This gathering of Indigenous knowledge-holders and legal scholars examined the ways that Indigenous nations and communities invoke Indigenous international law to confront ongoing colonization and assert self-determining authority. Amidst grassroots community activism as well as advancing Aboriginal title and jurisdiction, Indigenous peoples are acting on their community laws and protocols to affirm rights and title, rematriate our lands, waters and bodies, and honor kinship relations. This two-day colloquium promoted meaningful conversations around the ways that Indigenous nationhood and internationalism are practiced and adapted to confront contemporary challenges and create meaningful strategies for Indigenous nations.
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Gerry Ambers is Kwakwaka’wakw from the ‘Namgis Nation in Alert Bay, and the mother of five children and six grandchildren. She was one of the founding members of the Native Alliance for Red Power (NARP). Today, Gerry supports the work of art galleries, Indigenous organizations and post-secondary institutions on Vancouver Island as an Elder, mentor and healing worker.
Hon. Marion Buller is a member of the Mistawasis Nehiyawak, a Cree First Nation in Saskatchewan. She has been a civil, criminal and human rights lawyer, judge, public speaker, and advocate for Indigenous rights in Canada. She helped to create the First Nations Courts in British Columbia and was the first Indigenous woman judge in British Columbia. She currently serves as the Chancellor of the University of Victoria.
Elder May Sam was born into the Malahaht Nation. Her knitting work has been seen and sold on the west coast and across Canada and is also a part of her dedicated work in community through teaching her craft to eager learners. When not knitting, May spends much time with students, faculty, and staff, at Camosun College and the UVic, where she is an Elder in Residence. She also sits as a member of the Victoria Sexual Assault Board, and advises with the British Columbia Ministry of Children and Family Development.
Paul Whitinui is an Indigenous Māori scholar from Aotearoa New Zealand and a grateful visitor here on the sacred lands of the Lekwungen and WSÁNEĆ peoples. He has a background in sport and leisure, Indigenous health and development, and teacher education. Paul’s current scholarly work is broadly linked by relationships between Indigenous education, health and wellbeing, and the theorizing of socially just practices that benefit the future hopes and aspirations of Indigenous peoples, and their communities.
Andrew Ambers is Kwakwaka’wakw from the ‘Namgis and Ma’amtagila First Nations. Ambers’ work focuses on the relationship between Aboriginal law, Kwakwaka’wakw law, and international rights instruments to resolve jurisdictional and ownership disputes. This includes clarifying the relationship between Kwakwaka’wakw rights and Aquatic Aboriginal Title in marine spaces off the shores of Vancouver Island. Ambers is also a Juris Doctor / Juris Indigenarum Doctor Candidate at UVic Law.
Jeff Corntassel is a writer, teacher and father from the Cherokee Nation. He is a Professor in Indigenous Studies and cross-listed Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Victoria. He is the Co-Principal Investigator and Indigenous Internationalisms Program Director at the Borders in Globalization Lab, also at UVic.
Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly is a Professor in the UVic School of Public Administration and the Project Director of the Borders in Globalization Lab. He is a former Jean Monnet Chair in European Union Policy and Governance, and from 2013 to 2019, he was also the Director of the European Union Jean Monnet Center and the Jean Monnet Network research programs.
Rande Cook is a Hereditary Chief of the Ma’amtagila First Nation of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation. He is an artist who explores and combines traditional and contemporary styles, and in doing so creates his own unique approach to Indigenous contemporary art. Cook is the Founding Director of the Awi’nakola Foundation, an Indigenous-led organization that uplifts Kwakwaka’wakw teachings alongside Western science and artistic activities to create a sustainable future.
Chaw-win-is is Nuu-chah-nulth-aht, from Tla-o-qui-aht, Kyuquot, and Checleseht First Nations. She is a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria. She studies Indigenous education, Nuu-chah-nulth law, and storytelling through podcasting. She is also a co-researcher on UVic Libraries’ SSHRC Insight grant British Columbia Historical Textbooks Interactive Digital Library. Chaw-win-is is a university and community educator, mentor and researcher and has an ongoing commitment to developing knowledge of her Nuu-chah-nulth language.
Sarah Morales is Coast Salish and a member of Cowichan Tribes. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law, where she teaches torts, transsystemic torts, Coast Salish law and languages, legal research and writing and field schools. Her research centres on Indigenous legal traditions, specifically the traditions of the Coast Salish people, Aboriginal law and human rights.
John Borrows is a member of the Chippewa of the Nawash First Nation in Ontario. Prior to joining the Faculty, he was Professor and Robina Chair in Law and Society at the University of Minnesota Law School and Professor; Law Foundation Professor of Aboriginal Law and Justice at the University of Victoria Law School; Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto; Associate Professor and First Nations Legal Studies Director at the Faculty of Law at the University of British Columbia; Associate Professor and Director of the Intensive Programme in Lands, Resources and First Nations Governments at Osgoode Hall Law School. He is the co-founder of the Juris Doctor and Juris Indigenarum Doctor, a dual law degree program in Indigenous and Canadian law.
Virginia Marshall is a Research Fellow based at the Australian National University’s School of Regulation and Global Governance. She is a practising lawyer and leading legal scholar with expertise in Aboriginal water rights, native title rights in Sea Country, Indigenous governance and the intersection of Traditional Knowledge systems and western intellectual property regimes, especially as it relates to Indigenous commercialisation of traditional medicines.
Aaju Peter is an Inuk lawyer, activist, translator, educator, clothing designer, and musician. Aaju Peter works to preserve the Inuit language and culture and promote the rights of Inuit in Canada and Greenland. She is the subject as well as the co-producer of Twice Colonized.
Nigel Baker-Grenier belongs to the Gisgahaast clan from the Gitxsan Nation. He is also Mushkegowuck (swampy Cree) from Churchill, Manitoba. He is an Associate at White Raven Law. His work focuses on revitalizing Indigenous laws which are grounded in oral histories and traditions.
Dalee Dorough is an Iñupiaq advocate for Indigenous rights and expert in international human rights law. She is the former International Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, a non-governmental organization that represents Inuit from the Russian Far East, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland.
Val Napoleon is Cree from Saulteau First Nation and is adopted into Gitanyow. She is a Professor for the Faculty of Law and the Law Foundation Chair of Indigenous Justice and Governance UVic. She is the co-founder of the Juris Doctor and Juris Indigenarum Doctor, a dual law degree program in Indigenous and Canadian law, as well as the founding director of the Indigenous Law Research Unit and the co-founder of the National Centre for Indigenous Laws.
Darcy Lindberg is mixed-rooted Plains Cree, with his family coming from maskwâcîs (Samson Cree Nation) in Alberta and the Battleford-area in Saskatchewan. He is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law at UVic, and he has taught courses at the University of Alberta on constitutional law, Indigenous legal traditions, treaties, and Indigenous environmental legal orders.
Marcelle Burns is a Gomeroi-Kamilaroi First Nations’ woman and the Associate Dean of Indigenous Leadership and Engagement at the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia. She has over 25 years’ experience in the field of Indigenous peoples and law, as both as a lawyer and academic. She has worked as a solicitor for the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited, the Legal Aid Commission of NSW, and in private practice assisting with native title claims.
Isabel Altamirano-Jiménez is Binizaá from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico. She was born and raised in the community of Ixtaltepec, where her family continues to live. She is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta and the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Indigenous Feminist Studies. Her research examines how Indigenous people, specifically Indigenous women, experience and feel the impact of natural resource extraction in both Canada and Mexico.
