Construction of National Centre for Indigenous Laws underway at UVic
The University of Victoria is celebrating the construction of its National Centre for Indigenous Laws (NCIL).
The building is the first of its kind in Canada and has received funding from the provincial and federal governments, as well as the Law Foundation of B.C.
The NCIL is scheduled to open by fall 2024. Besides being a space to learn, the facility will help Indigenous laws re-emerge.
"Indigenous laws are lived and are living, but they have been suppressed and we have lost pieces of our laws," said Patricia Barkaskas, NCIL strategic advisor to the dean.
"The space itself is a way to bring to life the living and lived Indigenous legal practices," she said.
Construction of the NCIL comes about five years after UVic launched Canada's first and only joint degree program in Canadian Common Law and Indigenous legal orders (JD/JID).
Its inaugural class graduated last year, including graduate Jolene Ashini.
"I work for a law firm here in Toronto that represents my First Nation back home in Labrador," said Ashini.
The law graduate is currently working on developing a child welfare law for the community.
"I'm able to actually take my First Nations legal principles and rules and apply them in making this child welfare law," she said.
Val Napoleon, acting dean of the faculty of law at UVic, says the work graduates do can have far-reaching benefits.
"Indigenous law matters profoundly, not just to this university, this law school, but Indigenous law matters to Canada and matters to the world," she said.
While the NCIL is based in Victoria, the hope is that students will branch off and transform the judicial system beyond Vancouver Island.
"There are about 23 of us in the world who have graduated and then we're adding another 20-something more, and it's just going to grow and grow," said Ashini.
In 2019, the federal government promised $9.1 million for construction of the NCIL. One year later, the B.C. government pledged $13 million for construction.
The Law Foundation of B.C. initially promised $5-million in funding for the project, but on Thursday promised another $6-million, bringing its contribution to a total of $11 million.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
From essential goods to common stocking stuffers, Trudeau offering Canadians temporary tax relief
Canadians will soon receive a temporary tax break on several items, along with a one-time $250 rebate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
She thought her children just had a cough or fever. A mother shares sons' experience with walking pneumonia
A mother shares with CTVNews.ca her family's health scare as medical experts say cases of the disease and other respiratory illnesses have surged, filling up emergency departments nationwide.
Trump chooses Pam Bondi for attorney general pick after Gaetz withdraws
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, to be U.S. attorney general just hours after his other choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name from consideration.
A one-of-a-kind Royal Canadian Mint coin sells for more than $1.5M
A rare one-of-a-kind pure gold coin from the Royal Canadian Mint has sold for more than $1.5 million. The 99.99 per cent pure gold coin, named 'The Dance Screen (The Scream Too),' weighs a whopping 10 kilograms and surpassed the previous record for a coin offered at an auction in Canada.
Putin says Russia attacked Ukraine with a new missile that he claims the West can't stop
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday that Moscow has tested a new intermediate-range missile in a strike on Ukraine, and he warned that it could use the weapon against countries that have allowed Kyiv to use their missiles to strike Russia.
Here's a list of items that will be GST/HST-free over the holidays
Canadians won't have to pay GST on a selection of items this holiday season, the prime minister vowed on Thursday.
Video shows octopus 'hanging on for dear life' during bomb cyclone off B.C. coast
Humans weren’t the only ones who struggled through the bomb cyclone that formed off the B.C. coast this week, bringing intense winds and choppy seas.
Taylor Swift's motorcade spotted along Toronto's Gardiner Expressway
Taylor Swift is officially back in Toronto for round two. The popstar princess's motorcade was seen driving along the Gardiner Expressway on Thursday afternoon, making its way to the downtown core ahead of night four of ‘The Eras Tour’ at the Rogers Centre.
Service Canada holding back 85K passports amid Canada Post mail strike
Approximately 85,000 new passports are being held back by Service Canada, which stopped mailing them out a week before the nationwide Canada Post strike.