Cultural Competency for Lawyers

Course Chairs
Patricia M. Barkaskas — Academic Director, Indigenous Community Legal Clinic & Instructor, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC, Vancouver
Lee Schmidt — Associate Director, Indigenous Legal Studies, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC, Vancouver

About the Course Chairs
Patricia Barkaskas earned an Master of Arts in History, with a focus on Indigenous histories in North America, and a Juris Doctor, with a Law and Social Justice Specialization, from the University of British Columbia. She is the Academic Director of the Indigenous Community Legal Clinic and an Instructor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law. Patricia has practised in the areas of child protection (as parent’s counsel), criminal, family, as well as civil litigation and prison law. She has worked closely with Indigenous peoples in their encounters with the justice system and has worked for Residential school survivors as an historical legal researcher for the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. In addition, she has written Gladue reports for all levels of court in BC. Her current and future teaching and research interests include access to justice, clinical legal education, decolonizing and Indigenizing law, particularly examining the value of Indigenous pedagogies in experiential and clinical learning for legal education, and Indigenous laws. Patricia is Métis from Alberta.

Lee Schmidt was called to the bar in BC in 2003 after graduating from UBC law. She practised at a Vancouver firm specializing in Aboriginal law on behalf of Indigenous peoples for 13 years. Her practice includes treaty negotiations, Aboriginal rights and title litigation and consultation processes, and advancing civil claims for abuses suffered by residential school survivors. From 2008-2016 she exclusively represented survivors in the Independent Assessment Process (IAP) of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the largest class action settlement in Canadian history. Lee is now the Associate Director, Indigenous Legal Studies, at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC. Born and raised in BC, Lee's ancestry is Cree-Metis from Sandy Bay, Saskatchewan from her father, Louis Schmidt, and Dutch from her mother Lisa. Lee is a member of the Law Society of British Columbia, the Canadian Bar Association, and the Indigenous Bar Association.

Faculty
Rhaea Bailey — Legal Services Society of BC, Vancouver
Patricia M. Barkaskas — Academic Director, Indigenous Community Legal Clinic & Instructor, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC, Vancouver
Kennedy A. Bear Robe — Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP, Vancouver
Cynthia Callison — Callison & Hanna, Vancouver
Renzo D. Caron — Vice President, Indigenous Services, Legal Services Society of BC, Vancouver
Leah B.M. Fontaine — Crown Counsel, Duncan
Nigel Grenier — JD, Student, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC; Lead Dancer, Dancers of Damelahamid, Vancouver
Isabel Sa-Gyo: Gitxsan Jackson — Department of Justice, Vancouver
Darlene Johnston — Associate Professor, Indigenous Legal Studies, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC, Vancouver
Jim Kwes’ Kwestin Kew — Acting Protocol and Communications Officer, Musqueam Indian Band, Vancouver
Johnny Mack — Assistant Professor, Law and First Nations Studies Program, Faculty of Arts, University of BC, Vancouver
Laura A. Matthews — Matthews Mediation, Mission
Michael McDonald, QC — Clark Wilson LLP, Vancouver
Dr. Bruce McIvor — Lawyer, First Peoples Law, Vancouver
Lee Schmidt — Associate Director, Indigenous Legal Studies, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC, Vancouver
Bev Sellars — Xat’sull (Soda Creek) First Nation, Williams Lake
Karenna L. Williams — Grant Huberman, Vancouver

Day 1

Welcome and Introduction

Patricia M. Barkaskas — Academic Director, Indigenous Community Legal Clinic & Instructor, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC, Vancouver
Gabriel George — Tsleil-Waututh Nation
Chief Janice George — Squamish Nation
Jim Kwes’ Kwestin Kew — Acting Protocol and Communications Officer, Musqueam Indian Band, Vancouver
Lee Schmidt — Associate Director, Indigenous Legal Studies, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC, Vancouver

Territorial Acknowledgement

• the importance of welcoming in Indigenous Cultures

Jim Kwes’ Kwestin Kew — Acting Protocol and Communications Officer, Musqueam Indian Band, Vancouver

Identity and Situatedness

Cynthia Callison — Callison & Hanna, Vancouver
Darlene Johnston — Associate Professor, Indigenous Legal Studies, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC, Vancouver

Break

Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Survivance 

Darlene Johnston — Associate Professor, Indigenous Legal Studies, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC, Vancouver

Networking Lunch (provided)

Indian Residential Schools

• history and legacy of residential schools
• colonialism and genocide
• the forced transfer of Indigenous Peoples’ children
• inter-generational effects and ongoing societal impacts: overrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples in the justice system
  

Bev Sellars — Xat’sull (Soda Creek) First Nation, Williams Lake

Break

Cultural Competency in Context: Bringing It All Together

• what does “cultural competency” mean
• how does cultural competency impact lawyers’ overall competency
• anniversaries of the Canadian state from Indigenous perspectives
  Three videos
  • Chief Dan George — “A Lament for Confederation," 1967
  • George Erasmus — Canada’s 125th “birthday,” 1989
  • Christi Belcourt — “Canada, I can cite for you, 150” (at Canada’s 150th “birthday”)

Patricia M. Barkaskas — Academic Director, Indigenous Community Legal Clinic & Instructor, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC, Vancouver
Lee Schmidt — Associate Director, Indigenous Legal Studies, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC, Vancouver

Closing Comments

Patricia M. Barkaskas — Academic Director, Indigenous Community Legal Clinic & Instructor, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC, Vancouver
Lee Schmidt — Associate Director, Indigenous Legal Studies, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC, Vancouver

Day 2

Talking Past Each Other

Talking Past Each Other describes, in the form of contemporary Indigenous dance, the dialogue generated in Aboriginal and Treaty Rights litigation, where Indigenous peoples and the Crown forward arguments that stem from fundamentally different perspectives. This piece delves into two key questions: what is our relationship to the land? And what does it mean to be sovereign?

Nigel Grenier — JD, Student, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC; Lead Dancer, Dancers of Damelahamid, Vancouver 

Break

The British Columbia Context

• colonialism and the role of the legal system in British Columbia

Johnny Mack — Assistant Professor, Law and First Nations Studies Program, Faculty of Arts, University of BC, Vancouver

Racism and Implicit Bias in the Legal Profession

• recognizing and acting on racism and implicit bias in the legal profession

Dr. Bruce McIvor — Lawyer, First Peoples Law, Vancouver

Networking Lunch (Provided)

Lawyering for Reconciliation

• lawyering from different perspectives

Rhaea Bailey — Legal Services Society of BC, Vancouver
Kennedy A. Bear Robe — Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP, Vancouver
Renzo D. Caron — Vice President, Indigenous Services, Legal Services Society of BC, Vancouver
Leah B.M. Fontaine — Crown Counsel, Duncan
Isabel Sa-Gyo: Gitxsan Jackson — Department of Justice, Vancouver
Laura A. Matthews — Matthews Mediation, Mission
Michael McDonald, QC — Clark Wilson LLP, Vancouver
Karenna L. Williams — Grant Huberman, Vancouver

Break

Lawyering for Reconcili-action: Case Studies

• contextualizing legal advice in the spirit of reconciliation
• working together on what lawyering for reconciliation can look like
  

Rhaea Bailey — Legal Services Society of BC, Vancouver
Kennedy A. Bear Robe — Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP, Vancouver
Renzo D. Caron — Vice President, Indigenous Services, Legal Services Society of BC, Vancouver 
Leah B.M. Fontaine — Crown Counsel, Duncan
Isabel Sa-Gyo: Gitxsan Jackson — Department of Justice, Vancouver
Laura A. Matthews — Matthews Mediation, Mission
Michael McDonald, QC — Clark Wilson LLP, Vancouver
Karenna L. Williams — Grant Huberman, Vancouver

Plenary Discussion and Closing Comments