Distinguished Resident Fellow – University of Victoria

Val Napoleon

Val Napoleon [LLB, PhD, IPC] is a Professor for the Faculty of Law and the Law Foundation Chair of Indigenous Justice and Governance UVIC [and former dean]. She is the co-founder of Juris Doctor and Juris Indigenarum Doctor (dual law degree program in Indigenous and Canadian law), the founding director of the Indigenous Law Research Unit, and the co-founder of the National Centre for Indigenous Laws (provisional name). She is Cree from Saulteau First Nation and she is adopted into Gitanyow [Gitxsan]. She researches Indigenous legal traditions and methodologies (e.g., land, water, governance and democracy, gendered violence, human rights, and families), Indigenous legal theories, Indigenous feminisms, legal pluralism, Indigenous democracies and civil societies, and Indigenous intellectual property. She teaches common law property and Gitxsan land and property. Dr. Napoleon lectures and works internationally, and she is currently leading a national initiative to holistically rebuild Indigenous legal orders in Canada.

Val Napoleon