Sunshine Coast ElderCollege presents a free lecture open to all ages: “Indigenous Law and Conversations Across Generations” with Dr. Val Napoleon.
The 2023 Clifford Smith Memorial Lecture addresses the timely and highly relevant topic of Indigenous law.
Dr. Napoleon is the Law Foundation Chair in Indigenous Justice at the University of Victoria and co-founder of the world’s first joint degree program in Canadian Common Law and Indigenous Legal Orders, one of the first such degree programs in the world.
Dr. Napoleon is Cree from northeast B.C. (Treaty 8) and a member of Saulteau First Nation. She is also an adopted member of the Gitanyow (Gitksan) House of Luuxhon, Ganada (Frog) Clan. Before joining the Faculty of Law at UVic in 2012, she was cross appointed with the faculties of Native Studies and Law at the University of Alberta
Dr. Napoleon will address the role and function of law in Indigenous civic society in the past and today, and how we might draw on stories to reinvigorate the law. Why are critical and productive conversations important and how do we understand legitimacy?
Her current research focuses on Indigenous legal traditions, Indigenous feminism, citizenship, self-determination, and governance. Another focus of Dr. Napoleon’s was establishing the Indigenous Law Research Unit at the UVic with a number of research partnerships with Indigenous communities, groups in B.C. and across Canada.
The talk is sponsored by Sunshine Coast Credit Union and School District 46.
The free lecture is is Oct. 28, 2 to 4 p.m. and is open to all ages. It will take place at Chatelech Secondary School Theatre, 5904 Cowrie Street, Sechelt. Participants must register on SC ElderCollege’s website: Sunshinecoasteldercollege.ca/csml
