The MLJ continues its mission in this Volume of “preserving the voices of distinguished jurists from this province,” and strives to publish high-quality scholarship in maintaining its standing as an exceptional law journal. Here are a couple of statistics that the MLJteam is particularly proud of from our SHRCC application this year:

• The MLJ received 7 Supreme Court of Canada citations in 2024-25.
• We are a diamond open-access journal, with content available through a CC-BY-ND creative Commons license. The MLJ is available through Alberta OJS, CanLII, Lexis Advance Quicklaw, HeinOnline, Google Play, Amazon and through com.

Overview of the latest Issues

Issue 1 is a retrospective on the career of the Honourable Chief Justice Richard Chartier. It begins with his oral history and features a series of remarks made at his retirement gala, including his own comments and those by fellow jurists, the Honourable Justice Freda Steel of the Manitoba Court of Appeal and former Chief Judge of the Provincial Court (2016-2023), Honourable Judge Margaret I. Wiebe. The issue concludes with a comprehensive analysis of Chief Justice Chartier’s jurisprudence by Court of Appeal researchers, Melanie Bueckert and Michael Rice, and a final word on the jurisprudential developments in civil procedure overseen by the Chief Justice, written by Dr. Gerard Kennedy, a former assistant professor at UM Law, currently an associate professor serving as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law.

The second issue is a continuation of the MLJ’s The Current Legal Landscape series. It deploys a “range of methodologies to address some of the most fundamental issues in our legal system.” Included is an article on access to justice in Manitoba from the legal practitioners’ view by Gerard Kennedy, and UM Faculty of Law’s Director of Access to Justice & Community Engagement, Natasha Brown. The issue continues with an article co-authored by the Honourable Justice Malcolm Rowe of the Supreme Court of Canada on the role of appellate standards of review in the Canadian legal system. Justice Rowe’s article is followed by a word on lawyer incivility in family law by Deanne Sowter, a doctoral candidate at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School. It concludes with an oral history of the Honourable Chief Justice Marianne Rivoalen, the first woman to head the Manitoba judiciary.

Issue 3 is another continued project, this time furthering the Underneath the Golden Boy project on legislative development in UM’s home province. It features two articles from a recent UM Law graduate, Anna Evans-Boudreau [JD/25], on Manitoban sustainable development legislation and the complexities of working within the field of freedom of information or access to information in all three levels of government, the second of which she co-wrote with Kevin Walby, Associate Criminal Justice Professor at the University of Winnipeg. Dalhousie’s Schulich School of Law assistant professor, Andrew Flavelle Martin, also provides two articles in this issue on the public perception of lawyers in public service through the lens of the hit television series, The West Wing, and on legal ethics for government lawyers in light of several provisions in the Law Society of Nunavut’s Code of Professional Conduct that are unique to that province. It concludes with an article from Dr. Ilia Roskoshnyi, a recent Postdoctoral Fellow at UM Law, on artificial intelligence and the future of the legal profession.

Robson Crim is entirely responsible for Issues 4-6 and is edited by Dr. Richard Jochelson, Dean of UM Law, and Associate Professor Brandon Trask. The Issues are comprised of 13 articles on topics ranging from a critique of the Riot Act to the reasonable expectation of privacy in the artificially intelligent surveillance state. Articles are provided by members of the Crown Prosecution services of Manitoba and Ontario, graduates from the Faculties of Law of Western University and University of New Brunswick, and professors from UM, University of Saskatchewan’s College of Law, and Dalhousie’s Schulich School of Law. These contributions, whether by practitioner, student, or professor—as with submissions to all of the MLJ’s dimensions—undergo a rigorous double-blind peer-review process.

The seventh and final issue of Volume 47, written entirely by Alvin Esau, examines the private lives and public careers of the men who carried out capital punishment by hanging in the early 20th Century. Esau’s book follows seven of post-confederation Canada’s hangmen, detailing research that tends to show the pseudo-psychopathy, scandalous lives, and obnoxious personalities linked to the heavily stigmatized profession. It is a unique perspective on the hangmen themselves, rather than those who were hanged, authored by a true scholar in the field of Canadian true crime, which the MLJ is delighted to publish.

As always, the Executive Editors-in-Chief would like to thank the student-editorial teams at the MLJ and its Robson Crim dimension for their tireless work in ensuring Volume 47 is as academically rigorous and useful as ever. Without their exceptional support, this journal would not have been possible.

Thank you to:

The MLJ Student Editors Fall 2024 to Summer 2025

• Avery Alexiuk 
• Andrew Bergen
• Serena Bevilacqua
• Simi Bhangoo
• Steven Csinsca
• Travsis Dech
• Joshua Dondo
• Yomna Eid
• Larissa Einarson
• Siena Mcilwraith-Fraticelli
• Apara Grace
• Kennedee Hills
• Brayden Juras
• Andreas Kastellanos
• Jayden Kyryluk
• Nicholas Ly
• Lauren Martin
• Sebastian Meiers
• Mathew O’Connor
• Heather Peterson
• Vilciya Rajput
• Carter Ross
• Daniel Rosenthal
• AubrieAnn Schettler
• Nawal Semir
• Selene Sharpe
• Vanessa Smith
• Dawn Steliga
• Jordan Wagner

Special thanks goes to Digital Editor, Lily Deardorff, for her coordination of Student Editors and guidance through the production process.

Issues of MLJ Volume 48, are currently becoming available in pre-print, and aims to continue to deliver readable and innovative legal commentary of the highest quality to communities both locally and globally.

The mission of the MLJ, as succinctly explained by Dr. Schwartz, is to bring “world-class scholarship to interests in our community.” This world-class scholarship is evident in the MLJ’s placement among top-ranked journals in Canada, according to Google Scholar citation metrics, and consistent winning of awards in the highly competitive SSHRC program for scholarly journals.

Volume 46 contains the inaugural issue of The Review of Enterprise and Trade Law dimension: “To get TRETL where it is was a massive undertaking,” explained Dr. Schwartz. “It is the culmination of work going back almost twenty-five years. It began with the creation of the Asper Review of International Business and Trade Law, which on its own became one of the top-ranked journals in Canada. Over the years, the Asper Chair collaborated with the Desautels Chair on projects such as our franchise law conference and book, which had a significant impact on the legislation here in Manitoba. With TRETL, we now have a combined effort of the two chairs to produce a regular publication reflecting the mandate of both. A further synergy has been achieved by fully integrating this journal into our thriving MLJ program.”

Readers of Volume 46 will find several issues forming part of the journal’s Underneath the Golden Boy dimension, which is concerned with legislation and public policy. Issues 1 and 3 are the first two of a trilogy focussing on our legal system in times of crisis: Issue 1, Canada’s Emergencies Act: Beyond the Rouleau Report, deals with the Emergencies Act and the controversy surrounding its use while Issue 3, Online Dispute Resolution: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic, looks at the recent health crisis through both academic articles and oral-history interviews with local lawyers. The third and final issue of this trilogy, yet to be released, will focus on the perspectives of leading lawmakers and political figures in Manitoba in relation to the COVID crisis. Issue 2 steps away from the crisis lens and broadly reviews general developments in public policy and administration.

The three criminal law issues edited by Dr. Richard Jochelson and Assistant Professor Brandon Trask – 4, 5, and 6 – published under the Robson Crim dimension of MLJ, are wide-ranging. They include articles on wrongful convictions, legislative measures targeting proceeds of crime (even maple syrup), and incarcerees’ access to healthcare. These contributions, as with all of MLJ’s dimensions, are authored by students, faculty, and practicing professionals, and undergo a rigorous double-blind peer-review process.

This dimensions-based approach allows the MLJ to focus on local issues through clear and specific lenses, while leaving the door open to national or international discussion of important fields more inherently (inter)national in scope.

The Executive Editors-in-Chief would like to thank the student-editorial teams at the MLJ and its Robson Crim dimension for their hard work in bringing this volume to fruition. As put by Professor MacPherson, “We congratulate and thank all the students for the time that went into getting this entire issue out the door. We really believe our readers will find something within its pages that is both academically rigorous and useful.”

Thank you to:

MLJ Student Editors

Selene Sharp

Vicky Liu

Apara Grace

AubrieAnn Schettler

Avery Alexiuk

Brayden Juras

Brent Tichon

Diana Gutierrez

Heather Peterson

Joshua Dondo

Steven Csincsa

Vilciya Rajput

All of the editors – both faculty and students – would like to thank Lily Deardorff, MLJs Digital Editor, for her co-ordinating efforts, guidance, and persistent positivity.

With Volume 47 already beginning pre-print, the MLJ is poised to continue delivering cutting-edge, readable, and independent legal commentary.

There are as many, if not more dimensions of Schwartz as there are of The Manitoba Law Journal, the peer-reviewed academic legal research periodical he currently co-edits with his University of Manitoba Faculty of Law colleague, Professor Darcy MacPherson. Since taking the helm 14 years ago as editor of the 139-year-old journal, Schwartz adapted the need for including different areas of legal research by creating “dimensions.” These include annual issues covering criminal law, Indigenous law, legislation and public policy, latest developments in courts and tribunals, special issues on past, present, and future aspects of the Manitoba legal profession, and most recently, international business and trade law.

This last dimension is the result of the 25-year-old Asper Review of International Business and Trade Law merging with a newly developed journal on private enterprise that stemmed from a former colleague’s project at the Faculty of Law’s Marcel A. Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law.

In total, Schwartz’s involvement with the MLJ has resulted in him being responsible for the production of over forty of the journal’s volumes.

Academic

The MLJ produces more articles every year than any other law journal in Canada (see Visualizing the Landscape of Canadian Law School Journals – Slaw). The quality of the MLJ has been recognized by the repeated funding awards it has achieved in the highly prestigious and competitive Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Aid to Scholarly Journals program.

In the 43 years that Schwartz has been on faculty at Robson Hall, a concrete edifice that houses Manitoba’s law school, he has taught many more different dimensions of legal practice ranging from Labour law to Oral History, Indigenous Peoples and the Law, to Legislative Process and International Trade, Internet, and E-Commerce law. He has practiced law at Winnipeg firm Pitblado Law for decades, and holds two graduate law degrees from Yale University.

Renaissance Scholar

Having already authored, edited or contributed to a vast body of work, the latest quintet demonstrate how Schwartz is widening the dimensions of his writings to include his Jewish roots and to incorporate all that he has studied and learned about the legislative process and the inner workings of government in Canada. Jewish Post News reporter, Myron Love describes Schwartz as “the very model of a modern-day Jewish Renaissance scholar,” being a “legal educator, passionate Zionist, and student of the Holocaust as an in-demand commentator on modern legal and constitutional issues”. Here is a look at the latest additions to Schwartz’s bibliography.

The Passover Seder: It’s About Time – 104 dimensions of Time during Passover (e-book), April, 2024

Inviting readers to re-examine Passover from a fresh perspective, Schwartz wrote in The Times of Israel, “My aspiration would be for the book, in some form or the other, to become a familiar companion to the Haggadah as we re-experience Passover every year, For some readers, it might help to make everything old seem new again.”

The book is available to read on his website The Sacred Goof, named after his second collection of musical compositions published in illustrated book form along with a studio-produced album containing twenty-four songs.

The Sacred Goof (book and CD) with Maren Amini, illustrations, 2023

Music, songwriting and humour are further dimensions of Schwartz’s creative life. The Sacred Goof, published both as a CD and lyric book illustrated by Maren Amini, is a follow-up to his first musical production Consoulation. The former, which Schwartz successfully produced as a stage musical in 2018, is about “why we need to sing,” while The Sacred Goof is about “how we can still laugh.”

Read more about Consoulation:
“Not your ordinary law professor,” April 23, 2018, UM Today News
“Consoulation: A Musical Meditation,” Bryan P. Schwartz website

Re-Enlightening Canada (book) Frontier Centre for Public Policy (November, 2023)

In Re-Enlightening Canada: A Legislative Program for Promoting Open, Democratic and Rational Policymaking, Schwartz appeals to “reasonable people across the political spectrum” to respond moderately and practically in the face of “the ideological excesses of our time” as the book description explains.

Schwartz discussed the book at an event held on November 30, 2023 at Berney Theatre at the Asper Jewish Campus with moderator, Dr. Ruth Ashrai. Watch the video titled: Bryan Schwartz – Re-Enlightening Canada on Youtube (chat starts at 09:40).

Read a review of the book by Gary Slywchuk, titled “New Book a Battle Cry Against the Silencing of Democracy,” published on West Central Crossroads, January 8, 2024. Slywchuk writes, “As we grapple with expanding government repression, identity politics, and diminishing policy effectiveness in today’s Canada, Schwartz’s work is a timely and indispensable resource. It serves as a clarion call to legislators, policymakers, and university administrators to seek common ground and nurture deeper understanding, guiding Canada toward a more prosperous and relevant future.”

Online Dispute Resolution: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic The Manitoba Law Journal Volume 46, Issue 3 (2024)

In addition to being Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Manitoba Law Journal, Schwartz co-conducted five of the six interviews published in this special issue of The Manitoba Law Journal that focusses on what legal practice looked like and how it adapted throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Together with law students participating in his scholarly publications course, Schwartz interviewed legal practitioners Kris Saxberg, Greg Evans, Cynthia Lazar, and Pamela Leech. Finally, he co-wrote for the issue, a paper examining new initiatives to enhance Online Dispute Resolution in Manitoba. The entire volume is available to read on The Manitoba Law Journal website.

Humanity in Doubt: Reflections and Essays by Philip Weiss (Second Edition) edited by Bryan Schwartz, Eliana Schwartz, and John Richthammer (2023)

Finally, Schwartz co-edited the second edition of his father-in-law Philip Weiss’s writings, Humanity in Doubt: Reflections and Essays. A survivor of the Holocaust, Weiss’s writings bear personal witness to the devastation of this terrible event. Weiss was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Winnipeg in 2003 in recognition of his contributions to Holocaust education in Manitoba. He passed away in 2008, and the second edition of his writings includes his Eulogy, delivered by Schwartz.

In addition to these five volumes, Schwartz has continued to publish a series of blogs in The Times of Israel, including the “Esther Trilogy” (“Esther? The Politics: The book explores all options…but one,” “Esther: the creator and the Creator,” and “Esther! The Musical: How the sounds match the words.” These three articles were republished in The Winnipeg Jewish Review on March 24, 2024 under the title, “Bryan Schwartz on How the Purim Story is Much too Relevant Today.” 

Learn more about Dr. Bryan Schwartz’s work:

• The Manitoba Law Journal (An Open-Access and Peer-Reviewed Journal about Law in Manitoba and Beyond.)
• Bryan P. Schwartz (The official website for Dr. Bryan P. Schwartz, K.C. scholarly activities.)
• The Sacred Goof (Listen to musical albums The Sacred Goof and Consoulation for free.) 

This project was conceived by Dr. Nomi Claire Lazar (Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa) and Dr. Jocelyn Stacey (Associate Professor, Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia) and an international consortium of scholars consisting of 15 key contributors across Canada and the United States.  The MLJ’s Digital Editor, Lily Deardoff, has provided an original cover design to reflect the nature of the publication and the issues involved. The faculty and student editors at the MLJ have worked for many months to assist with completing the peer-review process and the detailed copy-editing of the material, to ensure the publication meets the highest professional standards.

The MLJ is committed to encouraging and publishing independent and high calibre commentary on current developments in law and society. The Emergencies Act issue is part of a trilogy of MLJ special issues relating to how Canada’s legal system reacts to times of crisis. The next issue, edited by Schwartz and MacPherson, will focus on how the legal system in Manitoba moved towards online dispute resolution in the COVID context. The third issue will contain a series of oral histories by senior lawmakers in Manitoba about how the COVID crisis was managed as a whole.

The current issue is being released electronically and is immediately available on the Manitoba Law Journal website, and also through a wide variety of free, public access channels, including the University of Alberta open access system and CanLII.  The MLJ is also available through commercial outlets including Westlaw, Lexis and Hein Online. Print-on-demand as well as download versions of the current volume will be available at Amazon.com.

Later this fall, Lazar and Stacey will make hardcopies of Volume 46(1) available to key decision-makers in the field. This issue will be published at a pivotal moment in Canadian history. With the House of Commons reconvening and the Prime Minister’s response to the Rouleau report imminent, the topics addressed in the issue will be critical reading for academic and government researchers and representatives.

The MLJ strives to be a forum for lively, independent and scholarly content for legal issues that are of interest to Manitobans and the Canadian public generally.  The MLJ has served the communities of Manitoba for over six decades, and in recent years become the most prolific law journal in Canada. In the past decade, it has won three Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) awards that reflect its high quality. This year, the MLJ has entered the top echelon in Canada on Google Scholar rankings for law journals, and its content is frequently cited in court decisions as well as other academic journals.

The Executive Editors welcome visitors to the MLJ website, to explore the many latest additions to its publishing program along with this important new release on the Emergencies Act.

For information and inquiries, including media interviews,  please contact bryan.schwartz@umanitoba.ca.

The new volume features six issues that include no less than three Criminal Law special issues edited by the Robson Crim research group; the annual Underneath the Golden Boy and Asper Review of International Business and Trade Law; and the inaugural issue of the Desautels Review of Private Enterprise and the Law.

Schwartz explained that since 2010, the MLJ has established a unique place among Canadian law journals by re-focusing on being relevant to its own community within Manitoba, including Indigenous communities, students and teachers at Robson Hall, and the Manitoba legal community.

“Everything we do is within the mission of “we serve our communities,” said Schwartz. “We are innovators in the way we do that, including our research projects involving oral histories. We have shown that you can be relevant to your own society while at the same time, meet the highest scholarly standards.”

Upon first learning of the success of the journal’s third SSHRC application, Schwartz pointed to the quality of the journal. “We have a demanding editorial process,” he said. “Our material must pass two tiers of review: that of the faculty editors and external peer review. Having three successive SSHRC juries decide to give us this grant helps to confirm that the overall quality of our work is at least very good.”

Receiving a SSHRC for the third time indicates to Schwartz that the MLJ, while coming from a small law school and a small community, can still compete at a national and international level. “It suggests that theory and practice can reinforce each other in academic work, rather than being at odds,” Schwartz observed.  “We can address real-world events of interest to our own to a high standard in a way that involves a high level of critical reflection. It also shows that life of an academic community can be about colleagues supporting each other while maintaining the highest respect for genuine intellectual diversity.”

Canadian Association of Law Libraries member, Hannah Steeves, the Instruction and Reference Librarian at the Sir James Dunn Law Library at Dalhousie University in Halifax, recently published an article on “Visualizing the Landscape of Canadian Law School Journals” on Slaw.ca, April 6, 2022 in which Steeves identified the MLJ as publishing the highest volume of articles per year. This study, Schwartz said, cements the MLJ’s reputation as the most prolific.

The MLJ aims to bring diverse and multidisciplinary perspectives to the issues it studies, drawing on authors from Manitoba, Canada and beyond. Its studies are intended to contribute to understanding and reform not only in our community, but around the world.

The MLJ has multiple dimensions, each with its own regular special issues. These include:

• The Current Legal Landscape: developments in courts and tribunals
• Underneath the Golden Boy: developments in legislation and on parliamentary and democratic reform
• Criminal Law and Practice, and the social dimensions of criminal law
• The Legal Profession, including histories of major developments and figures in Manitoba law, and the rapid evolution of legal practice
• Indigenous Law
• Desautel Review: developments in business and private enterprise law
• Asper Review: developments in international and trade law

The MLJ is funded by the SSHRC grants in aid of scholarly publications, with additional support from the Legal Research Institute of the University of Manitoba, the Faculty of Law Endowment fund.

The issues of Volume 45 are now available to read on the MLJ website at themanitobalawjournal.com.

All five issues of Volume 43 of the Manitoba Law Journal are complete and available to read on its website and other online sources including CanLII, HeinOnline, LexisNexis, Westlaw, Amazon (for purchase in both print and ebook), and the University of Alberta Open Access.

Coming to Robson Hall with an undergraduate degree from the University of Ottawa in Visual Arts (Honours) with a minor in Indigenous Studies, Morrison remained active as a visual artist throughout her three years in law school. She created the cover of a recent issue of the Manitoba Law Journal, and designed and painted the art covering a tipi that was used to welcome first year law students during the 2018 Orientation week. A busy mom, Morrison is also a jingle dress dancer and small business owner, having launched her own brand called Clan Mother Goods & Apparel this past December.

Throughout law school, Morrison was involved with a number of Manitoba Law Student Association committees including the Manitoba Indigenous Law Students’ Association (MILSA), and CanU, while founding the Student Pipeline Action Committee (SPAC). Outside of Robson Hall, she was a past board member for Sarasvati Theatre Productions, was a founding member for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Indigenous Advisory Circle, and was a Legacy Fund Developer for the Joseph Morrison Legacy Fund. On top of these commitments, she achieved high academic excellence and won a number of awards including the E.J. McMurray Entrance Scholarship, the UMSU Award for Indigenous Community Leaders, and the Indigenous Bar Association (IBA) Law Student Scholarship.

To fully appreciate Morrison’s incredible motivation and unique spirit, we asked her to share her law school experience in her own words:

“Being accepted into such a prestigious field of study is by far one of the life accomplishments I am most proud of.”

What made you first want to apply for law school?

I spent most of my lifetime advocating for Indigenous people through program service and delivery models such as Friendship Centres, however my journey took a different direction into the realm of law and justice when I started working with the Indian Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat and later with the Assembly of First Nations. Working closely with Survivors of the Indian Residential School System had a profound impact on my life. I formed deep bonds with generations of Survivors who had endured so much trauma and persevered to live a good life today. It also gave me a glimpse into a field of work lacking Indigenous representation. I contemplated law school for many years after I left my work with Survivors. I didn’t think I was smart enough to get into law school, and I also had a new, young family to look after – time did not seem to be in favour of the commitment. It wasn’t until some very good friends of mine encouraged me to write the LSAT and apply for law school because, what else did I have to lose? The worst that could happen after at least trying would be that I wouldn’t be accepted and my life would carry on. I wrote the LSAT with a one-year old daughter at home, intensely studying in the evenings for a few hours at a time. In March 2016, I received an unconditional offer into law school. Being accepted into such a prestigious field of study is by far one of the life accomplishments I am most proud of. 

Was this something you had always wanted to do?

Being an advocate and working closely with my own people is something I have always been inspired by and good at doing, however I never envisioned that this calling would take the form of becoming a lawyer. It almost seems inherent, however, given that many of my family members work in the field of justice – my father was a Justice of the Peace, my mother a Mediator, my sisters each a Gladue Writer and Police Officer. The criminal justice system has also positively and negatively impacted many members of my family, and so it is not unfamiliar territory. I truly believe that my life took the direction that it did for a reason – I was meant to spend such an intimate time with Survivors as an awakening to the many injustices that exist for Indigenous people. I consider myself extremely lucky to carry on the legacy of justice work that my family, and am continually inspired by the resiliency of our people and the hard work of those before me. 

“I learned a very important lesson during this time – that law reform was necessary for the lives of Indigenous people. System disruption was the only way forward.”

What were the biggest highlights of your law school career?

Throughout law school, there have been critical points in the history and struggle of Indigenous people in North America that myself and many other Indigenous law students felt intensely impacted by. In our first year of law school, the level of conflict reached in Standing Rock led to a shocking and violent situation. Thousands gathered in an historic fashion, and yet we felt helpless being in school and unable to stand in solidarity at the frontlines with our communities. In an effort to support those in Standing Rock, myself and a group of other first year law students established the Student Pipeline Action Committee and quickly organized a fundraising campaign with “Water Is Life” t-shirts. I [created] the design in the style of Anishinaabe woodlands and the campaign went viral. Within the span of two and a half of weeks, we fundraised $5,000 in support of the Water Protectors Legal Collective. We continued this work throughout first and second year in support of similar movements. 

In our second year of law school, the trial involving Gerald Stanley and Colten Boushie was front and centre attention. It permeated conversations in and out of class and created a divisive atmosphere not only within Canadian society, but especially in law school. When the final verdict came out, law students, faculty and lawyers came together in solidarity and support of the family. We marched and fundraised for those impacted. At the time, I was volunteering with the Indigenous Youth Outreach Program, a mentorship program that teaches Indigenous young people in the north end of Winnipeg about the criminal justice system. It was very apparent that there was a question of how valuable the lives of Indigenous youth were and whether the justice system worked for us or against us. I learned a very important lesson during this time – that law reform was necessary for the lives of Indigenous people. System disruption was the only way forward. 

Finally, in my third and final year, I assisted the Law Society of Manitoba in partnership with the Manitoba Indigenous Law Students Association to organize the first Indigenous law CPD [Continuing Professional Development] program, Tebweta Ajiimowin – To Tell the Truth. During a critical time when the Western system of law was so clearly oppressing Indigenous people, this program grounded me in the truth that Indigenous legal traditions have been around since time immemorial and that this was our future. Not only is revitalizing Indigenous law an imperative part of self-determination, but also reconciliation between Canada and Indigenous people. 

“We survived law school by relying on and loving one another unconditionally.” 

What were the biggest challenges you faced and what did you learn from them to move forward?

Law school is an intense commitment that requires excellent organizational and time management skills. Many consider the biggest feat of law school to be learning how to cope with the intense studying demands. The biggest challenges I faced in law school were dealing with trauma and unexpected personal losses. In my second year of law school, I lost my brother to suicide. It was a deeply traumatic time and I had to learn how to cope with the grief in order to finish my studies. This type of trauma was not unfamiliar to many Indigenous students in law school. We were all dealing with similar circumstances that the average law student could barely fathom – all while raising families, serving community, and performing well academically. We survived law school by relying on and loving one another unconditionally. 

“Law school is not a competition – lift each other up and you will all succeed together.” 

What knowledge or lessons learned would you most like to share with future law students?

As a law student entering the field of justice, it is imperative to know and acknowledge your place and privilege in society coming into law school. You are about to start a career as advocate for the voiceless. It is easy to get caught up in the legal complexities of caselaw and forget that there is a very human aspect to this work. Things like race, income, class, age, gender, disability, and sexual orientation directly impact and can determine the outcome of any case. In order to become a good advocate, you have to view the system of law from the lens of the people you are representing. If you cannot understand or even begin to relate to the unique circumstances faced by an individual, how can you expect to speak to their legal issues in a meaningful way?

Finally, it is just as important to care for yourself in all of the work that you will carry out as a student and practitioner. Many lose themselves in the demanding and stressful field of law. Ground yourself by maintaining a healthy lifestyle and relationships with people who inspire you, who care for you, and who will remind you that you are capable and that you will get through those hard moments in law school. Law school is not a competition – lift each other up and you will all succeed together.