By Course

This page lists specific recommendations for reconciliation curriculum reform for each course taught in law school. It is not exhaustive so please comment with other suggestions.

All Courses

• Include local First Nations, Metis, and Inuit histories, territories, claims, Treaties, and legal systems
• Teach students to think critically about Indigenous laws
• Teach Indigenous laws and legal systems
• Offer seminars that allow students to explore concepts around Treaties and Indigenous legal orders
• Organize a field trip to see anexample of a industrial project impacting Aboriginal and/or Treaty rights; invite community members to discuss the issues
• The Blanket Exercise – Part 1
• Blanket Exercise – Part 2
• Blanket Exercise – Part 3
• Blanket Exercise – Scripts, Scrolls, Suggestions by Rebecca Johnson
• Bannock, a Graphic Novel & Conversation: Re-framing Justice Using the Teachings from “Mikomosis and the Wetiko” — by Veronica Martisius
• “What is missing?”: Marie Clements’s New Opera about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women by Heidi Darroch
• Pulling the Weeds – by Suzanne Lenon, Kara Granzow & Emily Kirbyson
• Finding Resources Close to my Shuswap (Secwepmc) Home by Rebecca Johnson
• Wampum at Niagara (it’s not just about the Royal Proclamation) by Sonia Lawrence
• apihtawikosisan.com by Sonia Lawrence
• General principles of reconciliation syllabus by Emma Cunliffe
• WHAT’S ‘YOUR’ TREATY? by Rebecca Johnson
• Small Steps on the Path Towards Reconciliation at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law by Sarah Morales and Angela Cameron
• Loving, Working, and Living on Stolen Land: People of Colour, Settler Colonialism & White Supremacy by Sujith Xavier
• Teaching with Love: Inside and Outside the Law School Classroom by Gillian Calder
• Implementing Indigenous Law in Agreements – Learning from “An Agreement Concerning the Stewardship of the Witness Blanket” by Rebecca Johnson
• No Reconciliation Without Truth: A Reckoning for University Honouring Practices by Kristen Thomasen and Debra Parkes

 Intersocietal Competency

• Core Strengthening – A MOOC to get you going! by Rebecca Johnson
• Let’s not colonize cultural competency by Jula Hughes
• Tips for Organizing Reconciliation Events by Tasha Henry and Rebecca Johnson
• Reflections on the Anishinabe Law Camp (Bkejwanong Territory) by Gemma Smyth
• apihtawikosisan.com by Sonia Lawrence
• Reckoning with the Role of Universities in Reconciliation by Thomas McMorrow
• “You’re Not the Indian I Had in Mind”: Jess Housty On Respectfully Working in Indigenous Communities
• Loving, Working, and Living on Stolen Land: People of Colour, Settler Colonialism & White Supremacy by Sujith Xavier
• Xwelíqwiya – The Life of a Stó:lō Matriarch by Rebecca Johnson
• Teaching with Love: Inside and Outside the Law School Classroom by Gillian Calder
• Implementing Indigenous Law in Agreements – Learning from “An Agreement Concerning the Stewardship of the Witness Blanket” by Rebecca Johnson
• Ceremony as Remedy? A Heiltsuk resource for doing TRC#28 work in the law school. by Rebecca Johnson

Art in the Law School Classroom

• “What is missing?”: Marie Clements’s New Opera about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women by Heidi Darroch
• Children’s Art and Indian Residential and Day Schools by Rebecca Johnson
• Songs of Law? — Thinking about Indigenous and Settler Laws on the Use of Music by Rebecca Johnson
• Art as Intervention in a Time of Reconciliation [by Tasha Henry]
• Going Home Star by Gillian Calder
• Our Voices, Our Stories by Lindsay Borrows
• Art, Law, and Community: Truth and Reconciliation through Art by Julie Tucker and Gemma Smyth
• Teaching with Love: Inside and Outside the Law School Classroom by Gillian Calder
• Implementing Indigenous Law in Agreements – Learning from “An Agreement Concerning the Stewardship of the Witness Blanket” by Rebecca Johnson

Business Associations / Tax

• Include section on Ltd Partnerships and Trusts and explain why First Nations communities use them (both tax and liability reasons)
• Reconciliation in the Corporate Commercial Classroom by Gail Henderson

Constitutional Law

• “The Problem of Prostitution” – Problem-based learning in Constitutional Law: some reflections on colonialism by Gillian Calder
• Assign copies of treaties for reading
• Bring in elders to discuss with the class
• Towards the Royal Proclamation and Covenant of Reconciliation: Short in-class discussion exercise for Constitutional Law by Patricia Cochran
• Bannock, a Graphic Novel & Conversation: Re-framing Justice Using the Teachings from “Mikomosis and the Wetiko” — by Veronica Martisius
• “The Confederation Debates”: Promoting Reconciliation in grade 7-12 Curriculum by Daniel Heidi and Robert Hamilton
• Towards the Royal Proclamation and Covenant of Reconciliation Short in Class Discussion Exercise for Constitutional Law by Patricia Cochran
• Wild Mushrooms or Wild Land: Do you have permission to pick wild food on “Crown” land? by Patricia Weber
• Indigenous Law and Procedure in Action: Vancouver Island Esquimalt/Ditidaht Hunting Case by Rebecca Johnson
• Wampum at Niagara (it’s not just about the Royal Proclamation) by Sonia Lawrence

Contract Law

• Implementing Indigenous Law in Agreements – Learning from “An Agreement Concerning the Stewardship of the Witness Blanket” by Rebecca Johnson

Criminal Law

• Approach to teaching Criminal law & procedure by Emma Cunliffe
• Idea for First Year Criminal Law?: Teach a class on R v. Kikkik (1958) by Rebecca Johnson
• Teach students to think critically about the systemic issues that cause overrepresentation and ways to fix them beyond the Gladue factors
• Thinking about “The Law of Evidence” through the Structure of Indigenous Language by Rebecca Johnson
• Bannock, a Graphic Novel & Conversation: Re-framing Justice Using the Teachings from “Mikomosis and the Wetiko” — by Veronica Martisius
• Incarcerating the victim: Indigeneity, gender and the Canadian legal system’s treatment of ‘Angela Cardinal’ by Emma Cunliffe
• Reflections from a First-Timer: The TRC and First Year Criminal Law by Lisa Kerr
• Gladue reports in the classroom: a group project from the Nunavut Law Program by  Benjamin Ralston
• Of expertise, ‘activism’, and substantive equality for Indigenous Canadians by Emma Cunliffe

Environmental Law

• Introduction and overview of Aboriginal and treaty rights, including:
  • an overview of the history of the Crown-Aboriginal relationship since the Royal Proclamation, with reference to accounts set out in the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
  • an overview of the primary Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence defining Aboriginal and treaty rights
• Consideration of the duty to consult and accommodate, including:
  • origins, main principles, authoritative case law and recent developments
• Introduction to Indigenous environmental laws:
  • students will be introduced to Indigenous legal systems respecting the sustainable use of resources, with a strong preference for members of local Aboriginal communities to guest lecture
• In addition to this focused discussion (approx. 2-3 lectures), the relationship between environmental and Aboriginal law and policy can and should be highlighted throughout the course.
• Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air and Water by Lindsay Borrows

Evidence

• Thinking about “The Law of Evidence” through the Structure of Indigenous Language by Rebecca Johnson
• Reflecting on the #Reconciliationsyllabus in Evidence law by Emma Cunliffe
• Of expertise, ‘activism’, and substantive equality for Indigenous Canadians by Emma Cunliffe

Family Law

• Indigenous Ways of Being and Knowing (A Try): An Exercise in Family Law and Sex-O at UVicLaw by Gillian Calder
• Diversity in our idea of Family: What is family law? by Gillian Calder
• Go beyond Derrickson case and instead include section on the new MRP Act (and why it may not work)
• Pay attention to law that helps families

Gender

• “What is missing?”: Marie Clements’s New Opera about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women by Heidi Darroch
• Pulling the Weeds – by Suzanne Lenon, Kara Granzow & Emily Kirbyson
• The Skirt Project: connecting gender, religion, and colonialism by Natalia Sudeyko
• Show this ILRU video: Indigenous Law, Gender and Sexuality
• Of expertise, ‘activism’, and substantive equality for Indigenous Canadians by Emma Cunliffe

Indigenous Legal Traditions

• What’s happening at Lakehead’s Faculty of Law? by Karen Drake
• Reflections on the Role of Stories in Law by Georgia Lloyd-Smith
• Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air and Water by Lindsay Borrows
• Show this ILRU video: Indigenous law: tough questions

Jurisprudence

• Explore the concept of “consultation” and how that reconciles with governance

Oil/Gas/Energy Law

• Include a section on Aboriginal title and the duty to consult

Professional Responsibility and Legal Ethics

• https://www.cle.bc.ca/butiwaswearingasuit/
• No Reconciliation Without Truth: A Reckoning for University Honouring Practices by Kristen Thomasen and Debra Parkes

Property Law

• Include section on how deal with lease and land transactions under the Indian Act, First Nations Land Management Act (FNLMA), and self government agreements
• Wild Mushrooms or Wild Land: Do you have permission to pick wild food on “Crown” land? by Patricia Weber
• Pulling the Weeds – by Suzanne Lenon, Kara Granzow & Emily Kirbyson
• Indigenous Law and Procedure in Action: Vancouver Island Esquimalt/Ditidaht Hunting Case by Rebecca Johnson
• Integrating property by Robert Leckey
• Wild Mushrooms or Wild Land: Do you have permission to pick wild food on “Crown” land? by Patricia Weber
• Reconciliation in a Real Property Securities Course – Not Necessarily a Missing Lien! by Adrien Habermacher

Remedies

• Ceremony as Remedy? A Heiltsuk resource for doing TRC#28 work in the law school. by Rebecca Johnson

Research and Research Methods

• Gladue reports in the classroom: a group project from the Nunavut Law Program by  Benjamin Ralston

Securities

• Reconciliation in a Real Property Securities Course – Not Necessarily a Missing Lien! by Adrien Habermacher

Sexual Identities and the Law

• Indigenous Ways of Being and Knowing (A Try): An Exercise in Family Law and Sex-O at UVicLaw by Gillian Calder
• Show this ILRU video: Indigenous Law, Gender and Sexuality

Tort Law

• Include discussion about residential schools when teaching about child abuse
• Responding to the TRC in the First Year Tort Law Classroom by Freya Kodar
• Ceremony as Remedy? A Heiltsuk resource for doing TRC#28 work in the law school. by Rebecca Johnson

Teaching the TRC

• Children’s Art and Indian Residential and Day Schools by Rebecca Johnson
• Tips for Organizing Reconciliation Events by Rebecca Johnson
• Academic Freedom Implications of Responding to the TRC by Jula Hughes
• General principles of reconciliation syllabus by Emma Cunliffe
• Dean Jeremy Webber’s post at slaw.ca on TRC Recommendation #50 by Gillian Calder
• What’s happening at Lakehead’s Faculty of Law? by Karen Drake
• Reconciliation in a different key: contemplations from abroad by Dia Dabby
• Teaching the 94 Calls to Action in the Classroom by Rebecca Johnson
• Truth and reconciliation seminars by Karen Busby
• The Wunusweh Lecture in Aboriginal Law by Gillian Calder
• Responses to TRC recommendations [repost]
• Link to TRC Final Report
• Our Voices, Our Stories by Lindsay Borrows
• Small Steps on the Path Towards Reconciliation at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law by Sarah Morales and Angela Cameron
• Loving, Working, and Living on Stolen Land: People of Colour, Settler Colonialism & White Supremacy by Sujith Xavier
• Art, Law, and Community: Truth and Reconciliation through Art by Julie Tucker and Gemma Smyth
• Implementing Indigenous Law in Agreements – Learning from “An Agreement Concerning the Stewardship of the Witness Blanket” by Rebecca Johnson
• No Reconciliation Without Truth: A Reckoning for University Honouring Practices by Kristen Thomasen and Debra Parkes