First-year law students who have been studying Aboriginal Rights and Title and Indigenous Law heard from several guest speakers during a field trip to the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc reserve (TteS) last Friday.
The annual field trip for TRU Law courses in Constitutional Law and Legal Perspectives took the group to Chief Louis Centre (formerly the Kamloops Indian Residential School) and was an opportunity for students to learn beyond the classroom, about Aboriginal law issues from local Indigenous perspectives.
Topics covered included Aboriginal rights and Indigenous law with respect to land and resources and the residential school experience.
Sunny LeBourdais, KGHM Project Specialist for the Stk’emlupsemc Te Secwepemc Nation (SSN) and a member of the Pellt’iqt te Secwepemc Nation (Whispering Pines), spoke to the students about the implementation of the SSN’s Ajax Mine project assessment process.
Shuswap Nation Tribal Council Tribal Chief, Kukpi7 Wayne Christian, of Splatsin, discussed Secwepemc land rights and Secwepemc law. Chief Christian was joined by researchers Jessica Asch and Georgia Lloyd-Smith of the University of Victoria Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU), who work with the council. Asch and Lloyd-Smith presented on the ILRU’s methodology for research with Indigenous communities on their Indigenous law.
Arthur Manuel, a well-known First Nations political leader in BC and Canada addressed the students on the topic of Indigenous peoples rights and advocacy internationally, as well as Secwepemc history and colonial impositions.
Students also learned about residential schools from second generation survivors and Secwepemc museum guides Jackie Jules and Carryl Armstrong, who toured the group around the former Kamloops Indian Residential School (KIRS) and the museum.
Student Andrea Meyes, from Lake Country, BC, says she was profoundly affected by what she learned on the field trip.
“I have an entire new outlook on Aboriginal issues faced in Canada and elsewhere in the world. The visit was so informative and brought the materials we study to life,” Meyes said, adding she is grateful for the course and the faculty members who are advocating the importance of incorporating Aboriginal rights issues into legal education.
In addition to enhancing the learning outcomes of TRU Law students, the course content and the field trip address some of the educational content called for by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) call to action #28, which asks law schools to implement mandatory education about residential schools, Indigenous law and skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights and anti-racism, among other things.
