maples Collegiate. But their experience working with mentors from the University of Manitoba’s (UM) Faculty of Law is starting to shift that thought process to what is possible.

“Seeing the work of the law students interests me and is kind of pushing me towards that (post-secondary education),” says Scherban.

A UM partnership with the Seven Oaks School Division and Wayfinders program, Law Makers combines social justice education with mentorship, linking Indigenous UM law students with high school learners in the division. Not only does the program support students in earning a high school credit, but it also creates their first connection with post-secondary through university credit.

“[I was originally interested] because of the credit, but after being in the class, it’s really interesting learning about my own culture and how it ties to law,” says Scherban.

First-year Faculty of Law student Melinda Moch is one of the influential mentors meeting with Scherban and their classmates weekly. The goal is to show the students there are many paths after high school that can make a difference in their communities.

The program helps students to see themselves in their mentors and feel supported to take that next step to post-secondary, whether in law or not. “To me, it does not matter what course they pursue; no matter what they do, they are going to be stronger, more vocal advocates for Indigenous rights,” says Moch.

As a member of the Métis Nation, Moch learned a love of the land from her mother at a young age and hopes to impart that knowledge to the students she mentors through land rights teachings. She already sees their understanding of and interest in the connections between the social justice teachings and the current events faced by Indigenous nations across the country.

“Seeing how the [students] are connecting aspects of the law they are learning about with real-world examples and asking such smart questions is so inspiring,” Moch remarks, noting she is as inspired by the students as they are by their mentors.

Though it’s only the first year of the program, students are already showing strong interest in social justice, which Moch is confident will lead them to success in whatever they pursue.

“I foresee some of these students going many distances, [especially] the way their minds are open to the idea of anything and that, to me, is a huge prospect as well – that they, through Law Makers, will get the idea that they can become anything.” Moch has already confirmed she is planning to participate as a mentor again next year, and for as long as the program exists.

The expansion of this program to involve more participants and branch out into different fields will now be much more possible, thanks to UM’s new partnership with the Mastercard Foundation’s EleV program, which includes $16.1 million to support this work.

“The timing of this partnership and the generosity of the Mastercard Foundation are going to have such a big impact…It allows the program to happen in a bigger, better, faster way, especially in getting all the resources and people in place,” says Christine Cyr, associate vice-president Indigenous – students, community and cultural integration at UM. “We’re all grateful for this partnership.”

With Law Makers in its early stages, plans for future educational opportunities for Indigenous high school students are already underway. Cyr’s long-term goal is to connect more and more students with Indigenous mentors who will empower them to feel comfortable to work toward any dream.

“I hope to see the Law Makers program as the first step – and many more programs like it in many different fields – so every student feels supported to pursue whatever career they want,” says Cyr, adding this is only the beginning of the program’s work to create pathways to education and ensure students know their communities are rooting for them.

28. 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 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.

The course will continue examination of Indigenous material already being taught in mandatory first-year classes. The course material and discussions will be informed by the language and policy developed for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was passed by Senate and became law in Canada this past summer. The course will be taught with the assistance of Elders, Indigenous practitioners, and community members. Land-based learning opportunities will be an integral part of the course, wherein students will have the opportunity to visit healing lodges and land which is or was part of a contested land claim.

I, as Indigenous Student Support Coordinator at the Faculty – and an alumnus of the JD program myself, am honoured to be a part of Robson Hall’s reconciliation efforts and this class is a big step in that direction. Ensuring that our students have an understanding of Indigenous worldviews and legal systems is necessary for Reconciliation. All Canadians must come to understand Indigenous perspectives when discussing issues of Reconciliation. Our students, many of whom will go on to careers where Common Law is interpreted and enforced from a colonial context and history, will especially need to understand Indigenous worldviews and ways of living the good life (mino-bimaadiziwin) from within these worldviews to assist in de-colonizing Canadian Law. Robson Hall is making real change to our curriculum and pedagogy to decolonize our courses and methods of teaching.

Through education we hope to move our academic and legal community – and by extension, our broader society – closer to a place where Indigenous folk and other Canadians can discuss political, legal, and moral ideas with respect and understanding; a place where our Common Law and Indigenous Legal Orders can stand on equal footing, allowing conversations to start from a Nation-to-Nation perspective. Our mandatory course is a keystone course along with our other Indigenous offerings which will ensure all Manitoba law students will learn about Indigenous Legal Orders and Treaties from an Indigenous perspective. Teaching our students to understand Indigenous perspectives will better prepare them to lead in the discourse and practice of Reconciliation.

Philosophical outlook

Originally from Saskatchewan, Kruse was born in Moose Jaw, raised in Regina, and after travelling between Banff and Ottawa as a young adult, settled in Calgary for six years, attending Mount Royal College while working as a residential framer. He completed an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy at the University of Winnipeg before starting law school at the University of Manitoba at the age of 31.

“My first inspiration for law came from watching Matlock with my grandfather” he said. “In high school I was able to take a Law class which furthered my interest. During my undergrad I focused a lot on Political Philosophy and the history of ideas which included many texts on the law. During my time at UW I was the philosophy student group coordinator. Though my role I was introduced to the Legal Help Centre and was one of the first volunteers there. I met with Justice Suche and the Honourable Murray Sinclair who were both inspirations and gave me a strong sense of the need for access to justice.”

Experiential learning

Coming from such a philosophical and theoretical background, he made a point of focusing on the practical aspects of law while at Robson Hall. “During the first week of law school it became clear that criminal defence work was what I wanted to focus on as I wanted to engage with the Charter, access to justice, and the Indigenous community,” he recalled. “I was able to work with the ULC [University Law Centre] and was a student supervisor in my third year. The law clinic connected me with Legal Aid lawyers who continue to be my mentors today.”

“The Indigenous professors here at the time were strong mentors for me as well,” said Kruse. “Brenda Gunn taught me Constitutional law, Aimée Craft taught me Gender and Law and a directed reading on Sentencing. Wendy Whitecloud taught me Aboriginal rights and title.”

“Robson Hall was the first time in my education where I was presented with a decolonial history of Canada which impacted me personally and helped solidify my own identity within Canada.”

After articling at Legal Aid Manitoba and being called to the Manitoba Bar, Kruse practiced as an associate at Rees Dyck Rogala law offices where he found his desire to assist Indigenous people involved in the Justice system to be in conflict with the business side of law, especially when his clients were often on Legal Aid certificates. “Legal Aid tariffs have not been raised since 2008 so making a living wage was difficult,” he explained. “I enjoy the court room and drafting complex legal arguments. I have appeared in the Court of Appeal four times and enjoy the back and forth with the Bench. I have also enjoyed making charter applications and those cases which rely on detailed factums.”

His position as Indigenous Student Support Coordinator at the Faculty of Law will allow him to maintain a small practice of Indigenous clients so he may continue to bring Indigenous perspectives and legal practices into the court room as a Saulteaux (Muscowpetung First Nation) Indigenous person, in hopes of furthering Restorative Justice in Canada. With this practical experience, he also hopes to assist with expanding the Faculty’s clinical offerings.

Indigenizing Law’s curriculum

Significantly Indigenizing curricula in Canada has become an area of research expertise for Kruse, since beginning his professional legal career. He has studied and written extensively on the subject, including co-authoring the article Educating in the Seventh Fire: Debwewin, Mino-bimaadiziwin, and Ecological Justicealong with Nicolas Tanchuk, and Robert Hamilton published in 2020 in the University of Illinois journal, Educational Theory. Marc has helped to redesign, implement and teach courses on Indigenous People and the Law for the Department of Political Science at the University of Winnipeg, where he taught an Indigenous course requirement since 2016.

“I focus on the relationship between philosophical ethics, political philosophy, and law,” he said, describing his particular area of research focus. “I am especially interested in ways educational institutions can ameliorate or exacerbate legal problems for Indigenous peoples. I have published work on the moral foundations of professional ethics and work on Indigenous educational ethics. Through the Yellowhead Institute I also took part in a comprehensive study of Canadian Injunction cases in relation to [First Nations].”

“I want to amplify indigenous theory and place it in dialogue with the history of ideas taught in philosophy, education, and law departments around the world.”

Dean of Law Richard Jochelson added, “Marc brings a unique perspective to the school because he has a deep understanding and history of Indigenizing post-secondary curriculum, has significant practice experience, and is also an alum who harbours a deep appreciation for political philosophy.”

Jochelson emphasised that Kruse’s role at the Faculty is critical but also unique. “It is rare to find an individual who is able to support students but also develop educational content. We are fortunate to have hired Marc,” Jochelson said.

Currently, as Indigenous Student Support Coordinator, Kruse’s first area of focus will be in addressing the needs of Indigenous students including helping with funding, tutors, and organizing the Kawaskimhon Moot team. Next will be Indigenizing the Juris Doctor program curriculum by assisting professors with their course content and developing new Indigenous courses. “We have two committees focused on the [Truth and Reconciliation] calls to action which I lead,” he said, describing the Faculty’s newly-struck TRC Action Committee’s two branches of mentorship/pathways, and curriculum change. “This committee is formed of students, faculty, and practicing lawyers who are volunteering to assist with community engagement and curriculum development.”

Kruse will guide the committee in creating pathways both into (recruitment and admissions) and out of law school (articling, employment) for the Faculty’s Indigenous students. Finally, he plans to encourage community engagement.

Coming full circle

Eventually, Kruse will also teach some of the new Indigenous courses in development at the Faculty. When he does, students can expect a teaching style that encourages group discussion and student engagement. “I tend to have shorter lectures with additional guest speakers or video content to support a variety of learning styles,” he said.

As an alumnus of Robson Hall, Kruse is happy to share some words of encouragement for current law students: “I am sure students hear this from a lot of people but they really need to follow their passion. Practicing law can be very difficult for a variety of reasons: long hours, meticulous review of complex legal documents, reviewing criminal disclosure and working though client’s trauma, etc. To persevere through these difficulties, you must have a passion for the work you are doing to stay focused and motivated.”

Bringing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to life in Canada has been a long time coming. Close to four decades in fact, a staggeringly long time for such a crucial human rights concern.

First, 25 years of negotiations at the UN. Then, even though it was overwhelmingly adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007, eight years of outright opposition and lukewarm support from the Stephen Harper government. After the Trudeau government was elected in 2015, four wasted years of politics thwarted passage of Bill C-262, NDP MP Romeo Saganash’s private member’s legislation to implement the declaration. Then another year on hold following the 2019 election, waiting for action on the Liberals’ campaign promise to bring forward government legislation.

And now, with Bill C-15 currently before the House of Commons, it is finally within reach. A process that started at the UN in 1982 may, at long last, secure meaningful implementation of the international human rights framework for protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

But it is not done yet. There is predictable opposition, including alarmist hyperbole which continues misinformation campaigns linking respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples with economic doom.

Days before COVID-19 turned life and politics upside down a year ago, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister, for instance, wrote that adopting the declaration would “replace Canadian precedents that have advanced Indigenous rights with undefined international good intentions” and predicted that “more confusion and uncertainty will reign. Investors and businesses will focus elsewhere. Opportunities will be lost. Acrimony will continue.”

Because decades of overlooking, undermining and violating the rights of Indigenous Peoples have been marked by an absence of confusion, uncertainty and acrimony? Obviously not.

It is not clear what position Erin O’Toole’s Conservative Party will take, nor whether there may be an attempted repeat of the obstruction we saw from a handful of senators who blocked adoption of C-262 in the spring of 2019.

Might we finally see acknowledgement that embracing a human rights framework will be good all around?

By any measure, implementing this global declaration domestically will significantly advance reconciliation and strengthen respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples across the country. Not automatically. And not without much hard work ahead, such as the considerable effort – in full collaboration with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples – that must be invested in developing the action plan for implementation that will be required.

But it will be an enormously consequential. Tellingly, that is why the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls have both called for this to happen.

And we should not overlook the vital significance this will have more widely, in two crucial respects.

First, this is incredibly important globally. On every continent the rights of Indigenous Peoples are trammelled daily, rooted in centuries-old racism, and often marked by extreme acts of devastating violence. The UN declaration offers a path for tackling this colossal human rights crisis. But only if its stirring words are translated from international promises to national action.  By adopting legislative commitments to uphold and put in place a binding framework for implementation, Canada sets a vital example.

Second, this stands to advance Canada’s overall commitment to international human rights. For decades, communities who have expected meaningful action by federal, provincial and territorial governments to comply with the UN human rights obligations we expect other countries to respect have been disappointed and, frankly, betrayed. Instead, governments disingenuously blame imagined constraints of federalism for inaction and often assert that international human rights are for other countries with more grievous failings.

In that way, this is a human rights breakthrough that, ultimately, benefits not only Indigenous Peoples, but individuals and communities struggling for action to address racism, uphold gender equality, tackle poverty and homelessness, and promote the rights of people living with disabilities.

Bill C-15 is, of course, Indigenous rights legislation. It is also one of the most important pieces of human rights legislation in a generation. It takes our international human rights obligations seriously, brings those promises home and commits to action to uphold them.

And that should be embraced by us all.

The idea of taxing sugar-sweetened beverages has caught the attention of political leaders in Canada, too. However, this paternalistic “we know best” approach ignores the most obvious needs and rights of Indigenous Peoples. Rather than seeing the harms of colonization to Indigenous Peoples, governments are fixating on how to tax the Coke in their hands.

Imposing a sugary beverage tax on Indigenous consumers would be unethical, contravene tax law and undermine Indigenous rights to self-determination. Even the production of sugar in Canada has exploited Indigenous people, who were used essentially as forced labour.

Health and mental health gaps

The connection between lack of employment, education and family supports, to poorer health outcomes is well documented. For Indigenous peoples, who often occupy the worst end of wellness measures, this is directly connected to the legacy of colonization.

Moreover, the health gap is profound and getting worse. The Manitoba Centre for Health Policy found the life expectancy gap between First Nations persons and all other Manitobans has widened to 11 years from eight years since 2002.

It comes as no surprise then that Indigenous Peoples also experience diabetes at much higher rates. In Canada, treating diabetes costs upwards of $30 billion per year. It seems unlikely that a tax on sugary drinks can set this crisis right.

Similarly, for those struggling with addiction, eating disorders or other challenges, adding more tax provides no support for better “lifestyle choices.” There is evidence linking adverse childhood experiences and trauma to higher intake of sugar-sweetened beverages both in childhood and later in life, as well as calls to include sugar-sweetened drinks within addiction models, including for survivors of childhood maltreatment who disproportionately use food to cope.

Indigenous Peoples are also more likely to live with mental illness and addiction, largely due to intergenerational trauma. This raises ethical questions about taxing addiction or behaviours associated with trauma, particularly in light of its colonial roots.

Taxes, food and water

One obvious problem with taxing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption by First Nations persons is their tax-exempt status for all purchases made on reserves. There is no Canadian tax scheme that can avoid this exemption, thus a tax on sugary beverages has no impact on those who are at highest risk for Type 2 diabetes. With the growing presence of urban reserves in many Canadian cities, buying tax-exempt sugar-sweetened beverages is increasingly easy.

Taxation also doesn’t address underlying issues of food insecurity, prevalent in communities with high Indigenous populations. In urban areas, the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey found Indigenous populations to have the highest intake of sugar-sweetened beverages of any racial or ethnic group. This often reflects a lack of healthy and affordable food in neighbourhoods with large Indigenous populations.

Read more: Mining push continues despite water crisis in Neskantaga First Nation and Ontario’s Ring of Fire

Canada’s historic approach to resource development and wildlife management has been to ignore the needs and rights of Indigenous communities. Industry was allowed to pollute water bodies, including with mercury, and destroy food sources relied upon by Indigenous Peoples. For northern, rural, remote and urban populations, food insecurity continues to be a problem. Increasing food prices wouldn’t fix this.

A tax on sugar-sweetened beverages implies that Indigenous Peoples can either make better food choices, or choose to pay the tax. Yet safe drinking water and affordable food are not within reach of many Indigenous Peoples.

Read more: Water crisis in First Nations communities runs deeper than long-term drinking water advisories

The disconnect here is how taxing sugary drinks will help reduce diabetes and other health problems for this group. There is a serious credibility gap when governments demand consumers pay extra when choices are limited, and then promise tax revenue will be used to benefit their health. Despite promises by the federal government to fix all boil water advisories in five years, it failed to deliver on this basic human right.

Shifting responsibility

The solution, it seems, shifts responsibility for wellness from addressing inequality, to imposing a sugar-sweetened beverage tax on those most affected by poverty and lack of clean water, and for whom racism in health care is a daily reality. By framing the “problem” just the right way, the “solution” is easy to sell to a nation struggling to accept responsibility for the continuing harms of colonization.

As a young nation, Canada signed Treaty agreements to share land and resources. Instead of honouring those promises, Canada enacted the Indian Act, essentially stripping First Nations of even the most basic human rights. Since then, Canadian governments have rarely acted in the best interests of Indigenous Peoples.

Today, Canada is considering Bill C-15 to adopt minimum standards of Indigenous rights as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This includes the right to self determination. Rather than taxing sugar-sweetened beverages, a better solution is to end paternalism and to provide real choices by confronting inequality and racism.

This article from UM alumna [LLM/2017] Myra J Tait (Assistant Professor, Governance, Law and Management, Athabasca University) and Natalie Diane Riediger (Assistant Professor of Nutritional Epidemiology, University of Manitoba) was originally published on The Conversation. It appears here under a Creative Commons licence.

“They’re not perfect but the alternative is far worse to contemplate,” she said during a Feb. 4 Distinguished Visitor virtual lecture for the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Law and Centre for Human Rights Research.

Davis is vice-chair of the UN Human Rights Council’s expert mechanism on the rights of Indigenous peoples. Its mandate includes visiting countries to help resolve Indigenous rights disputes.

“This work of the UN is critical – to travel to difficult places … and to bring an outside human-rights-based perspective” based on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Davis said Indigenous peoples are reshaping liberal democracies using the declaration. She is helping lead a UN study on how the right to Indigenous self-determination should be put into practice to change people’s lives.

Strategies that have failed in her own country include forcing Indigenous organizations to incorporate rather than relying on traditional forms of governance. Internationally, market liberalization has had a harsh impact on Indigenous peoples, she said.

Self-determination requires both redistribution of state power to Indigenous governments and constitutionally guaranteeing enhanced participation of Indigenous peoples in the democratic life of the state. Putting self-determination into practice requires revival of Indigenous languages and even traditional games that embody Indigenous legal principles.

University of Manitoba law Prof. Brenda Gunn has known Davis since they were young lawyers advocating for improvements to the UNDRIP draft. She said Davis’s talk reminded her “how hard Indigenous peoples have had to fight for recognition of our rights at every step of the way and how easily the slide-back can happen.”

Davis’s lecture can be viewed online.

UM Today caught up with alumna Diane Roussin to see where her path has taken her since graduation. Roussin is Anishinaabe and has family from Skownan First Nation, Treaty 2 Territory. Since graduating with a bachelor of social work, Roussin has learned the value in centering community while keeping busy as the project director for The Winnipeg Boldness Project.

UM Today: What was your educational journey like in both traditional and western learning?

Diane Roussin: I am fortunate and privileged to have been raised in my family, with my culture, and with all our values and principles at the centre of my upbringing. I know that some Indigenous people cannot say the same because of Residential schools and the Sixties Scoop. We did, however, grow up in a challenging environment at times, including living in dire poverty and overcoming family violence and alcoholism. But I do think some of those traumas have contributed to a definite resiliency and toughness.

Heading off to university was the first time I started to learn about colonization and assimilation policies. A lot of things made sense after that. All the things that I had internalized were done to me and to our people, and it started to anger me. I needed to do something with that anger. That led me to pursuing a bachelor of arts from the University of Brandon, and then in social work at the University of Manitoba.

UM Today: What prompted you to get into social work?

DR: I decided I wanted to take on social work from a policy level. I felt like I could make a better change that way. I ended up going into a practicum that allowed me to work on Indigenous policy. I began working in child welfare, and again, that angered me. There were so many Indigenous children in the system with not enough Indigenous social workers. There was no empathy for the Indigenous families.

My move to Winnipeg led me to the inner-city and the North End and is where I witnessed the groundwork already being done by Indigenous matriarchs in the community. It is where a lot of my community-based learning began.

UM Today: Tell us about what you’ve learned by working in community.

DR: While post-secondary was very theory-based learning, these women in community were already doing the groundwork for social change. I think school took me away from that community-based learning for a while. They applied more of an Indigenous context and these women quickly became my teachers, my role models and my mentors. They taught me how to work outside of that theory I had studied for so long. Working from a strength-based approach, it is these women who have started so many of the sophisticated non-profits that exist in the North End now. They are leaders in Winnipeg and in the country, and I feel so privileged to have been a part of this journey. I have been living right in the middle of community wisdom since I left academia.

UM Today: Tell us about what you are currently working on.

DR: I am running what is called a Social Lab, which centres the ideas and experiences of the community and combines them with data to support community development. My work centres Indigenous social innovation, including Indigenous wisdom, that guides us through social complexities and systemic issues. For example, 70-75 per cent of those incarcerated are Indigenous and 95 per cent of those in care are Indigenous children. This is not because Indigenous people lack the capability of contributing — it is because someone else benefits from keeping our people there. The lab I am currently working on relies on Indigenous wisdom in prototypes and solutions, and we understand that upscaling this work would benefit not just Indigenous people, but all people. This work includes all my relations at its core.

The Winnipeg Boldness Project is only six years in, and we are one of the longest social labs in Canada. People often look to us because we are charting the path in this field. Our little lab in the North End of Winnipeg has national eyes on it, and that is because of the work of Indigenous matriarchs here in the city. I had the privilege to bring all my networks and relationships into The Project, so it rests on a foundation of work that has been done in community already for a very long time.

UM Today: What kind of advice would you give a student who may be interested in doing work based in community?

DR: Bring together the Indigenous wisdom of knowing, being and doing. There is a danger in doubting the sophistication of those traditional ways because we are sometimes told they are less than western modes of learning. My advice would be to try hard to value and honour both, and when you can, bring these two styles of learning together. Hold up and embrace your Indigeneity, even if you do not see it reflected in learning.

Like The Winnipeg Boldness Project on Facebook or follow them on Twitter and Instagram at @wpgboldness.

You can hear more from Diane, as well as the other UM alumni, by joining the virtual Indigenous Alumni Living Library event on Oct. 2. For Zoom login info, please email karen.richard@umanitoba.ca.